Ensuring adequate nutrition for living healthy
Healthy living has four components: nutrition, exercise, relaxation, and sleep. These four components work together to ensure a healthy body and mind. ( I would talk about healthy living more in another post) The next couple of posts will address these four pillars of healthy living. However, this one would address nutrition.
Nutrition is the act of nourishing or being nourished. This involves the circulation of nutrients throughout the body for survival. It also involves understanding the relationship between diet, health, and disease. Adequate nutrition involves eating a healthy balanced diet, Cutting or limiting junk food, and taking care of one’s cravings. This is important to maintain a good state of health.
Nutrition involves everything in food such as fat, vitamins, protein, and water. Adequate nutrition is essentially combining these nutrients in the right proportion for the body to function properly. Adequate nutrition also involves taking the daily recommendation of minerals, vitamins, and other healthy substances
Adequate nutrition involves a healthy diet, and a healthy diet consists of vegetables, fruit, legumes, whole grains, and nuts. Experts advise about 400g or 5 portions of fruits and vegetables per day. This portion must exclude cassava, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and other foods that have starch in them.
Adequate Nutrition is essential to recover from illness and diseases. If an individual is sick it is important that they have adequate nutrition so that they can become well and strong again. Usually, the doctors and nurses who are involved in the treatment of these patients have an idea of what they would need nutritionally and they would advise accordingly.
It is important to note that there is no perfect diet. All dietary advice out there involves a little bit of this and that but not perfect. It is important to understand this before taking any advice from family friends and experts.
Experts also advise that there are 3 keys to adequate nutrition. They are balance, quality, and timing. Balance means eating
from most or all of the food groups. Quality means focusing on whole foods and not eating too much-processed food. While timing involves finding and following a stipulated eating pattern. This advice is important for those looking to eat healthy or reduce weight.
There is a difference between adequate nutrition and a balanced diet. Adequate nutrition involves a diet that meets all nutritional requirements while a balanced diet involves the provision of food that meets the energy requirements of individuals. These two concepts are different but can work as a whole. A person can have adequate nutrition and a balanced diet to ensure all-round health.
Following adequate nutrition has some benefits.
Signs of good nutrition
- Skin is aging well
- Not getting sick easily
- Healthy teeth and gums
- Shiny and strong hair
- High energy
The importance of adequate nutrition include
- Improved infant and child health
- Stronger immune system
- Reduced risk of non-communicable disease
- Helps to maintain a healthy body weight
- Allows for better sleep
- Improve brain function
Finally, like the famous anonymous quote that says until you get your nutrition right nothing will change. It is important to sort out our eating habits and ensure adequate nutrition. Until individuals learn to do that, most healthy habits, such as exercise, will be a struggle. Keep striving!!!
