Food and nutrition

The feeding it is the action of living organisms to ingest any type of food, solid or liquid, to satisfy their biological needs.

The nutrition It is the obtaining and use of those components or nutrients present in food, and that are vital for the growth and / or life of the organism.

The difference between food and nutrition is that the first action refers to the actions involved with obtaining and choosing food, and the second involves the processing and digestion of food inside the body.

Food generates a nutrition process, and nutrition depends on food to be carried out.

Differences	Feeding	Nutrition
Definition	It is the obtaining and selection of foods that are going to be ingested.	It is the process of digesting the food consumed to obtain its nutrients.
Characteristics	It depends on the geographical environment. Varies according to customs and culture. Socio-economic factors influence. Influence health conditions. Depends on personal preferences. It is a voluntary act. Food activates the nutrition process.	It is a biological process. The quantity and quality of food can influence the process. It includes the digestion of food, its metabolization and excretion of waste. It is an involuntary act. Nutrition requires food to be carried out.
Types	Balanced Vegetarian Mediterranean	Autotrophic nutrition Heterotrophic nutrition

What is the Alimentation?

Food is the obtaining, selecting and preparing food in order to ingest them. In the case of humans, food can be natural or man-made, solid or liquid, it may or may not require prior processing (cleaning, boiling, cooking, etc.).

Feeding is an act that depends on many factors:

• The learning,
• the geographic environment,
• the social group,
• customs,
• socioeconomic factors,
• personal preferences,
• health conditions, etc..

Hence, although it is a universal act, it is not performed in the same way throughout the world, not even within the same social group..

On the other hand, feeding is an individual and voluntary act, since each person can decide how and when to feed..

It is important to note that the terms diet and feeding they refer to the act of choosing the foods to be consumed. When food selection has to be specific (either due to illness, as part of a weight loss program, food allergies, etc.), then it is a eating plan.

Feeding types

As the obtaining and selection of food depends on multiple factors, the types of diet can be very varied. However, there are general classifications that allow us to identify the most popular types of diet..

Balanced diet

Includes a selection of foods from all food groups (milk, meats, vegetables, vegetables, fruits, cereals and fats) in moderate amounts, which must be present in all meals that are made.

Vegetarian food

It is a type of diet based on the consumption of vegetables, legumes, cereals, fruits and fats of non-animal origin. Within vegetarianism there are some sub-classifications, such as:

• Ovolactovegetarianism: includes eggs and dairy.
• Lactovegetarianism: includes dairy
• Veganism: excludes any food of animal origin. More than a type of diet, it is a practice in which the consumption and use of products made from animals is avoided.

Mediterranean food

Also known as "Mediterranean diet", it is a selection of foods based on the eating habits of the inhabitants of the Mediterranean region (Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Greece, Morocco, Cyprus and Croatia).

This type of diet includes large amounts of vegetables, grains, fruits, legumes, and monounsaturated fats (such as that found in oily fish and nuts), while the consumption of red meat is reduced.

What is the nutrition?

Nutrition is the process by which living organisms transform food into energy and matter, to be able to fulfill its vital functions. This process takes place after digesting the food to obtain the nutrients they need.

Nutrition includes the absorption of food, its digestion, metabolization and excretion of waste or elements that are not nutritional or that have already been used by the body.

For an organism to be able to nourish itself, in the sense that it can obtain the energy it needs, it is required that the selection of food is appropriate for its needs, therefore, the type of diet directly influences the quality of nutrition,

However, nutrition is a biological, physiological and involuntary process, therefore, it will take place once the food is ingested and regardless of its type, quality or quantity.

Types of nutrition

Depending on their type of nutrition, living beings can be autotrophic or heterotrophic, depending on their primary source of food..

Autotrophic nutrition

It is the absorption of nutrients from inorganic substances. Autotrophs produce their own food from carbon dioxide, which they obtain in one of these processes:

• Photosynthesis: is the obtaining of organic matter from light energy. Most plants are photosynthetic autotrophs.
• Chemosynthesis: in this case, the nutrients are obtained after an oxide-reduction process of inorganic components. Bacteria, for example, are chemosynthetic autotrophs.

Heterotrophic nutrition

It is the process of synthesis of nutrients from organic substances. Heterotrophs cannot produce their own food, so they depend on other organisms for nourishment, whether they are autotrophs or heterotrophs..

Humans, animals, fungi and some microorganisms are heterotrophs, and in turn, they are subclassified into three types.

• Herbivores: refers to living things that only eat plants. In this case, your digestive system cannot process other types of organic matter. They depend directly on the autotrophs, who provide them with food by converting inorganic matter into organic matter. The rabbit, the horse and the elephant are examples of herbivorous animals.
• Carnivores: they are the organisms that only eat meat. In order to do so, they evolved to develop teeth, which are what allow them to obtain and grind food. the coyote, the dolphin and the crocodile are some carnivorous animals.
• Omnivores: in this case, the food source is herbivorous and carnivorous. They are not adapted to feed exclusively on plants or meat, so they combine both sources. Mammals (including humans), birds, and some species of fish and reptiles are omnivores.

See also Autotrophic and heterotrophic organisms.