Nutrition is the biological and nutritional process by which an organism uses food for its survival. It involves absorption, assimilation, production, digestion, utilization, and excretion. The nutritionists divide the nutrients in foods into energy, fat, water, fiber, macronutrients and nutritive values. There is also a lot of research going on to find morenutrition facts regarding the benefits of each food type. The first round of nutrition facts pertains to the Food Pyramid Guide. The Food Pyramid guides show that the major food groups can be split into eight groups, depending on their caloric content. These include whole grains, vegetables, fruits, protein-rich foods, dairy products, fats, legumes, and alcoholic beverages. Based on this data, you can determine which groups are recommended as the major sources of your daily nutrition. Based on the data, you then determine the groups of food choices that can be added to your diet to meet these recommended nutrition levels. The second set of nutrition facts pertains to fruit, vegetable and grain diets. According to the USDA Food Guide Pyramid, fruit includes: apples, bananas, peaches, grapes, melons, and strawberries. Vegetables are: beans, broccoli, carrots, Brussels sprouts, spinach, squash, turnips, onions, green and red bell peppers, and cabbage. Grains include: whole wheat breads, pasta, cereals, pastries, and teas. To get a more balanced diet, you can add variety to your diet by including dairy products, nuts and legumes to the diet as well. One important aspect of a healthy balanced diet is getting enough micronutrients. In particular, micronutrients are essential for maintaining health and the growth of body cells. For example, calcium is a good source of micronutrients that are required by the bones and teeth. Calcium also plays an important role in keeping our teeth and bones strong. Similarly, magnesium is an important micronutrient that prevents muscle cramps, muscle spasms, diarrhea, dizziness and other side effects of a poor diet. Prenatal vitamins also contain minerals such as magnesium and iron that help prevent defects in the growing baby. In fact, it has been determined that a baby is indeed best served from the time it is born until it is weaned by 4 months. Therefore, it is advisable to start introducing solids at this stage to provide the baby with the main sources of micronutrients from the very beginning of its life. However, if you are not keen on introducing solid foods, there are other alternative sources of micronutrients that you can include in your diet. Examples of these include zinc and magnesium. Zinc acts as an important protection for the body against bacterial infections and other harmful substances. As a result, it is included in many of the main substances used in food processing and in vitamin supplements. On the other hand, vitamin c is beneficial in preventing against scurvy and is found in most fruits. It helps maintain good eyesight while it is still in the developing stage. Some fruits that are rich in vitamin c are oranges, strawberries, cantaloupes, bananas and some citrus fruits. Since beef liver is considered to be one of the main sources of vitamin c in the Eastern part of the world, beef liver is often included in diets. However, you can add more fruits to your diet as you grow older and will find that the benefits of beef liver to the body will no longer apply. The above mentioned examples are just a few of the foods that are classified as animal foods. Plants and fungi make up the other two groups of food. Fruits, vegetables and nuts make up the other category of food. The balanced diet recommended by most experts consists of a combination of foods from each group including meat, fish, milk and eggs from dairy products, poultry, fish and small animals, fruits and vegetables from a variety of fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds. With this menu, you are sure to get a balanced diet and live a healthy life.