To be able to eat healthy, you need to understand what the body needs to stay healthy and functional. Your body needs food for three main reasons. Firstly as fuel, to keep us warm and supply the energy we need to stay alive and to move about and work. Secondly, food supplies the necessary materials for growth and to repair worn tissues. Thirdly we need vitamins, minerals and other substances that are necessary for the chemical processes that take place inside our bodies.

The energy supplied by food is measured as kilojoules. Two-thirds of this energy is used to maintain our normal body temperature, the normal tone of our muscles and to keep our heart and other vital organs functional and healthy. Even when we stay in bed all day we will still need about two-thirds of our normal food intake to maintain our metabolic systems. Normal activities such as getting dressed, eating, walking, working and playing requires about 3350 kilojoules. A housewife uses about 9200 kilojoules to perform her basic household tasks.

The harder we work and the more we move about the more kilojoules we use up. Whatever kilojoules we use up in our daily activities, is supplied by food, but if we consume more kilojoules / food than the body needs you will gain mass. The aim of Eating Healthy is to get the balance right.

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