What is The Farmers' Handbook - "Inside The House", Chapter 2 - Diet & Nutrition In order to live, grow and to protect us from various diseases we need a good, nutritious diet. Nutrition is found in various types of food. Everyone wishes for themselves and their family to remain in good health. A healthy family also makes a healthy and strong homestead. Besides this, you can also help others to be strong. If the family is sick it needs constant expense and can cause much worry. A good, nutri- tious and balanced diet helps to protect and release the family from sickness. A nutritious diet is not just available from expensive foods. We can also obtain and prepare a nutritious diet from easily available local and even wild foods. This chapter gives information about what foods are needed for our bodies, where these foods are available, and simple ways of increasing the quality of our diets. Diet and Nutrition ? Diet and Nutrition ?
Transcript
What is
Th
e F
arm
ers'
Han
db
oo
k -
"In
sid
e T
he
Ho
use
", C
hap
ter
2 -
Die
t &
Nu
trit
ion
In order to live, grow and to protect us from variousdiseases we need a good, nutritious diet. Nutrition is found invarious types of food. Everyone wishes for themselves andtheir family to remain in good health. A healthy family alsomakes a healthy and strong homestead. Besides this, you canalso help others to be strong. If the family is sick it needsconstant expense and can cause much worry. A good, nutri-tious and balanced diet helps to protect and release the familyfrom sickness. A nutritious diet is not just available fromexpensive foods. We can also obtain and prepare a nutritiousdiet from easily available local and even wild foods.
This chapter gives information about what foods areneeded for our bodies, where these foods are available, andsimple ways of increasing the quality of our diets.
Diet and Nutrition ?
Diet and Nutrition ?
The Farmers' Handbook, "Inside The House" Chapter 2 - Diet & Nutrition
Kwashiorkor– thin,
emaciated
Marasmus– swollen
face, hands,feet
3
WhyWhy Do we neednutrition ?
From the time we are in the mother's womb, for ourwhole life long, we need a nutritious diet. To give strength,for growing, and to protect or help cure us from illness anddisease, there are many types of nutritious elements needed inthe body. If any of these elements are deficient in the body,we can become weak and sick. Nutritious foods provide uswith energy, help to build and maintain muscle and organs,and help our bodies to produce other important elementswhich we need to keep us healthy.
Common problems of poor diet in thehome and village
If people do not get the needed amounts of the necessaryfoods they can suffer from malnutrition and anaemia. Ba-bies under five years, children, pregnant women and lactatingmothers are especially at risk from poor nutrition.
1. Malnutrition. There are several symptoms of malnutri-tion, for example:• Crying - continuously crying and lack of appetite• Wounds - cuts, boils, etc. spread on the skin and are diffi-cult to heal.
The Farmers' Handbook, "Inside The House" Chapter 2 - Diet & Nutrition 54
Cretinism Goiter
3. Vitamin "A" DeficiencyVitamin A is essential for eyesight.
There are several symptoms of thisdeficiency:
• Night Blindness - unable tosee in half light
• Eyes dry out• A pale, spongy-like spot in
the eye (Whit's spot)• Blindness
4. Iodine Defficiency
Goiter - swelling on the throatCretinism - mentally handicapped, poor limb use, etc.
to getnutrition ?
For Health through nutrition we need to pay attention tothree things:
1. We need to have the right foodsFoods are best if crops are grown using sustainable
agriculture methods. Crops grown without chemicals aremore nutritious.
2. We need the knowledge to select the right foodsWhat to eat and how much to eat ? We need to know
how much of what type of food different people need. Whohas special needs ? For example, pregnant and lactatingmothers, or sick people should have extra of some foods.
3. We need to know how to prepare and serve the right foodsIt's not enough to have the right foods, we need to
know how to prepare and cook them. Without thisknowledge, we can sometimes loose many nutrients inpreparation.
To get health fromnutrition we need
both knowledge andresources.
To be Clever and Ener-getic use Iodized Salt
To be Clever and Ener-getic use Iodized Salt
HowHow
One leaf of Colocasia("Taro") can providethree children with theirdaily needs for vitamin A
The Farmers' Handbook, "Inside The House" Chapter 2 - Diet & Nutrition 76\
Food to pro-tect the
body (fruits)
Food to pro-tect the body(vegetables)
Food forthe body's
growth
Food forEnergy
In this chapter, information is given first about the func-tion of different foods. After that, from page 20 to 22 moredetailed information on nutrition is given. The centre colourpages show examples of the different foods in each group.
1. Foods Which give Energy (Carbohydrates)When there is much physical work,
before and after childbirth, and when sickpeople are recovering, the body needs moreenergy. At this time, if nutritious food is notavailable people can become weak and andcatch other diseases more easily. Malnourishedchildren also need more energy foods.
2. Foods Which Help the Body to Grow(Proteins)
Healthy babies grow fast But if food forgrowth is not available, babies become weak,and this can cause them many problems in thefuture. Growth foods are called Proteins.
3. Foods which Protect the Body(Vitamins & Minerals)The body always needs protection from damaging things.
When recovering after being ill, energy foods (carbohydrates)help to get better, while vitamins and minerals help protectthe body from disease. These vitamins and minerals are foundin fruit and vegetables.
Just as farming can be divided into various types ofcrop. such as livestock, grain crops and orchards, so nutritioncan be divided into three types of food, according to function.In vegetables and meat there are various nutrients. The mostimportant nutrients of our diet can be divided into thesegroups:
Types of Food
The Farmers' Handbook, "Inside The House" Chapter 2 - Diet & Nutrition 98
A mixed diet means many different kinds of food areeaten together. Because there are many types of nutritiouselements in a mixed diet it is well balanced. It is not enoughfor the body eating just to stop hunger, or to enjoy the taste. Abalanced diet is always needed. Pregnant women, sucklingmothers and babies are in special need of a balanced diet.Relatively expensive foods like fish and meat are not essen-tial for a balanced diet. It is also possible to make a balanceddiet from foods common in the villages, such as grains,pulses, green vegetables, spices and fruit.
There are many nutritious types of food for goodhealth available in the villages. Net-
tles, buckwheat, millet, watercress,ferns, pumpkin shoots, etc. are allvery nutritious. But many cul-tures regard these as "poorpeople's food" and so eat themless. If you eat such foods,firstly they are cheap or evenfree of cost, and also these foodscan provide many types of essen-tial nutrients for the body - often
more than highly bred "developed"vegetables.
Community and private forest providesmany types of direct and indirect benefits. Theseinclude nutritious food available from the wild.
Mushrooms, ferns, watercress, bam-boo shoots and wild yams are ex-
amples of some vegetables thatcan be found in the forest. Simi-larly, fruits like berberis, black-berry, amla, chestnut, hazel, wal-nut, etc. are also available. It is also
possible to grow many of these on theedges of farmers' fields to increase the supply,
without needing lots of extra work.
Watercress
Amla for sale -collected from the forest
A Mixed Diet
What, is this Poor People's Food ?
Free Nutrition from the Forest
The Farmers' Handbook, "Inside The House" Chapter 2 - Diet & Nutrition
6f_
+ =1110
• Cooking potatoes with their skins and inpeices as large as possible will savevitamin C.
Pulses Grains
MoreBenefits
MoreBenefits
• When eaten together, grain andpulses provide the same benefits aseating meat
• Millet contains more calcium thanmost other grains.
• Rice de-husked by hand or pre-boiledcontains more vitamin B than ricedehusked in a mill.
• Unprocessed wheat flour has morenutrients than processed white riceflour
• When cooking rice, don't add too muchwater which otherwise you'd have tothrow it away, along with vitamin B.
• Don't scrub rice before cooking it as thisprevents vitamin B from being washedaway
• Sprouted pulses are very high in nutrients. Pulses can in-crease their content of vitamins A and C by up to 10 timeswhen sprouted. Vitamin B also increases, and iron andcalcium minerals which are in food can be more easilyabsorbed by the body. For this increase, only a little waterand time is needed but the benefits are huge. Why not useeasy methods like this?
Soak pulses fora day in water,then wash anddrain themevery day. After4-5 days thesprouted pulsesare ready to eat.
This is like getting free increase in benefits! There aremany types of vitamins which provide more or less nutrientsaccording to the time. In the spring, vegetables or fruit areless available, so at this time vitamin deficiency symptomsare common. But sprouted pulses can be made at any timeand so can solve deficiency problems.
• If you wash green leaf vegeta-bles after they have been cut,nutrients can be lost. Alwayswash before cutting.
There are morevitamins in ricewhich has beende-husked less
The Farmers' Handbook, "Inside The House" Chapter 2 - Diet & Nutrition
• Partially fermented vegetables in-crease the amount of iron and calciumavailable, which improves digestionof grains.
• Making pickles means vegetables canbe kept for a long time and increasestheir nutrition. In places where thereis a long dry season without irriga-tion, then a monsoon, many vegeta-bles can be grown in only a shorttime. Making pickles and oils allowsthese vegetables to be stored andeaten all year round, e.g. cucumber,tomatoes, radish, leaf vegetables, etc.
• Leafy vegetables can be dried in theshade to keep their nutrition and colour.
• when cooking leaf vegetables add alittle oil, keep the pan coveredand don't over cook. This preventsloss of vitamin A, and absorbtion ofoil improves digestability.
Good Foodand a Healthy
Family
Whoseresponsibility
?
1514
Additions to the Normal Diet
Sometimes it is necessary to eat more than the recom-mended daily diet. For example, a normally activepregnant women should eat an extra handful ofgrain, half a handful of pulses, a handful ofgreen leaf vegetables, and at least one extrapiece of fruit per day more than her daily diet. Apregnant women who has a heavier workloadshould eat an extra one and a half handfuls ofgrain, and if she is malnourished she should alsoeat an extra one and a half handfuls of grain.
A woman who has just given birthshould eat an extra handful of grain, half ahandful of pulses, a handful of green leafvegetables, and at least one extra piece of fruitper day more than her usual diet.
Six months after childbirth the mothershould eat an extra one and a half handfulsof grains and an extra one handful of pulses.
One to two years after childbirth(still suckling) the mother should be eatingan extra one and a half handfuls of grainsand an extra half handful of pulses. Atthis stage she should also be eating one
extra handful of green leaf vegetablesand one extra piece of fruit.
The Farmers' Handbook, "Inside The House" Chapter 2 - Diet & Nutrition
• After childbirth a mother should drink 5 teaspoons of"Jwano" (Trachyspernum ammie) each day.
• While a mother is pregnant, and justafter childbirth should eat at least 3-4times a day. For example, 2 full mealsand 2 snack meals.
• The best milk for suckling infants isthe mother's own milk. If this is notgiven, it can lead to many problems inthe future. So it is much better to feedmothers' milk rather than powdered milk.
• Once a baby stops drinking its mother's milk it should begiven extra food.
• Always feed a malnourished child extra food.
• A baby with diarroea should be fed more liquids. An oralrehydration mixture of salt, sugar and water should be given.It is even better to give the water skimmed off washed orcooking rice.
• It is better to feed a child little and often. Never stop feed-ing a sick child. Pursuade it to drink more liquids. Amalnourished child shouldbe given a spoonful ofhoney or sugar a day.This provides moreenergy. Also, a mal-nourished childshould be fed a ba-nana every day.
• Similarly, old people cannot digestmuch food at one time
and only eat a little.So they need amixed meal 3-4 times a day.
Without nutritiousfood it's not possible
to keep healthy
Drumstick LeavesIn sub-tropical areas the Drumstick (Moringa) tree
is found [this may have other namesin your area]. This tree has manybenefits. It's leaves are good forlivestock fooder and the flow-ers are good for bees. Its seedhelps to purify water. It canbe grown easily and quicklyfrom cuttings. Its flowers, podsand newly sprouted, young leavescan all be used as vegetables. Theleaves are especially nutritious and can be dried andmade into a powder. One teaspoon of this leaf powderprovides daily vitamin needs for one person. In cooler,upland areas where drumstick isn't found, you can storeand use the powder made in the lowlands.
1716
The Farmers' Handbook, "Inside The House" Chapter 2 - Diet & Nutrition
3
4
5
6
1
2
Super Flour
Maize Wheat
one part one part
Soya bean
two parts
Maize, wheatand soya beanflour mixed intosuper flour givesa balanced andnutritious meal.It gives nutrientsfor energy,growth and pro-tection together
Clean themaize, wheat
and soyabean
Bake each of themseparately
1918
Then grind thebaked grains
and pulsesseparately.
Store the flour inan airtight vessel.Then you can use
the processed superflour for several
days.
Make thesuperflour into a
porridge andfeed to childrenabove the age of
6 months.
Once they're usedto it, they'll eat it
themselves.
Maize, wheatand soya beanflour mixed intosuper flour givesa balanced andnutritious meal.It gives nutrientsfor energy,growth and pro-tection together
Super Flour
The Farmers' Handbook, "Inside The House" Chapter 2 - Diet & Nutrition
• anaemia, lackof digestivejuices
2120
The various types of food and nutrients needed for goodhealth are given below. Information about the function ofdifferent elements, effects of deficiency and which foodsprovide them is also given.
Car
bohy
drat
e (e
nerg
y)P
rote
in (
grow
th)
Oil/
Fat
• gives the bodystrength & vigour• maintain abalanced bodytemperature• assists growth& development
• used for growth &development• growth & mainte-nance of muscle• making hormones,red blood cells,digestive juices• helps to make upenergy needs iflacking in other foods
green leaf veg-etable & yellowfruit or vegeta-bles, e.g. ripepapaya, pump-kin, persim-mon, carrot,spinach, radishleaf, mustardleaf, corianderleaf, beans,watercress, etc.
From Nepal, Lalitpur district,Burunchuli VDC, Champi villageMrs Thuli Dhimnan's son SanoBabu was malnourished as ababy. Now let's hear her story.
At two and a half years of ageSano Babu was nothing but skin andbone. At that time he wouldn't eat andcould hardly even walk. It was so hardto feed him at that time. Then I started to feed him superflourporridge with his other food. After only a few days he startedto gain weight. After that Sano Babu's two younger brotherswere also born but they didn't have the same problems astheir older brother. This is how Sano Babu's life improvedwith a mother's love & care, and good, nutritious food.
Sano Babu attwo and a half
year old,malnourished
Sano Babu attwelve years old,with his motherand 2 younger
brothers
Farmers'ExperienceFarmers'Experience
Gri
hast
hi C
omm
unic
atio
ns
Subjects Related to NutritionGood benefits can be had from the information in this
book about nutrition. However, this information is also linkedto other methods. For extra benefits let's read, learn and prac-tice other related chapters.
Improved Stove ChapterIn Nepal 95% of households use firewood forcooking food. Everyone knows the effects of toomuch smoke in the kitchen but what to do ? Nowlet's learn about an easy and successful method.
Hygiene Inside the House ChapterImproved health isn't only about good food. If thekitchen and house is dirty, many diseases canstrike. In this chapter information is given abouteasy methods to keep the house clean.
Fruit Related ChaptersInformation on how to produce and grow im-proved fruit species at home is given in thesechapters about the fruit nursery, grafting, budding,top grafting, stone grafting, air layering, fruitseedling planting and integrated fruit orchards.
Kitchen Garden and Polyculture VegetableGrowing ChaptersThese chapters give information about how toproduce good vegetables with less work.
