Nutrition For Dummies – Part One
What is nutrition?
Nutrition is a source of nourishment – namely food! Nutrition is the process where the body processes food and uses it to grow and to repair itself.
Nutrition is what happens in you every day.
A root word, or a related word is ‘nutrients’. The body needs nutrients for another related word – nourishment. To nourish your body is to feed it with the appropriate nutrients required for proper development and growth.
Nutrition for adults
Adults are no longer developing or growing. Usually adults reach their physical maturity by age 18-21. So is nutrition still important? Yes – perhaps more so. When the body stops growing, the metabolism has more of a reason to speed up. However, most people around this age have settled into a job and are stuck a routine of getting up, going to work, eating food on the go – day after day after day. As a result, metabolism slows down and the body no longer processes nutrients as it used to. A lot of people find they suddenly put on weight around this age and struggle to maintain what they assumed was a ‘great figure’.
Most people are blissfully unaware of the correct nutrients their body needs to remain healthy and in an optimum weight range. That bliss will eventually catch up on them but they may realise it a little too late when the repairing job is so much more than it could have been.
So I’m here to begin a mini-series on nutrition for dummies. Not that I assume people are ‘dumb’ but I’m writing in simple terms for people like myself who don’t have the time to wade through the healthy jargon!
What is most important?
For me, the place we can get the most important nutrients from is raw food. Fruits, veges, and nuts contain the best nutrients your body needs. Fresh organic meat and fish also contain vital nutrients – as do free range eggs, fresh milk and yoghurt and all things natural. To a degree!
Different bodies require different amounts of nutrients and certain people react differently to foods. For example, if I eat grains or big meals during the day, I feel very drowsy and sluggish.
However – all bodies do not require processed foods. I believe processed foods are a reason why obesity is so prevalent in today’s society in the Western world.
So my biggest piece of advice on this first Nutrition article is to avoid processed foods. This means: ready to eat meals, frozen meals, pies, soup in a can, Asian noodles in a cup, pasta sauces to go, pre-packaged pizzas – and the list goes on and on and on. I think eating processed food is almost addictive – so break your addiction by going cold turkey for 40 days and only eat and prepare foods that are wholesome, fresh and made from scratch by you!
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