What is the best diet for you? The answer to this question may vary from person to person, but there are some basic dietary building blocks that everyone should include in their diet in order to function at their best. These include water, carbohydrates, proteins, and fats.
Water
Did you know that the human body is composed of two-thirds water? Water plays a vital role in our overall health, as it assists in nutrient and waste transport, aids digestion, absorption, regulates temperature, and more.
The average adult loses about 6 to 10 cups of water each day, with the kidneys, skin, lungs, and feces accounting for roughly 1 quart. Males must consume around 15 cups of fluid a day to replace the water lost, while females should consume around 11. A sufficient quantity of water each day—whether via food or drink—is critical for good health.
Urine is typically pale yellow when the body has enough water. In fact, you can consume a good amount of your daily recommended water (at least 10 glasses) from fruits and vegetables. These foods are loaded with water--some up to 90 percent! Even though recent studies claim that sugary drinks like juices or sodas count towards the daily fluid requirement, it's still better for weight control to get fluids primarily from fruits/veggies and calorie-free drinks like water or herbal tea.
Carbohydrates
The body needs energy to function, and this comes from carbohydrates. You can find these nutrients in plant-based foods, such as fruits, vegetables, peas, grains and beans. The only animal products that contain carbohydrates are milk and dairy items.
Carbohydrates can be broadly classified into two groups: simple carbohydrates and complex carbohydrates. Simple carbohydrates, also known as simple sugars, include fructose (fruit sugar), sucrose (table sugar), lactose (milk sugar) and several other types of sugar. Fruits are one of the richest natural sources of simple carbs. Complex carbs, on the other hand, are made up of multiple smaller sugar molecules that are strung together to form longer chains. They include dietary fibre and starches found in foods like vegetables, whole grains, peas and beans.
To maintain a healthy diet, eat unrefined carbs such as fruits, vegetables, peas, beans and whole-grain products instead of refined processed foods like soft drinks, desserts or candy. Unrefined carbs offer vitamins and minerals essential to your health that are absent in their unhealthy counterparts.
When you consume lots of refined simple carbs found in processed foods year after year, you can develop disorders like diabetes and hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar). Another issue is that these sugary foods are often also high in unhealthy fats. This is why they're generally "loaded" with calories--and why such snacks should be limited if you want to maintain a healthy diet.
Fibre
Fibre is a type of carbohydrate. Also called "roughage," dietary fibre is the part of plants that resists the digestive enzymes in our bodies. So, while a small amount of fibre gets digested and metabolized in our intestines, most of it goes through our gastrointestinal tract and ends up...in our stool.
Although most fibre is not digested, it has a number of health advantages. First, fibre retains water, producing softer and bulkier stools that prevent constipation and haemorrhoids. Second, a high-fibre diet reduces the chance of colon cancer by speeding up the passage of stool through the intestine and keeping it clean. Finally, fibre binds with cholesterol-forming compounds and removes them from the body. As a result, a high-fibre diet helps to lower blood cholesterol levels, lowering the risk of heart disease.
Fibre should come from a wide range of fruits and vegetables, not just breads and pastas. Whole grains have more fibre than refined grains. Carbohydrates should make up fifty to sixty percent of your daily calories. If you eat a lot of nutritious complex carbohydrates, you should be able to get the necessary 25 grams of fibre each day.
Protein
Protein is required for growth and development. It provides energy to the body and is necessary for the creation of hormones, antibodies, enzymes, and tissues. It also aids in the maintenance of an appropriate acid-alkaline balance within the body.
Our bodies break down protein into amino acids, which are the building blocks of all proteins. Consuming protein is essential for life, so we also need to eat alkaline-producing foods like fruits and vegetables to balance our bodies.
Some amino acids don't have to be acquired through diet because they can already be produced by our bodies. We categorize these as nonessential. Although this doesn't mean that they're unimportant, we just don't need to obtain them from food sources. In contrast, essential amino acids are ones that our bodies cannot produce—so we must consume them through our diet.
Whenever the body needs to make a protein - for example, when it builds muscle - it requires a variety of amino acids. These can come from dietary sources or from the body's own pool of amino acids. However, if there is a chronic shortage of amino acids (which can happen if someone's diet doesn't contain enough essential ones), this will stop the body from being able to make proteins. This can cause serious health problems as vital proteins are released from muscle cells to support the rest of the body.
Although it is critical to consume all of the amino acids, both necessary and non-essential, getting them from meat, fish, poultry, and other complete-protein foods isn't always simple. Because of their high fat content as well as the use of antibiotics and other chemicals in chicken and cattle rearing, most of those meals should be consumed in moderation.
Fats
Although many people think that it is important to reduce the amount of fat in their diets, the body actually needs some fat. Fat is necessary for normal brain development during infancy and childhood.
Throughout life, it provides energy and supports growth. Fat is, in fact, the body's most concentrated source of energy. However, after two years of age, the body only requires tiny amounts of fat compared to what is consumed on a typical diet.
Excessive fat consumption is a significant cause of obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease, and colorectal cancer, as well as a number of other diseases. One-third of your calories should come from fat if you are an adult.
Micronutrients
Essential to life, vitamins and minerals are referred to as micronutrients because we only need them in small amounts compared with other substances like water, carbohydrates, protein, and fats. Examples of micronutrients include iron, magnesium, potassium, and zinc.
To sum up, your diet should always contain a few crucial components: water, carbohydrates, proteins and fats. Incorporating all of these into your diet will give your body the nourishment it needs to perform optimally.
Source: Balch, Phyllis A. “Prescription for Nutritional Healing, Fifth Edition.” A Practical a-To-Z Reference to Drug-Free Remedies Using Vitamins, Minerals, Herbs and Food Supplements, Penguin Books, 2010.
0 Comments