Eat Well, Live Well

You Are What You Eat

In a world where everything seems to be centered around image and weight, making good and healthy food choices is often times not considered.  Instead, persons opt for dangerous dietary practices ranging from starvation to eliminating entire food groups.  While these methods may sometimes work in the short-term, persons practising these methods will often venomously regain the weight and may do irrepairable damage to their bodies.  While I may be the first to admit that I am no nutritionist and often times make the wrong choices myself, studies do show that persons who eat balanced diets and engage in regular rigorous exercise (30 mins daily or 45 mins 4 to 5 days a week), will lose weight at a moderate pace and will maintain it for a long time to come.

Making Right Choices

So we know we should eat a balanced diet right?  But what does that mean? 

I had the pleasure recently of attending a lecture on sports and general nutrition and found it to quite informative to say the least.  Being a part of the lecture made me realise how uninformed we can often be about making the right food choices due in large part to food marketers with a agenda.  One of the first things I learned is that ‘no food is bad’ and that in fact, our bodies need nutrients from all food groups, inlcuding fats and carbohydrates.  The combination of our food choices though can make a difference in our nutrition and health.  Please find below basic information concerning good nutrition and how you can make it a part of your everyday life.  This information is not for the purposes of providing medical advice, please consult with your doctor when making any changes in your lifestyle relating to nutrition and physical activity.

Tips for Proper Nutrition

• Appropriate nutrition should consist of a normal, natural and unprocessed foods wherever possible
• All foods are good – it is the selection and combination that creates problems
• Foods are either NUTRIENT-DENSE (loaded with nutrients like wholwheat bread) or CALORIE-DENSE (supplying calories and relatively no nutrients e.g. Doughnuts)
• Use sugar sparingly
• One should have 5 servings of fruits daily to help maintain good health
• Do not depend on thirst as an indicator of fluid intake.  Check urine to determine this aiming for urine to be as clear as water – this is an indicator of a properly flushed system
• Limit dehydrating fluids such as beer, wine, coffee and energy drinks

Fats

• Fats are a source of stored energy (calories)
• Saturated fats – animal fats (butter, margarine, bacon, pork, meats, poultry, whole milk)
• Polyunsaturated fats – vegetable oil, except coconut oil

Protein

• Proteins are for building and repairing muscles, red blood cells, hair and other body tissues
• Provide a source of calories and energy if enough carbohydrates are not available
• Sources - fish, milk, cheese, yogurt, poultry, eggs, meat, peas and beans, seeds and nuts

Vitamins

• These are the “spark plugs” of the human body
• Regulate chemical reactions in the body
• Important Vitamins – A, B Complex, C, D, E
• Do not provide energy

Minerals

• Essential for regulating processes in the body (e.g. Iron in red blood cells transports oxygen)
• Examples of important minerals include – iron, zinc, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, sodium, calcium
• To be had in mostly fruits and vegetables
• Do not provide energy

Calcium

• Important to ward against muscular cramps, brittle bones and teeth
• Excellent sources of calcium include – low fat milk, yogurt, calallo, pak choy, brocolli and other dark green leafy vegetables

Be careful of high doses of vitamins and minerals as they are not stored by the body and excesses can be toxic.

Water

• Makes up to 50% to 55% of the body’s weight
• transports nutrients to and waste from cells
• Stabilizes body temperatures, especially after physical activity

Fibre

• A member of the starch family – comes from plant sources
• Not absorbed into the bloodstream, is instead excreted for good health
• Prevents constipation and hemorrhoids

It is my hope that the information provided here may help each of us to pay more attention to what we eat, do not eat and how we eat.  Good nutrition is an important building block to a healthy and effective life. 

Eating balanced meals daily by combining foods from all the food groups and maintaining a healthy supply of vitamins and minerals through fruits and vegetables coupled with sufficient water intake will help to ensure good nutrition.  Look for more in this series on the components on good nutrition. 

Remember to eat well and live well.