In the fast-paced world of today, people tend to eat on the go. There are fast foods that are available in countless fast food joints to lure in people to buy food they can eat on the go. Greasy chicken meals, deluxe burgers, French fries, sugary sodas are some of the norm. Aside from these, busy commuters can also get fried foods from street vendors, serving whatever delicacy that can be fried easily, like hot dogs and sandwiches. Not to be outdone, food companies even produce processed foods and instant meals to meet the demands of the hectic lives of the people. Think for a moment. Do you something wrong with this picture? Yes, the above scenario is truly happening especially in urbanized cities. But look at what they are eating. Obesity may be a way to put it, but malnutrition fits the description more nicely. The slop that people are eating may do more harm than good in their bodies. Most fast foods contain enough fat and salt to sustain an entire week in a healthy person’s diet. The sugar content in very popular super sized sodas is enough to put a diabetic into a coma. Instant meals and foods contain a huge amount of sodium as well as preservatives which serve as precursors for cancer as well as other complications such as heart disease.
With this setting in mind, various health institutions and nutritionists have come up with a food pyramid to help guide the masses with quantitative and qualitative food intake. Is there a way to stop the destruction of nutrition in your society? There is something that you can do. Change our eating habits and influence others to change theirs as well. A great start would be establishing a meal plan based on the food pyramid. You should significantly reduce the fats and sweets in your usual diet and follow the quantity of servings of these items based on the food pyramid. Add about five to ten servings of fruits and vegetables and you’ll be feeling the effects of a rejuvenated body over time.
In fact, you should introduce a lot of fruits and vegetables in your diet. These food items help detoxify your body. Most of the essential vitamins and minerals are found in fruits and vegetables. Hidden benefits are gradually resurfacing as food scientists discover the increasing benefits of fruits and vegetables. These benefits include phytochemicals in pineapples and lycopene in tomatoes, which help in fighting cancer.
Aside from being delicious, fruits are also nutritious. For instance, did you know that eating a banana a day can do wonders for your body? Bananas are among the richest sources of potassium, a vital trace mineral in the body, which is responsible for nerve impulse and transmission as well as cardiac rhythm. They are also a good source of fiber, which aids in digestion and mobility of waste products away from your body. Bananas are also very tasty desserts, which makes them more appealing. Fruits in general can be made into great desserts, or even healthy snacks. Choose the fruit that best suits your taste, and experiment with its different preparations for a refreshing way to enjoy your favorite fruit everyday.
Vegetables contain many essential vitamins such as Vitamin A, C, E and K, as well as minerals like calcium and phosphorus. Eating yellow and orange vegetables like carrots can get you plenty of Vitamin A to maintain the clarity of your vision and prevent night blindness. Green leafy vegetables such as lettuce and cabbage have numerous benefits like Vitamin C, which help strengthen the immune system, Vitamin E, which help in skin integrity and serves as an antioxidant, and Vitamin K, which is responsible for the production of blood clotting factors in the body. The infamous broccoli, portrayed by the media as being disliked by children, contains bolus amount of calcium and phosphorus. Imagine what wonders a little piece of plant can do to your body.
For the diet-conscious, skip those fattening snacks and go for fruits and vegetables. Try snacking on water-rich fruits like watermelons. They help make you feel full without the guilt of a truckload of calories. Or how about snacking on a fresh green salad? The high bulk content of vegetables help make you feel fuller longer, thus making you avoid frequent trips to the snack bar.
You will be happy to know that you can eat as much fruits and vegetables as you want since they only contain minimal amounts of calories, fats and cholesterol. With the exception of some varieties such as avocados, which have high fat content, you can achieve your desired weight goal by frequenting fruits and vegetables over meats and sweets. You won’t have a problem with burning off copious amounts of calories like when you eat fatty foods.
Although we are a generation of excessive calcium supplementation and cheese consumption, we have not been able to make a dent in osteoporosis or hip fractures. In 2008, osteoporosis will cost $17.8 billion in the United States. By the time thy reach their 90s, one out of every three women and one out of every six men will suffer from a hip fracture. About fifty percent of these will have permanent disabilities, while fifteen to twenty-five percent will require nursing home care; and ten to twenty percent will die within a year. Mainstream medicine is now catching up, after warning for years that no amount of calcium supplementation or dairy products could make up for the damage done by the Western diet and sedentary lifestyle.
The bones in your body are made up of crystals of the calcium-phosphorus mineral apatite imbedded in a connective tissue matrix, which produces a material of unique toughness. Bone formation requires a constant supply of protein, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, vitamin D, potassium, and fluoride. Additionally, manganese, copper, boron, iron, zinc, silicon, and vitamins A, K, C, and all B's are required.
The Western diet often provides inadequate amounts of magnesium, boron, copper, silicon, and vitamins D and K and has high ratios of sodium to potassium, which favors the excretion of calcium and magnesium by the kidneys, instead of retention. Diets that are high in animal foods, grains, and sugars make the blood slightly acidic, which draws more calcium, magnesium, copper, manganese, and zinc out of bone storage than is wanted. There are other metabolic factors that are associated with acidic blood which contribute to bone loss. These include increased cortisol and reduced muscle strength.
If you're inactive and don't eat enough fruits and vegetables, all the calcium and magnesium in the world will not be able to help you. By balancing produce with animal foods and refined carbohydrates, one can keep blood pH levels slightly alkaline, like they should be, and keep potassium and sodium intakes about equal.
Dairy products are the best sources of calcium, magnesium, and vitamins A and D. Children and adolescents who do not consume dairy products cannot get enough calcium unless they supplement or choose foods that are supplemented. Females and males establish peak bone mineral density between the ages of ten and twenty. A bone-growth diet must be combined with exercise in order to achieve appropriate bone mineral density. In adulthood, it is possible to maintain BMD without substantially increasing it, especially for women. After menopause, exercise is strongly encouraged, as they help to increase BMD and reduce falling injuries by improving strength and coordination. It is absolutely necessary that women and men exercise regularly and intensely throughout life so that they can build a high peak BMD and retain it into old age.
Other bone-supporting nutrients are currently being researched for their role in preventing BMD loss and the fractures that result. Silicon, which is used to construct the bone protein matrix, is a marker of low hip BMD and a diet low in plant foods when found in low quantities. Vitamin D, which is a growing deficiency, is manufactured in our skin and requires about twenty to thirty minutes of sun exposure three times per week for whites to produce and darker skinned people require ten to fifty times as much sun to make the same amount of vitamin D.
Vitamin K is found in fruits and vegetables and is another reason why high produce intake is so important, as it is associated with increased BMD and a decreased fracture risk. Recent studies have found that a daily combined supplementation of 400mg Magnesium, 200 mcg of vitamin K, 400 iu of vitamin D, and 1000 mg of Calcium increased BMD in individuals over time as well as those who consumed two servings of fruits and two servings of vegetables each day.
Both Susan Banks Sr & Darrell Miller are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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