Nutrition Promotes Healthy Living

It’s no surprise that nutrition promotes healthy living. What is surprising is how little we truly know about nutrition. There is no magic when it comes to Nutrition. Nutrition is not about losing weight. Weight loss diets may help you lose weight temporarily, but they do no promote healthy living. Each one of us plays a key role in keeping our bodies healthy. We have a responsibility to learn as much as we can about nutrition and how it promotes healthy living.

There is no argument to the fact that nutrition promotes healthy living. Serious illnesses and chronic conditions that lower our quality of life can be prevented if we learn the basics about nutrition. Not to mention that staying healthy through good nutrition will also reduce health care costs.

It is a well known fact that we are what we eat and that when we consume fat-laden fries, sugar-filled drinks and salty convenience foods we feel weak and sluggish and at the same time are creating unhealthy changes in our brain chemistry that promote cravings for more of these unhealthy foods. We are then left with a vicious cycle of unhealthy living.

Choosing nutritious foods can affect our cells, can promote better digestion and can help us avoid the symptoms of food sensitivities all of which improves the assimilation of the nutrients in our food and increases energy and vitality. It is very simple; food provides the basic source of nutrition and energy that we need to support the health of our body. Therefore, we must become aware of the fact that whatever we consume on a daily basis will have an enormous impact on our health. So then why do we subject ourselves to unhealthy foods that can negatively impact our health?

There are many factors that can influence the foods we choose to eat including cost, availability and understanding of what is really healthy to eat. Other factors that influence what we eat include advertising or how we are influenced by the media, our social status, our friends, our education and our environment. Since food and nutrition are key components in the promotion of health and the prevention of disease it is important that we become aware of and address these factors. The good news is that we have control over most of these factors by simply becoming more informed and taking control of the foods we eat.

Let’s begin by becoming familiar with how our bodies digest the food we give it and the essential elements of good nutrition. Although we don’t pay much attention to our body’s digestion system, unless we develop gastrointestinal disorders such as coeliac disease, the mechanics of digestions are quite complex.

Imagine for a moment how complicated the body’s job is in trying to figure out the different mass and types of individual molecules, each chemically different, contained in the food that just arrived in the body. Like I said, this is a complex process. Actually, there are two major and different processes of digestion: the mechanical process, such as chewing and grinding, which helps separate the different types of molecules, and the chemical process, in the form of enzymes that can cut the bonds within the molecules, to release small nutrients into your system. Not an easy task.

A fascinating feature of the digestive system is that it contains its own regulators. The digestive tract provides the pathway through which foods move through the body. During this process, foods are broken down into their component nutrients to be available for absorption. Digestion alone does not promote health; digestion is simply the conduit for carrying nutrients through your body.

And to work hand in hand with your digestive system, you must become familiar with the essential elements of good nutrition in order for it to do its best work. The key elements to good nutrition are:

Proteins :

Proteins provide amino acid building blocks which are essential for growth and repair and are very important to your body because they compose the great majority of the structural tissue in your body. In other words, your bones and connective tissues need protein.

Proteins are made up of smaller molecules called amino acids that are strung together by chemical bonds like beads on a chain. And proteins are involved in just about every function in the body because enzymes are proteins and they are the molecules in the body that do much of the work. The job of the Proteins is endless; they also carry messages in your body, transporting hormones from one place to another. They also transport signals across your cell membranes to your DNA.

As you grow or have tissue damage, your body must make new proteins. And enzymes are constantly being produced in order to replace older, less functional ones. So it is then no mystery that to maintain optimal health, your body needs a continuous supply of the nutrients to support protein production. It is estimated that healthy adults need around 40 to 65 grams of protein per day. When this not provided in the food you eat, the body will begin to break down muscle and other tissues to obtain the amino acids it needs. In other words, it begins to feed on itself! All of which will lead to poor muscle formation, thin and fragile hair, skin lesions, poor immune system as well as other symptoms.

Fats :

Fats have the job of insulating your body’s cells form the outside world. Another word for fats is lipids and they are very important for many important functions in your body. They are a main component of the membranes of all the cells in your body. In other words, without fats, your cells would have no covering or boundary. And they also can provide energy and are involved in supporting the immune system, brain health, and cardiovascular function.

The brain is about 60% fats by weight. A lot of the fat found in the brain is in the cell membranes of the neurons and in the protective myelin sheath that covers them. The types and proportions of fats in the cell membranes determine how effectively the brain cells communicate. But not all fats are created equal. The best fats are Monounsaturated (found in avocados, nuts, olives, etc), followed by the Polyunsaturated (certain oils and seeds) and Omega 3 fatty acids (fish such as salmon and mackerel, nuts and flaxseed). The bad fats are Saturated (bacon, ice cream, cheese, etc) and Trans fats (shortening).

Research has shown that all kinds of mental disorders including Parkinson's disease, depression, Alzheimer's disease, dementia, and schizophrenia are connected with deficiencies in the essential fatty acids, and with an imbalance between omega-6 and omega-3 fats. For example, children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADD/ADHD) have been shown to have low levels of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) the primary structural component of brain tissue in their blood.

“DHA is the primary structural component of brain tissue, so it stands to reason that a deficiency of DHA in the diet could translate into a deficiency in brain function. In fact, research is increasingly recognizing the possibility that DHA has a crucial influence on neurotransmitters in the brain, helping brain cells better communicate with each other. Asian cultures have long appreciated the brain-building effects of DHA. In Japan, DHA is considered such an important "health food" that it is used as a nutritional supplement to enrich some foods, and students frequently take DHA pills before examinations.”

So, we should pay attention to the fats we consume.

The essential fats our bodies need are just a few and they cannot be created internally so you must provide them through your diet. These include omega-6 fatty acid (or linoleum) and Omega-3 fatty acid.

Carbohydrates :

Carbohydrates provide energy and fiber essential for the health of the intestine. They actually provide about 40 to 45% of the body’s energy and they are found mostly in fruits, vegetables and cereals.

They are comprised of small and large molecules. For example, table sugar (sucrose) or glucose is a small carbohydrate. Examples of larger carbohydrates include gums, gels, or pastes, like you get with bread or cookie dough.

Vitamins and Minerals :

Did you know that vitamins and minerals are absorbed selectively? They are quite different in structure and amount in the foods you eat and usually they are released during the breakdown of large molecules in which they may be enclosed.How nutrients are brought into your body may impact the way they are utilized.

Nutrients do not work alone but in conjunction with other nutrients. When we eat a variety of fresh whole foods our bodies are not only provided with essential nutrients, but they are also receiving the variety of nutrients that our bodies need to absorb the vitamins and minerals in the foods we consume.

Considering then what the body needs to promote healthy living, we can then derive a list of essential nutrients: alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, biotin, calcium, carotenoids, choline, chromium, coenzyme Q, copper, cysteine, enzymes, flavonoids, folate, glutamine, iodine, iron, lipoic acid, lutein and zeaxanthin, lycopene, magnesium, manganese, niacin-B3, omega 3 fatty acids, pantothenic acid - B5,potassium, protein, riboflavin-B2, selenium, thiamin-B1, tryptophan, vitamin A, vitamin B-12, vitamin B6, vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E, vitamin K, zinc.

Scary, isn’t it? But you don’t have to have a degree in chemistry or medicine in order to provide your body with these essential nutrients. What is needed is simply that we select the right foods in order for our bodies to get plenty of the essential nutrients it needs. The body knows what to do, it knows how to process the healthy nutrients that we provide it with. How do we provide healthy nutrients to our bodies? We must be selective to ensure that the foods we consume will be of optimum use to our bodies. Foods that provide empty calories or are full of toxins are not the answer.

Even though they are certainly more expensive, eating organic food is your best way of providing your body with the necessary nutrients for healthy living. According to Danish research published in the August 2003 issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, organic foods may contain more flavonoids than conventionally grown foods. And studies comparing the nutritional value of organically to conventionally grown fruits, vegetables and grains, indicate organic crops provide substantially more of several nutrients, including: 27% more vitamin C, 21.1% more iron , 29.3% more magnesium and 13.6% more phosphorus.

So, not only are you including more nutrients in your diet by consuming organically grown foods, but in a world where we are exposed to chemicals and toxins in our homes and the air we breathe, these foods are one of the best ways of reducing exposure to more toxins. So, in addition to significantly lessening your exposure to these health-robbing substances, organically grown foods have been shown to contain substantially higher levels of nutrients such as protein, vitamin C and many minerals.

Eating organic may also help protect against chronic inflammation, a major factor in both cardiovascular disease and colon cancer. A study, published in the European Journal of Nutrition, found that organic soups sold in the UK contain almost 6 times as much salicylic acid as non-organic soups which helps prevent hardening of the arteries and bowel cancer. By the way, salicylic acid happens to be the compound responsible for the anti-inflammatory action of aspirin.

Like I said, organically grown food is more expensive and can be difficult on your budget, but I am an advocate because considering my health issues it is important that I follow all the rules of good nutrition. I have no other choice, but ultimately it is up to each one of us to decide how to best promote healthy living.

There is a complicated mechanism between cellular function, digestion and food sensitivities. Incorporating healthy foods as a regular part of our diets can help prevent or reduce the severity of many diseases such as asthma, atherosclerosis, breast cancer, chronic fatigue, hypertension, migraines, osteoporosis, diabetes and cholesterol levels to name a few.

It is clear that nutrition promotes healthy living. So, what changes can you make in your diet to promote healthy living?

- Buy organic whenever possible

- Eat fish and poultry whenever possible

- Remove the skin from chicken

- Cut back on butter, sour cream, salad dressings

- If you have to have meat, bake it, grill it or broil it.

- Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables

- When eating out check for hidden fats in salad dressing and desserts

- Eat smaller portions

- Read the nutrition labels on all foods carefully before you buy them.

- Drink plenty water

Drink at least 8 glasses of water per day

To learn what specific foods you should be adding to your diet and what foods I eat to support a healthy lifestyle go to Healthy Food List

Balanced nutrition and regular exercise go hand in hand. Loosing weight is not the goal, the goal is learning that nutrition promotes healthy living whether you loose weight or not. It is about being healthy, not just being thin. The key with nutrition as well as exercise is to try to set goals you have a good chance of reaching, such as making one of the small changes listed above or walking one more day per week if possible.

We need not to delude ourselves into thinking that because we live in one the most powerful countries in the world with all its available conveniences and abundance of foods, our diets are balanced. Like many of us, sometimes we have days when we eat healthier than others, but with our busy lives and work schedules who has the time and energy to cook healthy meals on a regular basis? So instead, many families end up eating frozen dinners, fast foods and unhealthy snacks instead.

But our eating habits are an integral part of who we are and will determine our health and longevity so it is essential that we try our best to adhere to a diet of healthy foods. This, along with exercise and sunlight affect how well we meet our body’s daily nutrient needs.

The key to healthy living is a balanced diet with a variety of foods including fruits, vegetables and fiber while avoiding a sedentary life, abuse of alcohol and other unnecessary substances that harm the body and rob it of its essential nutrients.It is a consensus in the scientific field that a higher consumption of these healthy foods is associated with a reduced risk of myriad diseases and early aging. When we learn how nutrition promotes healthy living it is hard to turn our backs on the opportunity to take care of our bodies.

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/4/T040900.asp (Ask Dr. Sears.com, Family Nutrition)

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