Chapter 3 — Mindful Eating: A Path to a Healthy Body
Curiosity: Textbook of Science, Grade 6 · pages 35–59
Lesson
The full chapter: 16 key terms, 11 concepts, 6 figures described, and every end-of-chapter question.
Revision Sheet
The nutrient groups, the full vitamin/mineral table, the three food tests, and the case studies — on one page.
Flashcards
30 click-to-flip cards in 5 decks, plus a rapid-fire drill. Shuffle them for a harder run.
Mind Map
Food → nutrients → tests → deficiency → balanced diet → millets, junk food and food miles.
Question Bank
35 written questions, 52 marks — fill in the blanks, true/false, match, short and long answers, and HOTS.
MCQ Quest — 50 questions
5 levels. No answers revealed until you finish, then a full review — plus a rank badge and XP bar at the end.
What this chapter is about
This chapter explores what we eat, why we eat it, and how food keeps us healthy. It looks at India's food diversity and how culinary practices have changed (chulha → gas stove), then the components of food — carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals, roughage and water — with simple tests for starch, fat and protein. It covers deficiency diseases (scurvy, rickets, goitre, anaemia, beriberi, night blindness), the balanced diet, millets as nutri-cereals, junk food, packaged-food labels and fortification, and food miles — the journey of food from farm to plate.
The six things most worth remembering
1 · Three jobs of food
Energy-giving: carbohydrates and fats. Body-building: proteins. Protective: vitamins and minerals.
2 · Three food tests
Starch + iodine → blue-black. Fat on paper → oily patch. Protein + copper sulphate + caustic soda → violet.
3 · Deficiency diseases
Vit C → scurvy · Vit D → rickets · Vit A → night blindness · Vit B₁ → beriberi · Iodine → goitre · Iron → anaemia.
4 · Balanced diet
All nutrients, plus roughage and water, in the right amounts. Needs vary with age, gender, activity and health.
5 · Millets = nutri-cereals
Jowar, bajra, ragi, sanwa — rich in vitamins, minerals and fibre, and easy to grow in different climates.
6 · Food miles
The distance food travels from farmer to consumer. Eat local: less cost and pollution, fresher food, support for farmers.