VITAMIN AND MINERAL FOR OUR BODY

Breakfast cereals advertise that they’re packed with vitamins and minerals. Sports drinks claim they can rev up your flagging energy with a jolt of vitamins or minerals (sorry, but even powerful vitamins and minerals can’t act that fast!). You know vitamins and minerals are good for you. But which ones does your body really need? And is it possible to get too much of a good thing?
What Are Vitamins and Minerals?

Vitamins and minerals make people's bodies work properly. Although you get vitamins and minerals from the foods you eat every day, some foods have more vitamins and minerals than others.

Vitamins fall into two categories: fat soluble and water soluble. The fat-soluble vitamins — A, D, E, and K — dissolve in fat and can be stored in your body. The water-soluble vitamins — C and the B-complex vitamins (such as vitamins B6, B12, niacin, riboflavin, and folate) — need to dissolve in water before your body can absorb them. Because of this, your body can't store these vitamins. Any vitamin C or B that your body doesn't use as it passes through your system is lost (mostly when you pee). So you need a fresh supply of these vitamins every day.

Whereas vitamins are organic substances (made by plants or animals), minerals are inorganic elements that come from the soil and water and are absorbed by plants or eaten by animals. Your body needs larger amounts of some minerals, such as calcium, to grow and stay healthy. Other minerals like chromium, copper, iodine, iron, selenium, and zinc are called trace minerals because you only need very small amounts of them each day.


What Do Vitamins and Minerals Do?

Vitamins and minerals boost the immune system, support normal growth and development, and help cells and organs do their jobs. For example, you've probably heard that carrots are good for your eyes. It's true! Carrots are full of substances called carotenoids that your body converts into vitamin A, which helps prevent eye problems. Another vitamin, vitamin K, helps blood to clot (so cuts and scrapes stop bleeding quickly). You'll find vitamin K in green leafy vegetable, broccoli, soybeans, and oatmeal. And to have strong bones, you need to eat foods such as milk, yogurt, and green leafy vegetables, which are rich in the mineral calcium.
Fuel for Growth

People go through a lot of physical changes — including growth and puberty — during their teenage years. Eating right during this time is especially important because the body needs a variety of vitamins and minerals to grow, develop, and stay healthy.

Eating a variety of foods is the best way to get all the vitamins and minerals you need each day, as well as the right balance of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and calories. Whole or unprocessed foods — like fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy products, lean meats, fish, and poultry — are the best choices for providing the nutrients your body needs to stay healthy and grow properly.

It's OK to eat foods like potato chips and cookies once in a while, but you don't want to overdo high-calorie foods like these that offer little nutritionally.

To choose healthy foods, check food labels and pick items that are high in vitamins and minerals. For example, if you're choosing beverages, you'll find that a glass of milk is a good source of vitamin D and the minerals calcium, phosphorous, and potassium. A glass of soda, on the other hand, offers very few vitamins or minerals — if any.

You can also satisfy your taste buds without sacrificing nutrition while eating out: Vegetable pizzas or fajitas, sandwiches with lean cuts of meat, fresh salads, and baked potatoes are just a few delicious, nutritious choices.

If you're a vegetarian, you'll need to plan carefully for a diet that offers the vitamins and minerals found primarily in meats. The best sources for the minerals zinc and iron are meats, fish, and poultry. However, you can get zinc and iron in dried beans, seeds, nuts, and leafy green vegetables like kale.

Vitamin B12, which is important for manufacturing red blood cells, is not found in plant foods. If you don't eat meat, you can find vitamin B12 in eggs, milk and other dairy foods, and fortified breakfast cereals. Vegans (vegetarians who eat no animal products at all, including dairy products) may need to take vitamin supplements. If you're thinking about becoming a vegetarian, talk to your doctor or a registered dietitian about how to plan a healthy, balanced diet.
Common Concerns

Lots of teens wonder if they should take vitamin or mineral supplements. If your diet includes a wide variety of foods, including whole-grain products, fresh fruits and vegetables, dairy products, nuts, seeds, eggs, and meats, then you are probably getting the vitamins and minerals your body needs.

But if you're skipping meals, dieting, or if you're concerned that you're not eating enough items from a particular category, such as vegetables or dairy products, then talk to your doctor or to a registered dietitian. These professionals can help you create an eating plan that includes the nutrients your body needs.

Check with your doctor before taking vitamin or mineral supplements. Some people think that if something is good for you, then the more you take in, the healthier you'll be. But that's not necessarily true when it comes to vitamins and minerals. For example, fat-soluble vitamins or minerals, which the body stores and excretes more slowly, can build up in your system to levels where they could cause problems.

If you do take supplements, you should be careful not to get more than 100% of the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for a particular vitamin or mineral. The RDA is calculated to provide 100% of the dietary needs for 98.6% of the population. Chances are that's all you need.

There are hundreds of supplements on the market and of course their manufacturers want you to purchase them. Beware of unproven claims about the benefits of taking more than recommended amounts of any vitamin or mineral. A healthy teen usually doesn't need supplements if he or she is eating a well-rounded diet.

Your best bet for getting the vitamins and minerals you need is to eat a wide variety of healthy foods and skip the vitamin pills. You'll feel better overall and won't run the risk of overdoing your vitamin and mineral intake.

Updated and reviewed by: Mary L. Gavin, MD
Date reviewed: November 2006
Originally reviewed by: Jessica R. Donze, RD, CDE

FOOD POISONING

The leftovers in the fridge smelled a little weird, but you went ahead and ate them. You were so hungry, you didn't even heat them up. A couple of hours later, though, you started to feel sick. Powerful waves of pain rumbled through your stomach. They went away, but not for long. Then you even threw up!

That sounds like a case of food poisoning. No one put poison in your food, but bacteria probably grew in the food in the fridge and those bacteria made you sick. Food poisoning can be mild and last just a short time or can be more serious. Let's find out how to avoid it.
What Is Food Poisoning?

Food poisoning comes from eating foods that contain germs like bad bacteria or toxins, which are poisonous substances. Bacteria are all around us, so mild cases of food poisoning are common. You may have had mild food poisoning — with diarrhea and an upset stomach — but your mom or dad just called it a stomach bug or stomach virus.

You might think the solution is to get rid of all the bacteria. But it isn't possible and you wouldn't want to do it, even if you could. Bacteria are all around us, including in food, and sometimes they can be good for you. It's confusing, but one thing is for sure — the bacteria in the rotten leftovers weren't good for you. But you can learn how to avoid those bad germs in food.
Which Germs Are to Blame?

Foods from animals, raw foods, and unwashed vegetables all can contain germs that cause food poisoning. The most likely source is food from animals, like meat, poultry (such as chicken), eggs, milk, and shellfish (such as shrimp).

Some of the most common bacteria are:

* Salmonella (say: sal-meh-nel-uh)
* Listeria (say: lis-teer-ee-uh)
* Campylobacter (say: kam-pe-low-bak-ter)
* E. coli (say: ee kole-eye)

To avoid food poisoning, people need to prepare, cook, and store foods properly.
Do I Have Food Poisoning?

Someone who has food poisoning might:

* have an upset stomach (called nausea, say: naw-zee-uh)
* have stomach cramps
* have diarrhea (say: dy-uh-ree-uh), which may contain blood
* have a fever

Sometimes feeling sick from food poisoning shows up within hours of eating the bad food. At other times, someone may not feel sick until several days later. With mild cases of food poisoning, you will not feel sick for very long and will soon be feeling fine again.

It can be hard to tell if you have food poisoning or something else. You might do a little detective work and see who else gets the same sickness. Did they eat the same thing you did? If only people who ate that food got sick, food poisoning could be the problem.

It's one thing to get food poisoning from something in your fridge, but imagine how many people could get sick if a restaurant served food that had these bad germs in it. When that happens, people from the health department might get involved and try to figure out what happened and make sure everyone gets the medical care they need.
What Will the Doctor Do?

If you go to the doctor, he or she will ask you a lot of questions about how you're feeling, when you first felt sick, what you ate in the past few days, and if anyone else you know is also sick. The doctor might also take a sample of your stool (poop) and urine (pee) to test for possible germs that might have caused food poisoning.

The type of treatment you'll get for food poisoning will depend on the specific germ that is making you sick. The doctor might give you medicine, but most of the time someone who has food poisoning doesn't need to take medicine.

It's also rare that a kid with food poisoning would need to go to the hospital. Usually, only people who get really dehydrated have to go to the hospital. Being dehydrated means your body has lost too much fluid due to diarrhea and vomiting. A dehydrated person can get fluids and medicine through an IV at the hospital. To keep from getting dehydrated, try to keep drinking fluids when you are sick.

You may also need to go to the hospital if you have blood in your poop. If you do see blood in your poop, you should definitely tell your parents about it.
How to Fight the Germs

Many things can be done to prevent food poisoning. These precautions should be taken at every stage a food takes — from preparation to cooking to storing leftovers. A lot of this responsibility falls on grown-ups, but kids can help fight germs, too. One of the best ways is to wash your hands if you're helping to prepare foods.

When should you wash? Before you start helping — so germs from your hands don't get on the food — and after so you don't pass along germs from the food to yourself or anyone else. If you don't, here's how germs can travel:

1. You help make hamburger patties.
2. You get bad bacteria from the raw ground beef on your hands.
3. You hold your little sister's hand.
4. She uses that hand to eat a snack.
5. Now the bacteria have made it inside and can make her sick.

Other steps you can take to keep your food safe include:

* Wash fruits and vegetables well before eating them.
* Only eat foods that are properly cooked. If you cut into chicken and it looks pink and raw inside, tell a grown-up.
* Look at what you're eating and smell it, too. If something looks or smells different from normal, check with an adult before eating or drinking it. Milk is a good example. If you've ever had a sip of sour milk, you know you never want to taste that again! Mold (which can be green, pink, white, or brown) is also often a sign that food has spoiled.
* If you're going to eat leftovers, ask a grown-up for help heating them up. By heating them, you can kill bacteria that grew while it was in the fridge.
* Check the date. Lots of packaged foods have expiration dates or "sell by" dates. Don't eat a food if today's date is after the expiration date. Use it before it expires. Some of these dates are "sell by," which means that the food should leave store shelves by that time. Ask an adult for help deciding if it's past the sell by date.
* Cover and refrigerate food right away. Bacteria get a good chance to grow in foods that sit at room temperature. By putting food in the fridge, you're putting the chill on those bad germs!

Reviewed by: Steven Dowshen, MD
Date reviewed: May 2008

Junk Food's So Tasty, But Where Is It Leading Me?

Junk food refers to fast foods which are easy to make and easy to consume. They are zero in nutritional value .They have only fats lying in it causing ill effects on the health of the consumer. The taste is the most attractive feature in junk foods. But is there at least little use of junk food to our body and health. Find out the harmful effects of junk food to our body.This article covers

* Why Junk Food And Diet Is So Appealing?
* Why Does Junk Food Lead To Adverse Effects?
* Harmful Effects of Junk Food

Michael Jacobson aptly coins the phrase junk food in 1972 as slang for foods of useless or no nutritional value. Their contents are rich in sodium salts and/or sugar and fats which provide high calories yet useless in value. A quick look at junk food facts tells us junk food and diet does not go hand in hand. Perhaps this is the reason why junk foods are also called as empty calorie foods. Of late, junk food producers claim to have made improvements to nutrition junk food can provide.

Nevertheless, junk foods are popular because of their simplicity to manufacture, consume and of course, their taste. People have their own notions about a certain food being listed as junk. However, chocolates, burgers, pizzas, potato wafers and fries will surely find their way into everyone's list.
Why Junk Food And Diet Is So Appealing?
The Time Factor:
Junk food addiction is so high because of its simplicity. They are easy to prepare and are very tasty. Junk foods such as potato wafers and Cheetos® do not even need cooking or heating. You prefer to eat them when you watch TV. You save yourself a lot of hassles and time when you are in a hurry eating pizzas and burgers as they are served at your door step hot and ready to eat.
The Taste Factor:
If time constraint is one reason that pushes you to eating junk food, great taste also, to an extent influences you to opt for junk food. But junk foods get their taste owing to lavish usage of oils, salts and/or sugar. Once you are caught in junk food addiction, you find it hard to think about the loss of nutrition junk food pushes you into.
Junk Food Advertising:
Foods prepared out side the home and restaurant foods have a great attraction for food buffs. One estimate tells us Fritto Lays is selling a billion bags of Cheetos® per year. It is an altogether different story that junk food advertising has a major role in this.
Why Does Junk Food Lead To Adverse Effects?
If ingredients make junk foods appealing, it is the same reason that makes them health hazardous too. The fat contents, barring a few manufacturers, have high cholesterol levels. Secondly, the sugar and sodium salts have their effects on health. High calorie content with sugar can lead to obesity. Cholesterol and salt are known to setoff blood pressure, stroke and heart diseases in a chain. Excessive salts can affect functioning of kidneys too.

New Year's Diet Resolution Recipes

Part 1: Taming the battle of the bulge

More of this Feature
• Part 1: Diet balance and moderation
• Part 2: Dieting tips and Hints
• Part 3: Healthy Diet Recipes
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How many of us make a resolution to either lose weight or travel the path of a more healthy diet? Statistics indicate that a full 90% of us have such good intentions for the new year. Unfortunately, the thought of dieting or changing our eating habits makes us groan.

However, changing our eating habits is easier than ever today, with just a little effort. We now have food products that make it much easier than just abstaining. With the advent of fat-free dairy products, sugar substitutes, and even a fat substitute product, we can change our daily diet and not feel like we suffer any real loss in intake or taste.

Don't miss these diet recipes that are not only low calorie and heart healthy but also tasty!

The Food Pyramid
The United States Department of Agriculture instituted the Food Pyramid Dietary Guidelines in a simple chart. This link will give you guidelines for each of the six food groups in the chart.

Diet Balance and Moderation
Of course, the best diet is controlled intake of a balanced diet of fresh fruits and vegetables, along with moderated intake of protein fats and a good regimen of daily, not necessarily strenuous exercise.

The body life cycle is amazing indeed. Some are blessed with a fast metabolism, eating constantly and never gaining an ounce. Others are not so lucky and must count every calorie. The body also goes through age cycles. Younger bodies tend to shed calories faster, partly due to the higher activity rate. As we age, we become more sedate, and there is a metabolic change in many, even those who once were always thin. Exercise should be an important part of your daily routine.

Consult Your Physician About Your Diet
The first step in any diet plan is a consultation with your physician. A surprising number of weight problems are due to diseases or conditions that need to be treated, such as diabetes. Fad diets are not the answer. They may work in the short run, but it's not worth taking risks with your health. Common sense dictates the advice of your physician before embarking on any diet, particularly if you have diabetes, heart problems or other physical ailments. Don't forget to consult your physician about any exercise plan. Be sure to proceed from a beginner's pace and then slowly increase to a more advanced level as you get used to exercising more.

The American Heart Association and American Diabetes Association guidelines are good recommendations even for those who do not suffer from diabetes or heart disease.