Food That Helps Me Grow

1Food does three different jobs

Think about a jiko. To cook, you need charcoal — that is the fuel that makes the heat. But charcoal alone will not build you a house; for that you need bricks. And neither one will keep the rain off you; for that you need a roof.

Your body is the same. It needs three kinds of food, and each one does a job the others cannot do.

21. Energy foods — the fuel

These give you the power to run, to walk to school, to carry water, to think, and to keep your heart beating all night while you sleep.

Energy foods: ibirayi (potatoes), sweet potatoes, cassava, rice, maize and ubugali, bread, cooking bananas, sorghum, sugar and cooking oil.

Without enough energy food you feel weak and tired, and you cannot play or concentrate in class.

32. Body-building foods — the bricks

These build new parts of you. You are growing right now: your bones are getting longer, your muscles are getting stronger, and if you cut your knee, your body must build new skin over it. All of that needs bricks.

Body-building foods: beans, peas, soya, groundnuts, eggs, milk, meat, chicken and fish — like the small isambaza from Lake Kivu.

A child who eats energy food but almost no body-building food does not grow well, and stays small and weak.

43. Protective foods — the roof

These do not build you and they do not fuel you. They protect you: they help your body fight off illness, help your eyes see well, keep your gums healthy, and help cuts heal.

Protective foods: fruits and vegetables. Dodo and other green leaves, cabbage, carrots, tomatoes, onions, oranges, mangoes, passion fruit, pineapple. Clean water belongs with them as the drink your body must have every single day.

Children who never eat fruit or vegetables catch illnesses easily and take longer to get better.

5One food, sometimes two jobs

Some foods are helpful in more than one group. Beans are mainly body-building, but they give you some energy too. Milk builds you and also protects you. That is fine — but you must still eat from all three groups, because no single food does everything.

6A balanced plate

A balanced meal has something from each of the three groups, plus clean water.

Worked example: fix Uwase's plate

Uwase serves herself: rice, boiled ibirayi, and a piece of cassava. She says, “Look at all this food! My plate is full.” Is her meal balanced?

Step 1 — Sort each food into its group.

• Rice → energy food
• Ibirayi → energy food
• Cassava → energy food

Step 2 — Tick off the three groups. Energy: yes, three times over. Body-building: none. Protective: none.

Step 3 — Decide. Her plate is full but it is not balanced. Full and balanced are not the same thing! She has plenty of fuel and no bricks and no roof.

Step 4 — Fix it. She does not need more rice. She needs to swap some of it for what is missing: take away the cassava, and add beans (body-building) and some cooked dodo leaves or a tomato (protective). Now her plate has all three groups. Add a cup of clean water and supper is complete.

7Good habits at mealtimes

• Eat three meals a day, and never skip breakfast — your brain works badly on an empty stomach.
• Wash your hands with soap before you eat, and wash fruit before you bite it.
• Drink clean, safe water through the day, especially when it is hot.
• Sweets and sugary drinks are not a food group. They give quick energy and holes in your teeth, and nothing else.

Try it yourself

Work each one out first, then check.

1. Sort these into their groups: beans, sweet potatoes, oranges, eggs, cassava, dodo leaves.
2. Mugisha's plate has ubugali and a heap of chips. Which group is he missing the most, and what could he add?
3. Keza's little sister eats plenty of food, but almost never beans, eggs, milk or fish. Her friends are growing taller and she is not. Why?
4. Uwase has 1,000 Frw at the market and her basket already holds rice and beans. What should she buy with the money to balance the meal?
5. Is a plate that is completely full always a balanced plate?

Answers

1. Energy: sweet potatoes, cassava. Body-building: beans, eggs. Protective: oranges, dodo leaves.
2. He has two energy foods and nothing else. He is missing body-building AND protective foods. He could add beans or an egg, plus some greens or a tomato.
3. She is short of body-building foods — the bricks. Energy food alone cannot build new bone and muscle, so her body has no material to grow with.
4. Rice is energy and beans are body-building, so the missing group is protective. She should buy fruit or vegetables — tomatoes, dodo, a carrot or some oranges.
5. No. A plate can be piled high with three energy foods and still be unbalanced. Balanced means one from each group, not simply a lot of food.