What Is Nutrition

What Is Nutrition

"Nutrition is the study of the relationship between diet and states of health and disease. Between the extremes of optimal health and death from starvation, there are myriad disease states that can be caused or alleviated by changes in diet."
From WikiPedia, the Free Encyclopedia.

As a science, it tries to understand how and why diets influence specific persons and their health. It is a fact that chemical compounds like water, lipids or proteins, DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid or deoxyribose nucleic acid) or RNA (Ribonucleic acid), and carbohydrates (sugars) are being comprised by our body. Minerals are also present in the form of salts or electrolytes, or simply as calcium, iron and zinc in plants and organisms that we eat everyday.

The digestive system is our first way in turning all these chemical compounds into food available for the cells. Digestive juices that for an adult are close to 6 or 7 litters, first exit the internal body then are redirected to our digestive tract. Even if many compounds or elements are absorbed into the bloodstream unchanged, digestive juices release them from the food we eat and help breaking the remaining chemical bonds between ingested compounds. Any unabsorbed residues are then eliminated through the intestines, but only a small amount that was not reabsorbed, really exits the body otherwise our body would rapidly dehydrate. Examples for this kind of situation are the devastating effects of persistent diarrhea ("Diarrhea (AmE) or diarrhoea (CwE) is a condition in which the sufferer has frequent and watery or loose bowel movements" From WikiPedia, the Free Encyclopedia).

It has been proven that is hormonally and metabolically indicated to eat fresh unprocessed foods instead of diets based on processed foods as well as eating smaller meals more frequently. A better management of cell growth, mitosis (cell division) and maintenance is this way acquired.

Latest researches have revealed the various side effects of trans fatty acids, which now are introduced to the human diet with the technology of lipid hydrogenation. After observing the harmful effects of excess these acids while dieting, governments began banning them in the late 1990's.

About longevity, researches have study and proved that is not the low food energy that increases it, but the efficient fat processing metabolism, and the long term efficiency of our organs. This way longevity is very strong related to the insulin sensitivity level, even if several other factors like a low body temperature tent to promote it.

The food processing industry has been in a continuous growth since the Industrial Revolution that occurred two hundred years ago. New technologies are being invented all the time and now more than ever these both help keep foods fresh longer and alter the fresh taste and state of food. The primary technology that keeps food fresh for longer is cooling, whereas some new ones tend to use other ways resulting not spoiled fresh food. Such technologies are drying, salting, pasteurization or autoclavation. Among these pasteurization ("Pasteurization is the process of heating food for the purpose of killing harmful organisms such as bacteria, viruses, protozoa, molds, and yeasts. The process was named after its inventor, French scientist Louis Pasteur. The first pasteurization test was completed by Pasteur and Claude Bernard on April 20, 1862." From WikiPedia, the Free Encyclopedia) and autoclavation (heating techniques) have improved the keeping and safety of common foods, thus preventing diseases such as epidemics. Other food processing technologies have some downfalls which is understandable but the main issue remains that we have to eat more natural foods as the ones that have been kept fresh with these technologies have a sensitive lost of taste and vitamins. Our health is the most important thing that we all should be concerned about, and nutrition is one of the most important issues today. A healthy nutrition with lots of fresh ailments which consists of vitamins, minerals and other chemical compounds is the best way to keep our body strong and healthy, the best way to feel good about ourselves and others.

Why Athletes Should Not Be In A Low-Carb Diet

Why Athletes Should Not Be In A Low-Carb Diet

In the matter of should we approach a low carb diet or not the opinions are divided. One claim in favor of low carb diets is that humans did not evolve to eat modern food based on grains, starches, or refined sugar. This type of alimentation determine the body to produce excess amounts of the hormone insulin therefore the body stores than rather burn fat causing obesity and heart disease, cancer or diabetes. Nutritionists in favor of low carb diet claim that humans evolved eating mainly meat and the current world wide problem of obesity is due to the assumption that the low-fat approach is healthier. They also claim that people have been encouraged to eat more carbohydrates, which stimulate appetite and more eating causing overweight.

Nutritionists try to prove scientifically that low carb diets can successfully be used to lose weight effective and safe. The test period was short and they were nor able to prove the long-term health effects of the diet.

A study was performed in 1965 in California at Naval Hospital from Oakland. The dieters had to use a diet of 1000 calories daily, high in fat but limiting carbohydrates to 10 grams each day. The group that maintained this diet over ten days lost more body fat than did the group that finished the program earlier. Defenders of low-carb diet called this experiment the metabolic advantage of such diet.

Some differences between low-carb diets are always present. These diets are being recognized by their proportion of carbohydrates intake they advice us to eat, and the methods used in determining which ones should or shouldn't be consumed. As a general agreement, sugar must be eliminated, but when talking about levels of grain, fruits or vegetables, the opinions are divided. This is rather confusing because it is also a general agreement that fruits are not so good as vegetables and grains as fruits.

Side effects are also present on low-carb diets.

Very low carbohydrates consumption can lower the metabolism and drive it through ketosis, resulting headaches, nausea, tiredness, dehydration, dizziness and some unusual sweet smelling breath.
Another side effect is that if diets replace calories from carbohydrates with meat, high consumption of fat and cholesterol will occur, thus increasing the risk of heart diseases. Even more, it was hypothesized that a change in blood acidity can lead to bone loss and that kidneys can become overworked. However these kidney or bone loss side effects had not yet been proven.

Why low carb diets don't provide enough energy for athletes?

Generally, while low-carb diets may help usual people to lose some weight, they aren't recommended for athletes. They must get enough energy needed for their activities, and whether their body uses fat, protein or carbohydrates as fuel for exercises depends upon its intensity and duration. Normal people don't need high-carb diets because without an intensive psychical activity that is permanently kept they will gain weight. Athletes need these diets instead of low-carb ones because they consume all what these diets bring, and maybe much more, so they need to eat a lot of proteins, vitamins, and even fat, in order to have a perfect and healthy body that can withstand the intense workout. Specific high-carb diets are used on each athlete because everyone has its specific metabolism, and so a specific anabolism that has to be equaled by the catabolism. Each sport needs different types of body construction so athletes will chose their diets accordingly. A 10 Km runner will chose that its body must be always as slim as possible, no fat at all is required, and a specific diet to ensure he's up to run 10 km without having any weight problems. Others like a 100 m runner must have full high-carb diet, and iron muscles, in order to accelerate as fast as possible.

Concluding each athlete must be aware that in order to achieve performance, they first must have a body that fits their desired sport and that is where diets come in. A perfect and healthy body will surely make the difference between athletes as well as the training. Low-carb diets are not indicated for performance athletes because they do not provide the necessary quantity of vitamins, proteins and other chemical compounds that athletes need to consume during the intense training.

Nutrition Do's And Don'ts

Questions like "What do you recommend? What should people eat?" or "What exactly it is the proper diet?" can not be answered only with "eat less fat" or "exercise more" and "base your diet on low fat food like...". This "do's and don'ts" will direct you towards a plant-based diet. Although nutrition is a more complicated mater and it can not be solved in a few phrases, this can be a start.

Don't eat:

Ground beef and other fatty meats are dangerous for both your health and weight. It is known that red meat is the largest source of fat and saturated fat and that saturated fat is the most important factor in heart disease. Ribs, bacon, and sausage are other fats that we should not eat.
Also don't eat lean meat more than three times a week although it has less saturated fat.
Studies show that lean red meats may increase the risk of colon and possibly prostate cancer but not poultry or seafood which is healthier.

Don't eat pizza or other cheese based meals because it is well known that almost any pizza, especially a cheese pizza will use up 40 percent of your saturated fat limit for the day.

The food industry causes our salt problem. More than 70 percent of the sodium we eat comes from processed foods. For a healthier life we should try changing a frozen dinner with our own steam broccoli or broiled fresh flounder in low-fat mayo, lemon juice, and dill.

Don't use the commercial salad dressing and try your own vinegar, fresh garlic, mustard, and olive oil.

Don't consume so many sweets. It can drag down a good diet and may cause other important health problems. Soft drinks give 160 calories at 12-ounce and no vitamins, minerals, fiber, or phytochemical. Other sweets like brownies or some cookies, cheesecake, pecan or cinnamon rolls, give you an entire meal's worth of calories and fat. Fat-free or low-fat versions of sweets are healthier, but can not take the place of fruit, grain crackers, or other nutrient-packed foods.

Don't overdo consuming alcoholic beverages. For women that drink often than three times a week the risk of breast cancer is greater and the death rate is higher.

Do eat:

Eating more plant foods and especially vegetables, may reduce the risk of cancers, including colon, lung, stomach, mouth, throat, esophagus, pancreas, and bladder. And it can help lower your risk of heart disease and stroke by decreasing the cholesterol level.

Also eating at least five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables is recommended by the National Cancer Institute. The risk of heart disease and stroke may be reduced mainly because fruits and vegetables contain photochemical, fiber, folic acid, and potassium.

Make your everyday fruits and vegetables handy for you. Keep a bag of peeled baby carrots on your desk. Peel a grapefruit, orange, or tangerine. Keep a bowl of fruit salad in the fridge. Make sure that you eat as much fruits and vegetables as possible.

Switch to fat-free milk, yogurt, ice cream, and cheese. Women especially don't get enough calcium to diminish the risk of osteoporosis. You can eat ice cream or frozen yogurt only if it's low-fat or fat-free. A daily cup of regular ice cream can jeopardize a healthy diet. Most dairy foods have calcium. But they can also be field with artery-clogging saturated fat.

Eat whole grains because they are more nutritious than refined grains, and they're risk of colon cancer is lower.

Buy only light tubs or sprays margarine or butter because they are healthier. Butter's field with saturated fat. The spray butter and the light margarine have no more than six grams of fat or three grams of saturated fat per tablespoon. When it comes to cooking these varieties of butter and margarine may not serve it purpose and you should try the ordinary forms but not in normal quantities or change the regular butter whit olive or canola oil.

Make sure your body has enough vitamins and minerals for a proper development and a les painful ageing. Vitamins can't repair a broken diet, but they may make a good diet better, especially if your body lacks in vitamins and minerals. The folic acid and vitamin D are especially important.