Post on 25-Dec-2015
Liceo Scientifico - Linguistico Statale
“Leonardo da Vinci” Bisceglie (Italy) A.S. 2007-2008
COMENIUS PROJECT 1Contract n. 2007/07 – ITA – 01 – C06 - 01462 – 2
Food, we are what we eat
teachers: Giulia Dell’Orco, Giuseppe Torchetti
In collaboration withINSTITUTE SAINT LÔ (FRANCE)
ROSBORG AMTSGYMNASIUM (DENMARK)GRUP SCOLAR INDUSTRIAL (ROMANIA)
inizio
The weight of the body has always been relevant in the human evolution.
Fat people were considered in good health
differently from slim people.
Even if in the past food was chosen just as
nourishment…
…today it is chosen for its amount, its
taste, its good looking, quickness and easiness in its
preparation.
Recent studies show that the more a
person is fat, the worse is the quality
of his life.
The modern man makes at least three kinds of
mistakes when he sits at table for a meal :
he eats too much
he eats hypercaloric food
he eats “not natural” food
A man is, on the biological side, the result of the
transformation of the food that he eats :
WE ARE WHAT WE EAT
These modern eating habits have
consequences on human health impossible to be
avoided.
The most common consequences are:
Hypertension
Hypercholesterolemia
Diabetes
Hypertension
Blood pressure is the force exerted by blood on the walls of blood
vessels. Normally, the blood pressure is below
120/80 mmHg. If it is higher, we can talk of high pressure, while hypertension is the
chronical rise of blood pressure.
It can cause a stroke, or an aneurysm. It is dangerous even if
pressure is just a little higher than normal values. The most common form of hypertension has
several contributing factors:
salt, obesity, sedentary life,
diabetes, genetics, age
We cannot act on genetics and age but
we can avoid hypertension by
reducing the amount of salt, preventing
hypercholesterolemia and diabetes, and by increasing physical
activity.
Cholesterol
Cholesterol is a polycyclic alcohol whose synthesis occurs in the liver, which
metabolises saturated fats. Our body produces
cholesterol continuously, but it will use only the
necessary amount for the synthesis of biliary salts,
vitamin D and several hormones.
Cholesterol is normally transported in blood by
lipoproteins: LDL and HDL.
The first one carries cholesterol from the liver to the other tissues, and
the second one in the opposite direction.
The hypercholesterolemia is an higher amount of cholesterol in the blood
dued to hereditary causes or food.
Diet is the basic treatment of hypercholesterolemia, in order to reduce the higher
levels of cholesterol.Hypercholesterolemia can lead to atherosclerosis.
Atherosclerosis
The atherosclerosis is a disease which consists of
the progressive hardening of the arteries
and loss of elasticity. Although it is a disease that develops with old age, it could start to develop very soon.
The main clinical symptom of
atherosclerosis is the ischemic heart
disease. The most common causes are:
lack of physical activity, wrong diet,
smoke, diabetes, obesity and
hypertension.
The typical damage of atherosclerosis is
the “plaque”, a thickening of the
artery wall.The plaque is
responsible for the symptoms of
atherosclerosis since it obstructs
the vessel.
When the “stenosis” of artery exceeds a
threshold level, the passage of the blood is difficult and nutrition
of tissues is compromised.
Diabetes
Diabetes is a disease characterized by disordered metabolism and a high level
of sugar in the blood resulting from lower levels
of insulin .The causes of diabetes are still unknown. It is thought that it is often caused by hereditary characteristics
but it is sure that a large use of carbohydrates
predisposes to this disease.
Diabetes is more common among white people than
among black one, therefore it is a typical disease of developed
countries.Diabetes causes many complications. Acute
complications might occur if the disease is not
adequately controlled. Serious long-term
complications include cardiovascular diseases,
chronic renal failures, retinal, nerve and
microvascular damages.
Since hypertension, hypercholesterolemi
a and diabetes depend on a wrong
diet, it would be enough to avoid diet mistakes in order to
be healthy.
The most important thing is to match
the food we eat with the capacities of our
organism and the climate of the place
we live in.
In our case the diet must be
composed of a lot of vegetables and few animal foods.
Any food such as
bread, rice, pasta, oatmeal,
breakfast cereals, and
grits are examples of
grain products.
What food is included in the grains group?
Any vegetable counts as a
member of the vegetable group. Vegetables may
be raw or cooked; fresh, frozen,
canned, or dried/dehydrate.
What food is included in the vegetable group?
Any fruit or 100% fruit juice counts
as part of the fruit group. Fruits
may be fresh, canned, frozen,
or dried, and may be whole,
cut-up, or pureed.
What food is included in the fruit group?
Oils, butter and margarine are fats used in cooking. Oils come from many different
plants, butter and lard are derived
from animals. It is not healthy to eat large amounts of oils and butter.
What food is included in the oil group?
All foods made from milk are
considered part of this food group.
Foods rich in calcium are part of
the group, while foods that have
little to no calcium, such as cream
cheese, cream, and butter, are not.
What food is included in the milk group?
What food is included in the meat & beans group?
All foods made from meat, poultry, fish, dry beans or peas, eggs, nuts, and seeds are
considered part of this group. Dry beans and peas are part of this group as well as the vegetable group.
Most meat and poultry choices should be lean or low-fat. Fish, nuts,
and seeds contain healthy oils.
The last colour you should use to live better is
white...physical activity!
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
Physical activity simply means movement of the body that
uses energy. Walking, gardening, briskly pushing a baby stroller, climbing the stairs, playing soccer, or
dancing the night away are all good examples of being active.
For health benefits, physical activity should add up to at
least 30 minutes a day.
Emma
Marina
GiuseppeDaniele
Elena
Rosita
Francesco
Tiziano
Sergio
Roberta
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