The human body is wonderfully made, with a very unique and extremely complex design, which gives us the ability to not only function but also regenerate with order, and purpose for a dynamic, joyful & meaningful life! Nutrition therefore is vital to the health of your body, with the basic understanding of a good quality food intake is variety, balance & moderation in what we eat.
I am always amazed how various conditions can be reversed and even eliminated just by our nutrition! For our body to function at its fullest potential we all require macro-nutrients & micro-nutrients. These two terms you may not have heard of, but you will know about them. Macro-nutrients have four food components, those being: proteins, carbohydrates, fibre & fats of our food intake. Whilst micro-nutrients are the vitamins, minerals & water components of our food intake.
Rainbow of Food
“Let food be thy medicine, and let medicine be thy food” Hippocrates famously quoted.
Food really is the fuel that drives our bodies needs! Without enough of the right nutrients we lose our strength and our vitality! So, a balanced diet is vital to our health & longevity, also important is our enjoyment of food. Sitting and taking the time with our meals is, in my opinion, a key component too! Chewing slowly, to break down each mouthful, whilst savouring all the tastes, the smells & the textures, being content & present during our meal time not only allows us to appreciate this time but we are supporting our digestive system too!
OK, so lets look at the macro & micro nutrients a little deeper! Before I delve into the food components of them, I want to take a moment to discuss water with you. Water is absolutely ESSENTIAL to our health! We need approximately 8 glasses per day (2-3 litres) and even more if you are doing any type of strenuous exercise or heavy type of work. I once read that if we are not getting enough water, then we are also probably de-generating! Wowsers!! If we are dehydrated we cant work as efficiently, we cant think clearly, nor can we concentrate! Did you know that if you are also suffering from any type of ailment then you have an even greater need! Symptoms of dehydration include: allergies, arthritis, cholesterol, chronic dyspepsia (digestive issues), headaches, high blood pressure, gout, muscular & tendon pain, and migraines, rheumatism. And, if you drink a cup of coffee, teas, soft drinks, or alcohol then we require another glass of water each time to support the diuretic effects of these dehydrating drinks! And for those who feel that water is tasteless, then add a few slices of citrus, cucumber, berries or herbs like mints to spruce it up!
Alright, lets look at the four parts to the macro-nutrients, the ratio of proteins, and the types of fats, carbs & fibre are all key here.
Protein first, the daily requirement is about .83g to .9g per kilo of body weight, for teenagers & adults for sustaining good health, and not all proteins are created equal, animal proteins like fish, meats, eggs and dairy products are considered complete proteins as they contain all 8 essential amino acids in the ration we need for nitrogen balance, tissue growth & repair. However, for those out there who are predominately vegetarian or vegan its simply a matter of mixing up your protein sources at each meal, like adding sprouts to rice or corn, eating beans and nuts, or sunflower seeds with sprouts. Other good combinations include rice & legumes, grains & legumes when combined actually are very complementary as they provide the correct amino acid balances! So, reducing meat consumption and replacing with plant sources can definitely provide high quality protein, that is also shown to bring good benefits to our health, energy levels, vitality & youthfulness! Protein in our diet is such a huge topic, and one that I will be covering in more detail in the coming months!
Carbohydrates, this is another big part of our diet (if we get it correct that is), and important for our energy levels, but also they help us to regulate protein & fat metabolism. Unfortunately, carbs have had some negativity with fab diets, but let me assure you that carbohydrates belong in our diets! The problem is that we have three types of carbohydrates, complex carbohydrates, simple carbohydrates & also dietary fibres. Complex carbohydrates contain much less of the sugars found in simple carbohydrates, and as such complex carbs take much longer to digest which gives us a steady supply of energy and limits the amount of sugar conversion into fat and stored in our body! Good sources of complex carbohydrates include vegetables, fruits, avocado, grains & legumes, and sprouts.
Fats, also is a complex area of our diet. and another area I will be discussing in more detail in future blogs, but for a quick over-view let me just share with you that certain fats & oils play an important role in our bodies. Basically, we need to reduce the saturated fats in our foods, and replace them with monosaturated and polyunsaturated fats as they have a strong lowering effect on cholesterol and many other health conditions. Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs) from polyunsaturated fats play an extremely important role by discarding toxins, protecting our cell membranes which then acts as a barrier to viruses & bacteria, improved message pathways for effective brain function, generating rhythmic & orderly heart-beating, and improving many health problems by improving our immune system! Our body is not able to make EFAs, and therefore they must come from our food, seeds such as pumpkin & sesame seeds, but also wheat, corn, rice, sunflower, evening primrose, peanuts, soy bean & legumes are rich in Omega-6, and foods like fatty fish (salmon, sardines, tuna, mackeral & herring), green leafy vegetables (especially purslane & brassica families), & other seeds such as chia, flax, sesame, pumpkin are rich in Omega-3. Packaged foods are heavily processed and contain toxins which are detrimental to our bodies, so reducing/removing margarines, breads, biscuits, savoury crackers, chips & many other packaged snack foods will avoid the havoc caused in the body as these foods actually do very little for our health! And what should also be noted is that not all oils are good for cooking, as heat can destroy the quality, producing damaging carcinogens & free radicals!
And, lastly lets have a quick peek at fibre. Fibre, or dietary fibre is actually a term which describes the various plant substances that aid our digestive system. Fibre is essential for supporting and pushing the intestinal contents through the digestive tract, it bulks up our stools, acts as a cleanser & eliminator so we dont store any foods which will putrefy & build up toxins! “We are supposed to consume food daily, we should digest daily and eliminate the wastes daily…ideally 1-3 times per day”. Now, I must make a point here that fibre holds water like a sponge does and are both an important nutrition team! Adding fibre rich foods such as vegetables, fruits, whole-grain foods, and it will keep you smiling and not straining on the loo!!
Ok, now its time to touch on the Micro-nutrients, these are the vitamins & minerals found in our food. Micro-nutrients are crucial to our health, and we need to eat small amounts regularly as they support our immunity, reproduction systems, but also our growth by producing enzymes, hormones and other substances. Vitamins (A, B’s, C, D, E, K) act as anti-oxidants & release energy from the foods and are essential for healing & repairing of cells, but they are very sensitive too and can easily be destroyed by storage, food preparation (chopping, processing & cooking) so fresh is best here. Minerals have an important job to do as well, they regulate our acid/alkaline balance in the body. All natural foods contain minerals in a very well balanced supply, and there are too many minerals to go into length here (keep an eye out for more blogs!), but they all act in self-defence against illness & disease if our blood maintains alkalinity. Vitamins & minerals work in wonderful synergy to complete all the tasks they do to support our bodies!
If you made it this far, you too are interested in nutrition! It is such a big part of our lives, our well-being & health. I will be covering this again and again, by breaking down each area within nutrition, so stay tuned
x Sharon
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