Energy-giving foods

In your book, Medu and Mishti visit the Traditional Food Festival at school. Dr Poshita, a nutrition expert, tells them: 'Health is the Ultimate Wealth'.

How do you feel when you miss a meal? Tired, with less energy. That is because food gives us energy.

A marathon runner drinks glucose water during and after a race, because glucose gives instant energy. Glucose is a carbohydrate. Carbohydrates are one of the main sources of energy in our food. Where do we get them?

• cereals: wheat, rice, maize, bajra
• vegetables: potato, sweet potato
• fruits: banana, pineapple, mango
• sugarcane. Common sugar is also a kind of carbohydrate.

In winter, many families make laddoos from besan or aata, ghee, goond (edible gum), nuts and seeds. A child in the book remembers grandma saying that laddoos rich in ghee and nuts give energy to keep us warm.

Ghee and oils belong to another food component called fat. Fats come from plants and animals:

• nuts: groundnuts, walnuts, almonds, cashews, pistachios, coconut
• seeds: soya bean, sesame, pumpkin and sunflower seeds
• animal foods: butter, curd

Fat is stored energy, like a spare can of fuel kept for a long journey. Polar bears build up a lot of fat under their skin. During their months-long winter sleep, this fat gives them energy, so they survive without eating.

Carbohydrates and fats give us energy for everything we do, so they are called energy-giving foods.