Why do we eat?

Question

i know it sounds very silly....but coming to think of it.....its a really gud question......because there have been people across the globe who have just survived just by smelling fragrances of flowers. Well, on asking this question many wud say....to release energy for doing work......well thats true.....but where does energy come from?..... it comes from the carbohydrates.....correct? wat is carbohydrate? simply carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.....which is abundant in the atmosphere....... then y is there a need to consume food....... pls reply......

Answer 1

It looks like you more or less know why we eat although I'd check the reliability of the sources that have told you about people surviving by smelling flowers.

You're right when you say that we eat for energy and just as a car needs to burn gas to release energy so our bodies need to burn food in order to release energy.

Everything we do requires energy - each movement we make, each breath we take, every time the heart beats all require energy. We also need a lot of energy in the form of heat in order to maintain our bodies at a more or less constant temperature. We use energy for growth, digestion, reproduction, circulation, respiration... in fact, everything we do.

The energy that we as humans use is released from the food we eat. When you look on a packet of food and it tells you the number of calories it contains what it's actually saying is the amount of energy contained in the food.

One Calorie is the amount energy that's needed to raise one gram of water by one degree centigrade. Strictly speaking a Calorie is a unit of specific heat but for simplicity it can be regarded as a unit of energy. The metric equivalent is the Joule.

Fats contain the most energy:- 9 Calories or 37 Joules per gram, sugars contain 4 Calories or 17 Joules of energy per gram.

Now, imagine a lump of wood - it sits there doing nothing but if you set it on fire it releases lots of energy, primarily in the form of heat but also a bit in the form of light and sound. It's a similar principle with the food we eat. A lump of bread might not look like much but as the enzymes in our stomachs break it down the energy it contains is released and this energy is used throughout our bodies to keep us going.

Without energy (food) we die - simple as that although it does usually take several weeks.

It's true that our atmosphere contains hydrogen, oxygen and many other gases but these have virtually no nutritional value whatsoever and for them to provide any form of sustenance they'd need to be consumed in impossibly large quantities. In any event, oxygen and nitrogen are already in their atomic state and can't be broken down any further (without splitting the atom) and it's the breaking down that releases energy.

Just to elaborate a little on your question - carbohydrates are just one type of foodstuffs and most of what we eat contains carbohydrates and other things such as proteins, salts, minerals, fibre, fats, vitamins etc. Salts, minerals and vitamins contain a negligible amount of energy but fats, proteins etc are also an important source of energy. The body digests these different foodstuffs in different ways - some are broken down quickly whereas others take a long time. It's for this reason that it's advisable to have a good breakfast in the morning - so the energy released through the day keeps you going, it's also why athletes drink glucose drinks for a quick energy burst (glucose is a simple structure and is broken down quickly so it provides energy quickly whereas fats and proteins are a more complex structure and take longer to break down).

I don’t know of this has helped clarify things, it’s ended up a bit garbled but I hope it helps.

Answer 2

Well there is no way people survive on smelling flowers...it just is not possible if you are human.

We eat because like all living things we require fuel to burn for energy to do anything like breathe, make new cells, pump blood, not die. Now as to why we need to eat instead of breathe the atmosphere it is because the elements are not in a fuel friendly form as a gas..they are separate and since gas has much much less density than a solid the same square foot of gas has so much less nutritional value compared to square foot of solid that is is basically a 0 vs infinity concept.
To subsist on a gas at our current size you would need to breathe at about 300 breaths per second and that was if the body could easily turn those gases into energy which it cannot since it would TAKE a lot of energy to convert a gas to a liquid in the body making it not very efficient.
Another reason is we need fuel like sugar right? We also need protein, we need vitamins, all of which we cannot get from the air and makes more sense biologically to get all resources needed from one input. Before you bring up breathing I will point out that breathing just needs O2 to INCREASE the energy we get from the fuel and does not provide any fuel itself which we need since made of BILLIONS of cells we need all the energy we can make

Answer 3

To keep the blood sugar level and the brain working properly which in turn keeps the rest of our systems functional. We need the elemental nutrients that food provides. Since CSF is made up of mostly glucose that "feeds" the brain. Carbs break down to make this glucose and it is not stores in the body in high enough quantities so it needs to be replaced. The same goes for protein...which is necassary to keep the heart beating.

Answer 4

We eat, because the body needs more the oxygen and carbon dioxide to survive. Minerals, Vitamins, Proteins, are all important to keep the body healthy. True, it isn't as essential, but eventually the lack of food will cause, weakness. Then eventual it will lead to death, cause the body will not function properly. Really we eat so we can crap.. :>)

Answer 5

We belong to the animal kingdom, organisms that ingest food. Some of the food we eat is converted into Adenosine Triphosphate, ATP.
It is ATP energy that powers our cells.

Answer 6

it truly is a mixture of issues--frequently that's too little exercising (with the aid of too a lot convenience of "non-actual" activities and pursuits, lack of suited social places TO get exercising like parks and sidewalks, etc.) and having nutrition thanks to available. Plus we are continuously uncovered to it---billboards, television/Radio, eating position classified ads, in line at examine-out counters, merchandising machines, on line. if you're continuously uncovered to it, you will be continuously wondering about it. And the more effective you imagine about something, the more effective you'll have a tendency to have interaction in even with it truly is you're wondering about--nutrition, activities, television, etc.. i really hate that element of us of a. we are so intense; that's both those "wellbeing-nuts" who're keen about monitoring each thing or those those who do not recognize or do not care and are keen about eating each thing. Then there are human beings like me, who grew up round both sorts of persons, and now I even do not recognize myself really a thanks to manage such issues as nutrition and hence conflict lots. i recognize what's healthful and robust, and a large type of the time i am going to keep on with it, yet from time to time seeing classified ads for a delightful chocolate cake or some different person eating it, I commence to imagine, "i have been really healthful at present. and that i have been putting a large type of time into college. Plus I merely aced that huge exam... per chance I deserve it." and then that piece of chocolate cake will change into 2 products, and boost I (someone who eats fruit & oatmeal for breakfast and salads for dinner, and runs 6 miles various situations a week plus ability trains) merely change into between the lazy human beings. it truly is a curler coaster. and that i could really favor to get off.

Answer 7

It's a bad habit. But one can beat the habit. I lived off Ensure two years.

Answer 8

food is necessary for our body as it generates energy which inturn functions all the organs of the body.

Answer 9

Where did you hear that there are people who survive by simply
smelling flowers...Pure NONSENSE...
No food...You die....Thats it....

Answer 10

"It's a really gud question."

Are you kidding? You can't spell "good?"