A balanced diet consists of mainly 7 components and these are “Carbohydrate”, “protein”,
“fat”,” vitamins”, “minerals”, “fibres” as well as “Water”.
- Carbohydrate
Eating carbohydrates is important as it is the primary source of energy. 1 g carbohydrate
provides 4.1 Kcal of energy and as carbohydrate provides the energy it prevents the protein
from participating in this function. Instead, protein plays other important roles in the body and
this mechanism is called the “Protein sparing action” of carbohydrates. - Protein
1 g of protein when metabolises provide 4.2 kcal energy. However, the main function of
protein is to protect the body from disease, and infection, by improving immunity
(Jayawardena and Mishra, 2020). . Moreover, the role of the protein is to build enzymes and
peptide hormones in the body.
