Nutrition is a very crucial factor to be properly taken care of, from the young to the elderly, it has a range that extends from over nutrition to under nutrition, and includes specialized issues related to health and illness. Good (Healthy) nutrition is important to promote optimum bodily health, and to prevent/treat some common medical conditions, e.g Diabetes can be prevented or controlled by strictly following healthy nutritional plans as recommended by your Dietitian/Consultant.
What is Nutrition?
Nutrition as defined by Robinson (1982) is the science of foods and nutrients, their actions, interactions, and balance in relationships to health and disease, the process by which an organism ingests, digests, absorbs, transports, and utilizes nutrients to the process of disposing their end products as faeces, sweat or urine.
Nutrition as defined by Kolajo O. Solomon (2016) is a branch of science that deals with the functions of food and it's chemical components (nutrients) in the maintenance of optimum health, and treatment of diseased conditions or control of some abnormalties.
Nutrition is best balanced by eating the right amount of a large variety of foods. This right proportion provides:
•The proteins, carbohydrates, fats, minerals, and vitamins needed for a healthy body.
The right amount of water and exercise are also a very important factor to good health and good nutritional status. Nature has provided a variety of foods for man to consume and be healthy. We consume food for maintenance of health, growth, physiological needs and functions, cell nourishment and to develop greater resistance to infections and diseases. This foods contain a chemical components called nutrients.
Nutrients are those chemical constituents of food that must be supplied to the body in adequate quantity. These includes Carbohydrates, Proteins, Fats, Minerals, and Vitamins.
Over nutrition refers to conditions such as obesity and overweight. Choosing the appropriate diet is important for those trying to lose and maintain weight, or for those before and after weight loss surgery.
Under nutrition refers to malnourished patients. Malnutrition may occur due to an inability to take in adequate calories as food or if the food eaten cannot be fully absorbed (i.e., mal-absorption). Some malnourished patients require specialized oral supplement drinks or foods. For patients that cannot eat adequately by mouth, feeding through intestinal tubes (tube feeding) or intravenous catheters (parenteral nutrition, PTN) may be needed. Young children, pregnant women and aged people have special nutrition needs due to their vulnerability.
Nutrition is also important for patients with osteoporosis, elevated blood fats, high blood pressure, kidney disease, disordered eating (i.e., anorexia and bulimia), solid organ or bone marrow transplants, and cancer. Cancer patients may become malnourished because of their underlying disease or because of the effects of undergoing chemotherapy or radiation treatment.
There are many reasons why we should pay attention to what we eat. The processed, low-variety, sweetened foods many of us consume regularly may be convenient and tasty, but they compromise our health. There are diet-drug interactions we need to know. (read more on diet-drug interaction).
We especially need to pay attention to what we eat when we are sick so we can give our bodies the nutrients it needs to heal. And if you want to be even more deliberate in improving health—perhaps to address a chronic disease or condition—a Functional Medicine approach (dietary plans and recommendations) can yield great benefits.
Overall, seeing your food as medicine helps you make better decisions about what (and how) to eat in order to maintain a very healthy mental, physical, and emotional well-being.
NOTE: Buy and Eat based on good Quality and not Quantity, you are what you eat. A good Quality food material will surely gives a good Quality body material. "Let Food be thy medicine and medicine thy food" this and many more quotes are the words of Hippocrates.
About the Writer;
Nutri. Kolajo Oluwaseyi Solomon
A Nutritionist/Consultant/Aspired dietitian/Motivational speaker/Writer/Inspirational writer/Teacher/Lover of Christ/Relationship coach/Baker/Fashionist/ Sologold123@gmail.com
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