3. THE FOUR MAJOR GROUPS ARE:-
1:Vegetables and legumes/beans/fruit
2:Lean meats and poultry, fish, eggs ,nuts and seeds ,legumes
/bean.
3:Grain (cereal) foods, mostly wholegrain and/or high cereal
fibre varieties.
4:Milk, yoghurt, cheese and/or alternatives, mostly reduced
fat.
Foods are grouped together because they provide similar
amounts of key nutrients.
For example, key nutrients of the milk, yoghurt, cheese and
alternatives group include calcium and protein, while the fruit
group is a good source of vitamins, especially vitamin C.
4. In everyday usage, a vegetable is any
part of a plant that is consumed by
humans as food as part of a savoury
course or meal.
The term "vegetable" is somewhat
arbitrary, and largely defined through
culinary and cultural tradition.
It normally excludes other main types
of plant food, fruits, nuts and cereal
grains but includes seeds such as
pulses.
The original meaning of the word
vegetable, still used in biology, was to
describe all types of plant, as in the
terms "vegetable kingdom" and
"vegetable matter.
5. Bean is sometimes used as a
synonym of pulse, an edible
legume, though the term
pulses is more correctly
reserved for leguminous crops
harvested for their dry grain.
The term bean usually
excludes crops used mainly
for oil extraction, as well as
those used exclusively for
sowing purposes .
6. A fish is any member of a paraphyletic
group of organisms that consist of all
gill-bearing aquatic craniate animals
that lack limbs with digits.
Included in this definition are the living
hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and
bony fish, as well as various extinct
related groups.
Most fish are ectothermic, allowing their
body temperatures to vary as ambient
temperatures change, though some of
the large active swimmers like white
shark and tuna can hold a higher core
temperature.
7. Eggs are laid by female animals of many
different species, including birds, reptiles,
amphibians, and fish, and have been eaten
by humans for thousands of years.
Bird and reptile eggs consist of a
protective eggshell, albumen (egg white),
and vitellus (egg yolk), contained within
various thin membranes.
The most popular choice for egg
consumption are chicken eggs.
Other popular choices for egg
consumption are duck, quail, roe, and
caviar.
Egg yolks and whole eggs store significant
amounts of protein and choline, and are
widely used in cookery.
8. A nut is a fruit composed of a hard
shell and a seed, which is generally
edible.
In botany, there is an additional
requirement that the shell does not
open to release the seed
(indehiscent).
In a general context, a wide variety
of dried seeds are called nuts, but
in a botanical context, only ones
that include the indehiscent fruit
are considered true nuts.
9. Grains are small, hard, dry seeds, with
or without attached hulls or fruit
layers, harvested for human or animal
consumption.
Agronomists also call the plants
producing such seeds "grain crops".
The two main types of commercial
grain crops are cereals such as wheat
and rye, and legumes such as beans
and soybeans.
After being harvested, dry grains are
more durable than other staple foods
such as starchy fruits (plantains,
breadfruit, etc.) and tubers (sweet
potatoes, cassava, etc.).
10. Milk is a white liquid produced by
the mammary glands of mammals.
It is the primary source of
nutrition for young mammals
before they are able to digest other
types of food.
Early-lactation milk contains
colostrum, which carries the
mother's antibodies to its young
and can reduce the risk of many
diseases.
Milk contains many other
nutrients and the carbohydrate
lactose.
11. Many plants and plant parts are eaten as food and around
2,000 plant species which are cultivated for food. Many of
these plant species have several distinct cultivars]
Seeds of plants are a good source of food for animals,
including humans, because they contain the nutrients
necessary for the plant's initial growth, including many
healthful fats, such as Omega fats.
In fact, the majority of food consumed by human beings
are seed-based foods. Edible seeds include cereals [maize,
wheat, rice , etc ] , legumes [beans , peas, lentil , etc ] and
nuts.
Oilseeds are often pressed to produce rich oils - sunflower,
flaxseed, rapeseed , sesame, etc.
Seeds are typically high in unsaturated fats and, in
moderation, are considered a health food, although not all
seeds are edible.
Large seeds, such as those from a lemon, pose a choking
hazard, while seeds from cherries and apples contain
cyanide which could be poisonous only if consumed in
large volumes.
12. Animal source foods (ASF)
include many food item that
comes from an animal source
such as meat, milk, eggs,
cheese and yogurt.
Many individuals do not
consume ASF or consume
little ASF by either personal
choice or necessity as ASF
may not be accessible or
available to these people.
