Chapter 5 — Food for Health

The three food groups are: energy-providing foods (rice, wheat, potato, millets, ghee, oil), body-building foods (pulses, milk, eggs, meat, fish, almonds), and protective foods (fruits and vegetables like carrot, orange, spinach, and amla). Eating from all three groups is necessary because no single food contains all the nutrients the body needs.

Shad rasa means the six tastes in Ayurveda: sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter, and astringent. The chapter introduces this concept through Ugadi Pachadi, a traditional dish from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Telangana, which contains all six tastes. Ayurveda suggests that eating food with all six tastes is good for health.

Ugadi Pachadi is a traditional food from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Telangana made with six taste elements. The chapter uses it to explain the concept of shad rasa (six tastes) and to show students that different people can experience the same food differently. It is featured at the 'Mystery Masala' stall of the school food festival.

Millets such as jowar, bajra, ragi, and jau are called super foods because they are rich sources of nutrients. The chapter mentions that families traditionally ate jowar and bajra roti in winters and jau roti in summers. The food festival in the story features a dedicated millet stall where children enjoy jowar upma and other millet-based dishes.

Junk food includes soft drinks, chips, bread pakoda, burgers, pizza, and over-processed or packaged food. These are high in oil, salt, and sugar and are not healthy if consumed regularly in large quantities. The chapter advises that fresh home-cooked food is always better than over-processed or packaged food.

A balanced plate includes food from all three food groups in the right quantities: protective foods (fruits and vegetables) form the largest portion, followed by body-building foods, and then energy-providing foods. This combination helps us stay healthy, active, and happy.

Water helps in digesting food, keeps the skin and body healthy, and removes waste from the body through urine, sweat, and faeces. The chapter also points out that eating water-rich fruits like watermelon and cucumber can help maintain water levels in the body. Drinking sufficient water should be a part of healthy daily habits.

The chapter lists steaming, boiling, frying, roasting, grilling, and baking as different cooking methods. It also mentions that some foods like fruit chaat and vegetable salads can be eaten without cooking. A solar cooker is also introduced as an eco-friendly method that uses sunlight instead of gas or electricity and does not produce smoke or ash.

The chapter includes making a food diary for one week, creating a food collage with three sections (energy, body-building, protective foods), checking labels on packaged food for expiry dates and ingredients, and organising a food festival at school. Students are also asked to list junk foods they will avoid and find millet-based foods prepared at home.

The chapter opens with a school food festival where students and parents bring a variety of food items. Stalls display regional dishes from across India including dhokla, litti-chowkha, dal-baati-churma, bajre-ki-khichdi, chhena-poda, kadhi-pakoda, ker-sangri, hot dosa, ragi laddu, and more. The festival is used to explore food diversity, food groups, tastes, and healthy eating habits.

The chapter mentions that every region in India has a special thali with different food items, tastes, and health benefits. It does not name specific thalis by region but encourages students to find out the thali from their own region and list its food items. The food festival in the story features dishes from many states, reflecting this diversity.

No single food contains all the nutrients the body needs, so eating from only one group would deprive the body of essential nutrients for energy, growth, or disease protection. The chapter states that the body requires a variety of food items to stay healthy, energetic, and strong, and that food is required for balanced growth.