About your body
Nutrients and Water
Feeling hungry? You need to provide your body with nutrients. Nutrients are substances needed for energy, cell functioning and for your body’s growth and repair.
The five main groups of nutrients needed to stay alive are:
- Carbohydrates (example: bread, cereals, fruit and vegetables)
- Proteins (example: meat, chicken, fish, eggs seeds & nuts)
- Lipids (example: unsaturated fats and oils from plant foods)
- Vitamins (example: from eating a variety of foods)
- Minerals (example: from eating a variety of foods)
Carbohydrates and lipids are nutrients that give you energy.
Proteins supply you with some energy, but mostly they have a role in making sure your muscles and organs can function. Proteins are also used to repair cells and worn out body-tissue and by your liver to create hormones.
Vitamins have no energy value for your body but they are needed in small amounts to keep you healthy and to speed up many of the chemical reactions in your body.
Minerals play an important role in various bodily functions. They provide structure to bones and teeth, used in energy production and blood formation.
Everybody says drink lots of water, but why? Water is essential for life but it’s not really a nutrient – you need water to stay alive. The human body contains 50-70% water. Water is needed to dissolve with other substances and carries the nutrients and other materials around your body, making it possible for every other organ to do its job.
You lose water through just breathing out, sweating and urinating (weeing). That’s a lot of water to lose!