Diet is a significant factor that impacts people’s health as well as preventing chronic illnesses (Health, Food, and Diet-Related Illnesses, 2009.) The subject is pertinent to everyone because everyone must consume food, and the choices people make about what they are eating plays a pivotal role in their current and future health status. Decisions about what to ingest may be made quickly, and without much thought, especially when considering the rapid pace of life that exists in current society; many people eat on the run, and choose things that are convenient, pre-prepared or easily prepared, and frequently inexpensive. As a result, these food choices may result in becoming more susceptible to infections and illnesses because the immune system is vulnerable. This paper will discuss the fact that eating a healthy diet and engaging in exercise directly affects one’s health; people who tend to make poor choices regarding nutrition are more likely to experience illness.
Maintaining a healthy diet is one way for people to control their overall health. Although people often believe that developing healthy eating habits is a complicated process or limiting. It is best to use a wide variety of nutritional foods is one way to maximize your body’s ability to obtain the nutrition that it requires to stay healthy. Ingredients that form a healthy diet should include adequate amounts of fruit, vegetables, and whole grains, all of which are high in complex carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins, and minerals in addition to containing relatively minimal levels of fat and cholesterol (A Healthy Diet, 2013.) The rest of what a person eats on a daily basis should include low-fat dairy foods, lean meat and poultry, and fish; in addition, the amount of foods that are high in saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, salt, and sugar additives should be reduced or eliminated to the best extent possible (A Healthy Diet, 2013.)
The amount of information in the public about diets, good foods, and bad foods brings a considerable amount of confusion to the issue. Consider some of the fad diets that have been extremely popular over the years. Low fat foods are better for a person; however, the low-fat foods have added sugar to make them taste better when removing fat during the processing of the product. The same is true for low-sugar foods; it has added fat to make them more palatable. Eating too much soy can cause an individual to gain fat because of the amount of estrogen in the soy products. Low carb diets increase the fat one consumes and starves the body of the carbohydrates it needs to function properly. Diet foods are not always healthy foods despite the claims to the contrary. Eliminating any one essential food group or nutritional requirement from a diet causes deficiencies in the body’s ability to function properly.
The rule of thumb that many nutritionists use is to eat food that is in its least processed form. Fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables are better for a person than those canned with extra salt and preservatives are. Meats in a more natural form without added ingredients and preservatives are also better than sausages, cold cuts, and other processed meats. The premise is simple, the less one alters the food, and the better it is for the body. Eating foods in moderation is also a key component in healthy eating. No matter what food one consumes, when one eats too much of it at one meal or consume more calories than the body needs, the excess becomes fat. Keeping this in mind is critical when addressing healthy eating. It will help the individual address their weight loss, gain, or maintenance. For many who find success in healthy eating find these concepts as true.
Besides consuming a healthy diet, it is equally important to engage in regular physical movement in order to allow the body to use up calories. The expenditure of calories is as vital to a person’s health as his or her ingestion of calories, because when more calories are consumed than the body is able to utilize, a person will begin to put on weight. When someone engages in more activity, that person is able to consume more food and if a healthy diet is maintained, an appropriate weight can be sustained.
When people eat more than they are able to metabolize, the result can be overweight or obesity which threatens to cause several risky health conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, and stroke (A Healthy Diet, 2013.) The foods consumed has a tremendous impact on the way that blood circulates through the heart and arteries; when a person consumes a terrific deal of fat and cholesterol, the result can be a buildup of plaque in the arteries. Such an obstruction in a heart artery can result in a heart attack in the same way that a blockage in the brain can lead to stroke. Eating a healthy diet helps to avoid such a buildup in the arteries as well as the blood vessels, resulting in a decreased risk of developing health problems that associated with being overweight.
By contrast, when there is a definite scarcity of healthy food and adequate nutrition, and there is overconsumption of processed foods that are high in calorie and low in nutrients, the result may be a variety of illnesses or diseases (Braverman, 2011.) As mentioned, these risky conditions can include coronary heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and hypertension. These conditions can also be caused by overconsumption of a diet that is lacking in nutrients and filled with fat and cholesterol, as well.
- A Healthy Diet. (2013). Retrieved from Healthy Forms: http://healthyforms.com/eating-right/
- Braverman, J. (2011, March 28). Illnesses Caused by Bad Diet. Retrieved from Live Strong.com: http://www.livestrong.com/article/84174-illnesses-caused-bad-diet/
