Nutrition
It’s no secret that what we eat affects our lives, either positively or negatively.
Food as fuel.
Food is the fuel that keeps our body going. More importantly, food is the fuel our brain needs to function properly. While it’s common knowledge that we can live for 3 to 6 days without water, we can live a lot longer without food—even up to a few months. That’s because our body has evolved to become excellent at storing fuel for times of famine.
Because of this, it makes sense to try to give our body the best fuel. However, it’s not always possible, and our body tries to adapt and keep us going as long as possible. If you have the luxury of choice, it would therefore make sense to fuel it with the most nutritious ingredients. Our remarkable bodies deserve it!
Food as illness.
It’s a given that without food and water, we die. Every cell in our body needs energy to function, which we get from the water we drink and the food we ingest. We burn the fuel we need and store some of the fuel for later use.
However, these stores of fuel can grow to unhealthy levels. Our bodies may then become sluggish and overburdened.
Now, simply fueling our bodies isn’t always the primary concern. If this was the case, we wouldn’t overeat and we most likely wouldn’t eat foods lacking in nutrients. Often, we eat due to cravings and to soothe our stressed nervous system. Sadly, so many foods are highly processed and so loaded with flavour that our bodies become addicted to it. Oils, sugars, and salts become addictive when used in excessive quantities, which contribute to these insatiable cravings we have.
Food as health.
The increased fats, the depletion of nutrients, and the lack of fibre in our diet has created an epidemic of chronic health conditions that are killing us at alarming rates. Scientists and health care professionals, and most likely even ourselves, know that many of the diseases we suffer from are self-inflicted. But when the food tastes so good, we often don’t think about the ingredients we are consuming, and the lack of nutrition. In the end, we are eating empty calories. This causes inflammation in our bodies, which in turn causes havoc with our blood flow—increasing our chances of heart attacks, strokes, type 2 diabetes, and dementia.
When we’re young, we don’t see the damage that these lifestyle choices have on our bodies. We remain resilient, until we aren’t.
The person that may have overindulged for years; the person that is overweight; the person that is pre-diabetic or has type 2 diabetes; the person with heart disease; or the person any other multitude of chronic health conditions can still make changes that will improve their health.
The biggest thing you can do for yourself is take inventory of what you eat and decide to make healthy changes.
The EPIC - Potsdam study, which started in 1994 and has had follow ups with study participants in later years, showed that the following 4 factors contributed to individuals having a 78% lower risk of developing a chronic diseases: never smoking, having a body mass index lower than 30, performing 3.5 h/wk or more of physical activity, and adhering to healthy dietary principles (high intake of fruits, vegetables, and whole-grain bread and low meat consumption).
