The Importance of Proper Nutrition and Healthy Diet

Nutrition is the process of providing your body nourishment in the form of food which is necessary for your health. The food choices you make every day can affect your health and your mood in a drastic way. Good nutrition is an important part of living a healthy lifestyle because it ultimately boils down to life and death. This change in lifestyle can help reduce your risk of chronic diseases like heart disease and even cancer (American Cancer Society, 2017). In the United States, about one-third of U.S. adults are obese and around 12.5 million children and adolescences aged ranging from 2-19 years old are obes. It is frightening to see hypertension and type 2 diabetes increasingly being seen in younger ages. These are major numbers that if not taken care of right away, can have long-lasting effects on health and nutrition.

The characteristics of a healthy diet include portion control, limiting fat consumption, eating organic or whole foods and increasing fruit and vegetable intake. One of the most important of them all is portion control. Moderation is the key for taking the path towards a healthier lifestyle. Over the past decade, portions for foods in restaurants have gotten larger and larger, and this is what contributes to societal influences on our lack of portion control. The other most important is what we are putting into our bodies. Fruits and vegetables pass on certain vitamins and antioxidants. Adding fruits and vegetables to your diet can help lower your chances of cancer and other chronic diseases. Although fat is essential for a healthy diet, there are certain types of fat that should still be avoided. Saturated fats and trans fats raise blood cholesterol levels, increase your risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes, cardiovascular disease and stroke (American Cancer Society, 2017). You can get healthier fats through fish, nuts, and seeds. Another huge factor that needs to be considered is limiting processed foods. Sodium contributes to high blood pressure and this can increase your chances of developing a stroke. Many processed products like canned soups, breads, pastas, and cereals contain staggering amounts of sodium. Avoiding these can change your lifestyle so drastically.

Two factors that can impact a person’s food choices other than culture include social interactions and emotions. Social interactions can lead to heavy eating due to circumstances. It can also lead to guilt for not eating when showing up to someone’s housewarming party, or invitation to their home. Being surrounded by friends who are eating a certain way will influence you on how much you consume that day as well. People will ignore their hunger signals so that they don’t offend the host of the party or gathering. Emotions can also impact a person’s food choices in times of stress or loneliness. The loss of a close friend or family member can make someone lose their appetite or it could potentially make someone eat more than they normally do. Foods can influence the brain’s chemistry and the mind’s response and that is where the phrase “emotional-eating” comes into play. This dangerous path can lead to obesity and other health concerns due to lack of emotional control.

When looking at my own culture (Eritrean/Ethiopian culture) I see a lot of food restrictions within our ethnic group. When looking at our countries, the two major religions are Islam and Christianity (Orthodox). Within our Orthodox religion comes a ton of fasting. There is one fasting period that starts right before Thanksgiving and goes for three months. During this time, you are expected to eat like a vegan. Although there are a lot of health benefits to this type of fasting, it can also lead to you not receiving the proper vitamins and protein that your body desperately needs. There are multiple fasting periods throughout the year, most not even being for religious purposes but more cultural. Recently there has been a deadly wave of violence in Ethiopia due to a radical group so the priest of the church will call onto a fasting period last minute so that we can pray for those in need back home. The challenge with this is that your body is never fully adjusting to a common trend of foods. It can be hard to go back to eating beef when you were eating beef frequently prior to the fasting, then abruptly stopped eating beef for three months. These fasting periods can be a shock to the body since it’s so on and off throughout the year. The only way to overcome this minor road bump is to eat healthy consistently and to limit the amount of dairy and meat consumption you put in your body in between fasting periods. This will help with the sickness post-fasting and help your body not be so shocked from the radical change.

Conclusion

In conclusion, there are lots of ways to adjust your eating lifestyle and what foods you are allowing into your body. Nutrition is not just an idea; it is a way of life that can make or break you. There are so many ways to cut out the bad habits in your life and it all boils down to willingness and emotional control. There are other outside factors that contribute to unhealthy habits like societal influences, cultural beliefs, and even religious purposes. It is up to you to put your foot down and say no when necessary. It is important to remember the concept of balance when making everyday meals. For every action, there is a reaction and we must deal with the consequences of our choices. We must remember the staggering number of adolescents with pre-mature diseases that can be avoided if the proper steps are taken. The concept of nutrition can play such a beautiful part of life and if let in, can transform you mentally, spiritually and most of all, physically.