110 Where There Is No Doctor 2011
MAIN FOODS AND HELPER FOODS
In much of the world, most people eat one main low-cost food with almost every
meal. Depending on the region, this may be rice, maize, millet, wheat, cassava, potato,
breadfruit, or banana. This main food usually provides most of the body’s daily
food needs.
However, the main food alone is not enough to keep a person healthy. Certain
helper foods are needed. This is especially true for growing children, women who are
pregnant or breastfeeding, and older people.
Even if a child regularly gets enough of the main food to fill her, she may become
thin and weak. This is because the main food often has so much water and fiber in it,
that the child’s belly fills up before she gets enough energy to help her grow.
We can do 2 things to help meet such children’s energy needs:
1. Feed children more often— at least 5 times a day when a child is very young, too
thin, or not growing well. Also give her snacks between meals.
CHILDREN, LIKE CHICKENS,
SHOULD ALWAYS BE PECKING.
2. Also add high energy ‘helper foods’ such as oils and sugar or honey to the main
food. It is best to add vegetable oil or foods containing oils—nuts, groundnuts
(peanuts), or seeds, especially pumpkin or sesame seeds.
If the child’s belly fills up
before her energy needs
are met, the child will
become thin and weak.
To meet her energy needs, a child would
need to eat this much boiled rice.
But she needs only this much rice when
some vegetable oil is mixed in.
High energy foods added to the main food help to supply extra energy. Also, 2 other
kinds of helper foods should be added to the main food:
When possible, add body–building foods (proteins) such as beans, milk, eggs,
groundnuts, fish, and meat.
Also try to add protective foods such as orange or yellow fruits and vegetables,
and also dark green leafy vegetables. Protective foods supply important vitamins and
minerals (see p. 113).