Nutrients

=Why are nutrients important for our body?=

=Group 1: Why do you need food? (Sofia, Gabriel, Pedro) = Food is important because it provides tour body materials for growing and for repairing tissues. Food also provides energy for everything you do. Nutrients are the substances in food that provide the raw materials and energy your body needs to carry all its essencial processes. Calorie is the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree celsius. The amount of calories you eat depends on your level of physical activities and your age. An average diet for an adult male should contain around 2000 calories. =Group 2: Carbohydrates (Victor, Nicolas, Rich) =

Carbohydrates are made of ** carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen **. They are the "** first burn ** (when you exercise it is the first source of energy you use)" source of energy. Carbohydrates can be divided in two, which are ** Simple Carbohydrates **and ** Complex Carbohydrates ** **﻿**.  __Simple Carbohydrates__ are **small molecules** of sugar like ** glucose **. As they are small, they are easier and faster to use for energy because our body doesn't need to break them down.  __Complex Carbohydrates__ are **larger molecules** of sugar that need to be broken down into smaller molecules to be used by the body. One example for complex carbohydrates is ** starch **. Some examples that contain a lot of carbohydrates are bread, all fruits, pasta, chocolate, and etc. =Group 3: Fats (Lucas, Debora)= Fats are nutrients that are composed of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen. In addition to providing energy, fats form part of the cell membrane, fatty tissue also protects and supports your internal organs and insulates your body. Fats contain more energy per gram than sugars. This makes them a great molecule to store long term energy. Unsaturated fats are usually liquids at room temperature. Ex: most cooking oils. Saturated fats are usualy solid at room temperature. Ex: butter. Unsaturated fats are beneficial in proper amounts, saturated and transfat aren't. New York and Philadelphia have banned it from restaurants. Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance only found in animal products. Like fats, cholesterol is an important part of your body's cells.

=Group 4: Proteins (Mary, Bea, Luis) =

Proteins are nutrients that contain nitrogen, carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Proteins are needed for tissue growth and repair,  and play and important role in chemical reactions  in our cells. Proteins are created from amino acids <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">, which are linked together chemically, forming large protein molecules. There are <span style="color: #0293b6; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">20 different amino acids <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">, which when joined together, create <span style="color: #0293b6; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">complete and incomplete proteins. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Some examples of foods rich in proteins, are: <span style="color: #0293b6; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">meat, eggs, beans, grains, nuts, <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> etc... It is important to <span style="color: #0293b6; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">eat some kind of protein in every meal. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> For example: eggs in the morning, beans and rice (which is a grain) at lunch, nuts as a mid-day snack, and meat for dinner.

=<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Group 5: Vitamins (Girlany, Giovanna, Caio) = Vitamins are good for you whole body. You need to have a little bit of each vitamin in your body because they all have different uses: Vitamin A is good for your hair and bones; Vitamin B prevents anemia and they help your red blood cells; Vitamin C helps your immune system; Vitamin D helps bone formation; Vitamin K helps blood clotting. Water-soluble vitamins, like vitamins B and C, get dissolved in water. Fat-soluble vitamins, like A, D, E and K, get dissolved in our fatty tissues and stay in our body a little longer. You can develop **scurvy** if you don't ingest enough Vitamin C. Sailors used to spend months in the ocean without ingesting fresh citrus fruits rich in vitamin C, like oranges. They would develop symptoms like bleeding gums, stiff joints, sores. Some would even die.

=<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Group 6: Minerals (Rafael, Guilherme, Steven) = <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Minerals are nutrients not related to living things. The body needs a little bit of each mineral to carry out chemical reactions. Some examples of minerals are: <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">calcium, which helps build teeth and bone and helps muscle and nerve function <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">iodine which helps in the release of energy <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">iron which is needed for red blood cell function <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">potassium helps maintain water, muscle and nerve balance <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">sodium which helps maintain water balance and nerve function. =<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Group 7: Importance of Water and Healthy Eating (Courtney, Felipe, Giovani) = Water is the most essential nutrient because most of the body´s vital processes, like breaking down nutrients and having chemical reactions, take place in water. You need to drink aproximately two liters of water per day. A food pyramid gives you a recommended balanced diet, consisting of grains, dairy, vegetables, fruits, meats and beans, and oils. An ideal diet of a person is determined by their age, sex, and amount of physical activity. Food labels let you see the nutritional values of a food, the serving size, the amount of calories, the percent daily value, and the ingredients.