Your body needs food to work, grow and remain healthy. Your body works all the time. When you play or walk, your body works. Your body needs energy to work. It gets this energy from the food you eat. The body also needs food to grow, repair damaged parts and to remain healthy. Any one type of food cannot give all that the body needs. Ex: only bananas or only potatoes or only bread. The body gets what it needs from different kinds of food. This is why we have to eat different kinds of food.

Only food items which contain substances called carbohydrates and fats can provide energy to the body. They are often called energy-giving foods. Food items like rice, wheat, potato, banana and sugar have plenty of carbohydrates and therefore provide energy to the body. Milk also has some carbohydrates.

Food items like butter, ghee, milk, meat and fish which contain fat also provide energy to the body.

All kinds of dhals, gram, soyabean, milk, eggs, cheese, meat and fish contain protein. Proteins help the body to grow and repair parts which are damaged during sickness or injury. Food items which contain protein are often called body-building foods.

Fruits and vegetables, especially when eaten without peeling the skin and food grains are rich sources of fibre. The presence of fibre in the food and adequate amount of water intake ensures that the undigested waste passes smoothly through the digestive system.

We get fruits, vegetables, grains, beans etc from plants. We get meat, milk, honey, eggs etc from animals.

Food and Nutrition for first and second graders