Nutrition Basics

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Nutrition Basics
DISCUSSION
Characteristics and Examples of Nutritious Diets
Characteristic 1: Built of animal-sourced foods and vegetables
Example 1: Organ meat and wild caught sea foods which are high in fat-soluble vitamins
Characteristic 2: Features a diversity of foods
Example 2: Diets with soybeans, walnut, and salmon
Characteristic 3: Balance and proportionality
Example 3: Combining fruits, grains, dairy, protein, and vegetables
Characteristic 4: Contains an optimal amount of calories
Example 4: A low-calorie diet with vegetables, popcorn, legumes, and nuts
Characteristic 5: Made of fresh plant sources foods
Example 5: Combining fresh fruits and vegetables Food and Supplements for Phytochemicals.
Natural foods are better sources of dietary phytochemicals than supplements. These foods include vegetables, fruits, and grains. Dietary phytochemicals are commonly found in plant-based foods (Probst, Guan and Kent 1). Supplements cannot replace a healthy diet and can also be harmful. They can have toxic effects if they contain high levels of minerals and vitamins.
Mechanical vs. Chemical Digestion. Mechanical digestion involves the breaking down of large food particles into smaller ones. Chemical digestion involves the conversion of compounds with a higher molecular weight into those with a low molecular weight. Mechanical digestion occurs from the mouth to the stomach whereas chemical digestion takes place from the mouth to the intestines.

Mechanical digestion involves chewing, swallowing, peristaltic mixing and segmental mixing. Chemical digestion involves the application of enzymes, bile, and acid which interact with carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids.
Enzymes, Chemical Substances, and Secretions for GI Tract. The gastrointestinal tract features the amylase an enzyme produced by the salivary glands for digesting starch in maltose. There is also the gastric juice, a chemical substance which combines pepsin and hydrochloric acid used to digest proteins. The pancreatic juice secreted from the pancreas contains proteases, amylase, and lipases used to digest proteins, starch, and fats respectively. Peptidases, sucrose, lactase, and maltase produced in the intestines are used to digest peptides, sucrose, lactose, and maltose accordingly. Bile produced by the liver is used to digest fat globules into fat droplets.
Works Cited
Probst, Yasmine C., Vivienne X. Guan, and Katherine Kent. “Dietary Phytochemical Intake from Foods and Health Outcomes: a Systematic Review Protocol and Preliminary Scoping.” Bmj Open. 7.2 (2017). Print.