Diet and Nutrition Introduction

Every person has a diet consisting of the food they eat, while nutrition is the effect this food has on the body. Our dietary habits comprise the set of choices we habitually make about which foods to eat and which to disregard. Good nutrition provides consistent nourishment for your body and reduces the risk of getting any number of serious diseases, from diabetes to heart disease. A stable and healthy diet therefore allows you a steady supply of all the vitamins, minerals and nutrients you need to keep your body operating at the best level. In this section we concentrate on supplying information about how all facets of diet and nutrition work, as well as offering advice on healthy eating habits.

Food groups

Healthy diet and nutrition requires a balanced mix of food groups, with as little as possible overreliance on particular types of food. Everybody indulges occasionally, but our bodies need to maintain healthy amounts of the following essentials, all of which are expanded upon in this section of our site:

  • Carbohydrates,
  • Fat,
  • Fibre,
  • Proteins,
  • Vitamins and Minerals.

We also have to keep an eye on our attitude towards food, in order to ensure that we don’t become too lax and therefore develop damaging habits. Keeping up healthy nutrition is thus a mental as well as physical discipline.

Over or under weight

Sticking to healthy diet and nutrition practices is about balance, and being either over or under weight can have consequences for your health. The resulting stress on certain body parts can have a knock-on effect, so that over or under weight people can jeopardize other systems in the body by placing unwanted strain on them. We offer tips and advice on maintaining dietary equilibrium.

Food energy

Carbohydrates, proteins and fats are all crucial providers of the food energy that our body needs to function properly. When people ‘go on a diet’ in order to lose or gain weight, this typically alters their energy balance and the amount of fat that the body stores. Some dieting programs, especially certain weight loss diets which boast very fast results, can be detrimental to your health, while others can be healthy and beneficial. Many quick-fix diets will seek to restrict whole varieties of foods, while promoting eating others, and when using such diets you should ensure your body is still receiving all the energy and nutrients it requires. It is important to judge the best way to go about dieting without having adverse effects on the body’s energy.

Nutrition is complex

Another reason that some of the popularized weight-loss diets may not always improve health is that diet and nutrition are dependent on individual factors. Human nutrition is especially complex, meaning that your particular genetic makeup, health and even environment can impact the effectiveness of a diet. In general, the healthiest diets involve consuming sensible amounts from all food groups and drinking a decent amount of water, thus sating our need for all the essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals.

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