Nutrition Basics: Why Good Nutrition is Necessary
01.20.10
In your lifetime, you will consume approximately 70,000 meals and from that you will eliminate about fifty tons of waste products. The foods you choose to eat in those meals can either build up your health or tear it down. The food choices you make, whether they are good or bad, accumulate over time. The choices you make affect how you feel, what diseases you may or may not get, and consequently even your health care cost.
How do you feel right now? If you’re like most Americans, my guess is you’re not feeling that great. Most people are stresses out and exhausted. On top of that they get frequent headaches, have annoying allergies and fungal toenails; they get frequent colds and/or flu, have decreased sexual desires; they are depressed and can’t get a good night’s rest.
Proper nutrition starts with the building blocks of foods: the macro- and micro-nutrients. Paying attention to macro-nutrition – the intake of carbohydrates, proteins, and fat – is an essential component to getting on our road to optimal health. Micro-nutrition – the intake of vitamins and minerals – is also important, as these nutrients are the ‘support team’ to keep your metabolism running smoothly, making sure that the processing of macro-nutrients occurs both efficiently and effectively.
Until the twentieth century, humans existed almost 100 percent on food from plants and animals. Today, it is estimated that two-thirds of the caloric intake of most Americans comes from processed grains, sugar, fat and oil, and alcohol. Yes, it is true that we have longer life expectancies, but does this mean we are actually healthier or just that we are living longer with our chronic diseases?
Stay tuned for more information on how you can take control of your health, weight, and how you feel by nutritional choices.
Tags: ALCAT, allergies, cold, depression, flu, immune dysfunction, Nutrition, prevention