If you want to lose weight it's important to understand the importance of good nutrition to health. It is more important than ever to consume foods that will provide your body with the nutrients it needs for optimum health. Failure to do so can lead to malnutrition.
What is the importance of good nutrition to health?
For most of us, our nutrition is not healthy. We tend to eat too much junk and processed foods. These foods are lacking in nutrients because processing and cooking destroys them. So even though we are consuming a huge amount of calories we are not getting the nutrients our body needs. Even healthy foods like fruit and vegetables lack the nutrients they had 50 years ago. This is because they are harvested much earlier and ripened in cold storage. The longer they spend on the plant the more nutrients they absorb. But the minute they are harvested, they cease to absorb nutrients from the soil. In fact, their nutrient levels even decrease over time.
So how does our body respond to this nutrient famine?... with cravings! There can be many reasons for cravings but one of them is our body trying to force us to consume the nutrients it needs. The problem is, because our diets are lacking in so many nutrients, our body doesn't know what foods provide them so it stimulates appetite in general.
If our body knows where to get the nutrients, it will crave foods that provide them. Eating a diet that includes all of the nutrients our body needs educates our body to know where to obtain those nutrients. Then, when it needs them, it will crave foods that contain them. This prevents cravings for unhealthy foods which helps prevent weight gain and supports weight loss. This is because foods that are highest in nutrients are generally lowest in calories.
Digestion is also crucial. Fresh produce contains digestive enzymes needed to break down nutrients so we can absorb them. Cooking and processing kills these enzymes which makes it harder for our body to digest and absorb the nutrients. We also need good bacteria (probiotics) found in yogurt, cheese, kefir etc.
Eating has two purposes: Calories for energy and nutrients for health.
Sadly, these days most of us neglect the importance of good nutrition and consume far more calories than we need. This has led to the obesity epidemic. Because we have a diet that is high in calories and low in nutrients.
Our bodies require two types of nutrients:
- Macronutrients: Required in large amounts. They include carbs, protein, fat, macro minerals (calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc etc), and water.
- Micronutrients: Required in small amounts. They include vitamins, minerals and trace elements.
Most of our bodies calorie needs are supplied by carbs (4 calories per gram), protein (4 calories per gram) and fat (9 calories per gram). But our diets lack many of the macro minerals, vitamins, trace elements and water. Deficiencies in these nutrients can directly lead to many chronic illnesses like osteoporosis and anemia. And indirectly to diabetes, heart disease etc.
So what can we do? Once we know the importance of good nutrition it's easy to improve our diet. Eat organic foods if you can afford it. Organic produce is ripened on the plant so it's higher in nutrients. It's also a good idea to eat foods raw when you can because cooking kills the nutrients. There are plenty of foods that are real nutritional power houses. Some of them are the so-called 'super' foods. But most are found in the fresh produce section of any grocery store. Foods like:
- Berries: Especially blueberries, cranberries and goji berries.
- Herbs and spices: Thyme, parsley, basil, ginger, garlic and cilantro (coriander).
- Avocado.
- Green vegetables: Kale, spinach, wheat grass and broccoli.
- Beans (legumes).
- Dark chocolate: Must be dark chocolate not milk. Approx 1.5 oz (45 g) per day.
- Seeds: Pepita (pumpkin), flax, chia, sunflower. Flax and chia are a great source of omega 3.
- Salmon and seafood.
- Yogurt, kefir etc: (Probiotics).
Add more of these to your diet and you will be on the right track to improve your health and your life.
For a more comprehensive list of the healthiest foods visit Most nutritious foods
Julia Bell is a student of nutrition dedicated to helping people overcome obesity. Obesity is the number one health issue of the twenty first century. Learn how to live a healthier life by maintaining healthy weight and exercise habits through her weight loss blog at http://www.bestwaytoloseweight4u.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Julia_Bell
No comments:
Post a Comment