Nutrition And Popular Diets

Nutrition is the chemical value of food that the body needs to sustain all of its vital functions such as growth, walking, reproduction, immunity against diseases, etc. Food is the fuel that our bodies run on and the better quality we provide it with, the better our bodies will run.

You may of course be wondering that since food is what our bodies' need, why we tend to gain weight when we eat a lot of it. The answer is that the human body is all about 'balance'. Do you see a young child taking his or her first steps, what is the first thing that he or she tries to achieve to stand up on those cute two feet? Balance. Nature has ways of tying things together and humanity has always turned to it for its inspirations. Here again, another lesson is taught. The zenith of a human's life lies in how well a balance can be created among all of that life's aspects.

Getting back to nutrition and how you should be taking, not to mention the things you should be avoiding; there are a few basics that everyone should be familiar with. Nutrition or nutrients are classified into six; proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals and water. Whatever diet plan you chose to follow, you have to make sure that provides you with sufficient nutrition. If your diet plan is, in the haste of achieving fast results, low on nutritional value, your body may undergo a quite a trauma. You may have heard of people dying from malnutrition, well that's the result of having inadequate food or food that was grossly low in nutrition. And this is the dilemma of most of the fad diets you see advertised left right and centre. In the attempt to achieve rapid weight loss, these 7 day or so diet plans place individuals on fasts with fruit juices and little to no protein. Those who keep following these plans repeatedly, risk damaging vital organs like the brain and heart.

A healthy diet plan will imbibe the following nutritional and lifestyle attributes;

1. Protein: proteins contains amino acids, are the building blocks of nature. Our organs and muscles are all made up of proteins. Eating healthy protein doesn't lead to an increase in weight, while a shortage of protein could lead to wear and loss of muscle mass. Healthy diet plans therefore, focus on giving a healthy dose of protein from white meat.

2. Fats: while you may think that all fat is bad for you, research has shown that unsaturated fats found in olive oil, avocado oil or fish oil, when taken in reasonable quantities provides the body with the much needed Omega fats. Your body stays strong and healthy and you feel fuller for much longer.

3. Carbohydrates: carbohydrates are the things to avoid. White sugar, white rice, refined cereals, etc, all add weight and fat to your body. If anything deserves to take a back seat in your diet, carbohydrates do. When you must take carbohydrates, go for the whole grain, whole wheat, brown bread, brown sugar, brown rice, etc.

4. Vitamins and Minerals: the best sources for these are not a multivitamin pill. Rather you get the healthiest dose from fresh fruits and green vegetables.

5. Water: increasing your water intake will have a very positive impact on your weight. a healthy adult requires at least 8 glasses of water a day. When you aim to lose weight, you should up this number by 1 glass for every 25 pounds you're overweight. Water not only acts as a natural appetite suppressant, it also helps you lose weight by relieving the body of water retention in the cells.

• John Palsson
• 02/12/2008, 2:59 PM
• 0 Comments