Mindful Eating: A Path to a Healthy Body

About this chapter

Mindful Eating is the third chapter of Class 6 Curiosity. Through Medu and Mishti's noticeboard saying — annena jatani jivanti, 'food gives life to living beings' — students explore why we eat, how food varies across India, and how cooking has shifted from chulha and sil-batta to gas stoves and electric grinders. The chapter builds the nutrient framework: carbohydrates and fats as energy-givers; proteins as body-builders; vitamins (A, B1, C, D) and minerals (calcium, iodine, iron) as protective nutrients; plus roughage and water. Deficiency diseases — scurvy, beriberi, rickets, goitre, anaemia, night blindness — are paired with their nutrients. Three nutrient tests are taught: iodine turning blue-black for starch, an oily patch on paper for fat, and the violet copper-sulfate-and-caustic-soda test for protein. The chapter closes with balanced diet, junk food, FSSAI, millets as nutri-cereals, and food miles. CTET Paper 2 Science tests this chapter through deficiency-disease pairing, nutrient sources, test-colour cues and balanced-diet reasoning. The four tests — Practice 15 Q, Quiz 15 Q, Hard 15 Q, Mastery 30 Q — cover these ideas at exam depth.