Food Sources for Engery?!
Question:
Does anyone know of any food sources that increase or sustain energy levels throughout day?
Answers:
Cereal grains are the seeds of domesticated grasses. It is the seed or kernel of the grass that is used as food. They constitute major foodstuff in the diet of man. The chief staples used are rice, wheat, jowar, bajra, ragi, and maize. These grains are the main source of energy in diets contributing as they do 70 - 80 % 0f daily energy intake of majority of Indians.
Cereals are more nutritious in the whole grain from when they contain greater levels of B- complex vitamins and dietary fiber. They are excellent sources of carbohydrates and also some protein, which is usually of good quality. Cereals contain 6 - 12% proteins, which is generally deficient in lysine and provides more than 50% of daily protein intake. Cereals when eaten with pulses, as is the common practice in India, the protein quality improves due to mutual supplementation between cereal and pulse proteins, the former being deficient while the latter being rich in lysine.
Cereals are also source of some nutrients like Iron and calcium. Millets including ragi are rich in minerals especially calcium and fiber. Cereals particularly the whole grains are important source of B - vitamins in our diet. Since most of these vitamins reside in outer bran, polishing refines these grains reduces B- vitamin content to different degrees depending upon the extent of refining and polishing. Parboiling which includes soaking in water and steaming of paddy results in seeping of vitamins present in outer layer into the grain. Hence even milled and polished parboiled rice retains much of the vitamins.
Cereals do not contain either vitamin A or vitamin C except that yellow maize and some varieties of sorghum contain small amounts of B- carotene. Cereals are generally considered to have low fat content .The total fat content in cereals may vary from 2 to 5gm per 100gm.
Fiber, oil and B vitamins as well as iron, vitamin E and protein come from the germ at its base of wheat and the layer of starchy tissue which surrounds its core, the endosperm, for most cereals. Milling involves the removal of the outer husk or bran and the nutrient rich germ from the endosperm which is then used to make flour. Cereal bran adds bulk to the diet, an excess can irritate the bowel. Milling often involves complex sifting operations to produce highly refined flours from which all most every trace of bran has been removed.
Most people prefer the softer texture of refined cereal products such as white bread and polished white rice. Most manufactures now compensate for nutritional losses that result from milling by fortifying. Rice so fortified is likely to lose some of the nutrients added during washing and cooking. Though they may be fortified with vitamins, refined products contain less fiber than whole grain foods. Fiber helps to prevent constipation and may help to reduce the risk of developing bowel disorders including hemorrhoids and bowel cancer.
Rice - is the staple food for around half the world's population, Nutritionally brown rice is a good source of B vitamins .It also contains calcium and phosphorous. White rice which has had its outer layers stripped away contains mostly carbohydrate and a little protein. In populations who insist in white rice, thiamin deficiency is common. The bran present in brown rice also contains anti nutritional factors such as phytic acid, which inhibits the absorption of iron and calcium. Many of the vitamins in rice can be retained if it is parboiled before milling. Rice is gluten free - so it is useful for anyone with wheat intolerance or COELIAC disease and it also makes a soft weaning food. For ages rice has been used as medicine to treat digestive disorders, likes indigestion to diverticular disease. It also relieves mild cases of diarrhoea and constipation. Eating rice bran that can be bought in health food shops may reduce the risk of bowel cancer.
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Wheat - Next to rice, wheat is the grain most extensively cultivated and consumed. Wheat contains more protein than other food grains but is deficient in lysine. Wheat is consumed mostly as chapathies in India and in the form of yeast bread in western countries. Wheat is classified as hard or soft according to the gluten content. The gluten content of wheat varies from about 9 to 13%. The harder varieties contain more gluten than softer varieties and are more suitable for bread and chapathies where as the latter are more suitable for cakes, biscuits and pastry. Whole wheat flour which includes the bran and the germ is a useful source of dietary fiber and B complex vitamins.
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Bajra and jowar - are referred to as small millet and big millet. They are both widely used in Maharastra, Gujarat, Madhyapradesh of India, mainly for making roti. Bajra protein is relatively richer in lysine, methionine and tryptophan than other grains. Bajra contains 5 - 6 % fat which is of some significance in low fat diets as 400 - 500 gms of bajra would provide 20 - 30 gms of fat and 10 - 15 gms of linolenic acid. Bajra is a reasonably good source of thiamin (Vitamin B1). It is also a better source of iron than other grains. Jowar is deficient in lysine and has an excess of leucine.
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Ragi contains about 6.7 % protein. Ragi protein is reported to be a good quality. Ragi is rich in methonine, which is an aminoacid lacking in most of the other cereals. Ragi is also found to have liberal amount of calcium. Ragi has been traditionally used in infant feeding.
Sprouting of Food Grains increases their digestibility and nutritive value. The vitamins content in food grains, like riboflavin, nicotinic acid and pyridoxine and phosphorus increase appreciably during sprouting.
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NO MORE FATTY FOODS! that would help very much!
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