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Good Nutrition

 In theory, good nutrition is not difficult. It involves eating a sufficient amount of many different foods that together provide the calories and nutrients you need so that you stay trim and healthy, you consistently feel energetic throughout the day, and so that your body functions optimally. Good nutrition also plays an important role in fighting infection and preventing disease.

Food is essential to life. It provides you with the energy and nutrients that are constantly needed by your body to perform its vital functions.

Energy: Your body constantly needs energy to perform each of it's many complex functions. Not only is it required for movement but it is also necessary for less demanding tasks such as digestion and absorption of food, and for regulation of body temperature. Energy, as it relates to foods, is measured in calories. Your body needs sufficient calories so that it can function efficiently, yet not so many calories as to weigh you down. Excess calories are stored as fat on your body.

Nutrients: Nutrients are chemical substances found in foods, that perform important functions in your body. There are also approximately forty nutrients that are essential to life, that you must obtain regularly from the various foods you eat. They are referred to as essential nutrients. A sufficient amount of each of these nutrients is necessary if your body is to function efficiently.

THE SIX BASIC CATEGORIES OF NUTRIENTS

Nutrients are grouped into six basic categories:

A summary of basic information for each of these categories follows.



Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates include simple sugars, starches and fiber. Simple sugars include refined sugar such as table sugar and honey which usually provide calories with very few or no nutrients. Simple sugars also occur naturally in fruits and milk packaged with additional nutrients that are beneficial to your health. Starches are classified as complex carbohydrates and may be obtained from foods such as pasta, rice, potatoes, corn, and cereals. These are the energy-rich foods that provide lots of vitamins and minerals.

During digestion, simple sugars and starches are broken down to glucose which is constantly needed by the brain and central nervous system. In addition, carbohydrates provide energy more efficiently than the other energy sources and are therefor the preferred source of energy for the body.

Fats

Fats - often referred to as lipids or oils - are an important dietary component. Fats are a secondary source of energy, they contain two essential fatty acids, and provide transportation for certain fat-soluble vitamins. The problems associated with dietary fats are related to an excessive intake of them. An excessive fat intake contributes to many of today's common health problems such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes. In addition, we know that excessive calories from fat are more fattening than those from carbohydrates and protein. It is much easier for your body to store excess calories from fat than excess calories from carbohydrates and protein. You need to try to limit your fat intake but not to eliminate it from your diet. Moderation is the key.

Protein

Protein is essential for the functioning of your body. It is needed for growth and repair of all body tissues, for regulation of body functions, for transportation of nutrients, and for a variety of other functions.

Protein form foods is broken down into amino acids. Your body must have a constant supply of amino acids to assemble the various forms of protein that are essential to the minute-by-minute functioning of your body. Your body does not have the ability to store protein or to synthesize all the amino acids that you need. This is why it is important to not only eat protein each day but to make sure that you include some protein with each of your meals. Protein can be obtained from both animal and plant sources.

Vitamins

Vitamins are essential non-caloric nutrients that are needed in small amounts by the body for growth and development and for regulating the functions of the nerves and muscles. Although vitamins do not provide energy, they play an important role in releasing energy from the foods that we eat that do contain calories. There are 13 vitamins that are required by the body that must be supplied by the foods that you eat.

Minerals

Minerals are substances needed by the body in small amounts and serve as structural components of your body. They serve a variety of functions in your body such as maintaining the fluid balance and bone density, and they assist in blood clotting, absorption of nutrients, oxygen transportation, and nerve transmission. There are 15 essential minerals that must be obtained from the foods that you eat.

Water

Water is your body's most important nutrient. It is essential for nearly all physiological functions. It aids in digestion, helps regulate body temperature, and is necessary for the transportation of nutrients and for the removal of waste products. You need to drink at least 8 glasses of water each day - if you exercise you probably need even more than this.

ENERGY NUTRIENTS

Calories are used to express the potential energy in food and the amount of energy used by the body in performing everyday activities. Energy can be derived from only 3 of the nutrients - carbohydrates, fats, and protein. Vitamins, minerals, and water have no calories. It is also important not to forget one other source of calories - alcohol. Alcohol is not a nutrient, because it is not essential to the functioning of the body. It does however, contain calories but provides practically no nutrients. Because of this it is important for you to limit your intake of alcohol.




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