March – Nutrition Month to stay healthy

The word nutrition means providing materials in the form of food to the cells and organisms within the body to sustain a healthy life. It is also known as nourishment, and can prevent us from having health problems. Every year, the month of March is celebrated as National nutrition Month and it is mainly for nutrition education and information to stay healthy. This campaign is organized by the American Dietetic Association. The campaign focuses attention on the importance of making informed food choices and developing sound eating and physical activity habits. Registered Dietitian Day, also celebrated in March, increases awareness of registered dietitians as the indispensable providers of food and nutrition services and recognizes RDs for their commitment to helping people enjoy healthy lives. The American Dietetic Association’s mission is to promote optimal nutrition and well being for all people by advocating for its members. With more than 70,000 members, ADA is the world’s largest organization of food and nutrition professionals. The majority of ADA’s members are registered dietitians and dietetic technicians, registered.

Nutrition (also called nourishment or aliment) is the provision, to cells and organisms, of the materials necessary (in the form of food) to support life. Many common health problems can be prevented or alleviated with a healthy diet. A balanced diet comprising of diverse and healthy foods is key to promoting good health. After all, we are what we eat – Research continues to prove that eating healthy food promotes good health and unhealthy food habits lead to a diseased body. Foods contain vital nutrients that aid our body’s metabolic function. To stay healthy, we can change our daily diet to a nutritious one. The food that we eat contains two type of nutrients – Macro and Micro nutrients. The macronutrients or “big” nutrients include proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. The micronutrients or “little” nutrients are the vitamins and minerals that we need to be healthy. A balanced diet includes nutrient dense foods in the right amounts to help your body stay fit and healthy.

Macronutrients – Proteins are necessary for building the tissues in your body including all of the muscles, organs, skin and the parts of the immune system. Your body can use extra protein for energy or can convert it to fat. Carbohydrates include sugar, starch and fiber. Sugars and starches are needed for the energy that your body needs to function. Extra carbohydrates are converted to fat. Fats are needed for the membranes that surround all the cells in your body, for normal brain and nerve function and for signaling hormones. Just like protein, the extra fat can be used as fuel for the body or can be stored as fat. The main function of macronutrients is to provide energy, counted as calories. While each of the macronutrients provides calories, the amount provided by each varies. Carbohydrate provides four calories per gram, protein also four while fat provides nine. Macronutrients also have specific roles in maintaining the body and contribute to the taste, texture and appearance of foods, which helps to make the diet more varied and enjoyable.

Micronutrients – Micronutrients are those minute particles that are present in your food in such minute quantity that at the first glance seem to have no significance at all but they play a vital role when your body processes food. Without them, other nutrients in your body are not able to function properly. Vitamins and Minerals are the main micronutrients that are needed for your body. Vitamins are organic substances essential to the normal functioning of the body, as they help to catalyze biochemical reactions controlling metabolism, growth and maintenance. A deficiency in a single vitamin can have great effects in the athletic performance and even in the health. Vitamins must be obtained from food (fish, fruit and veggies are great vitamin sources) since, with few exceptions, the body cannot synthesize them. Minerals have also a great importance. They act as catalysts for many biological reactions within the body, including muscle response, the transmission of messages through the nervous system, the production of hormones, and the assimilation of nutrients in foods. In addition, all tissues and internal fluids of our body (e.g. bones, teeth, muscle, blood, and nerve cells) contain varying quantities of minerals. Since the body cannot manufacture any single mineral, your entire mineral intake must provide from food.

Poor nutrition is the result of consuming too little, too much, or the wrong kinds of food, on a regular basis. Poor nutrition can make you feel lousy on a day-to-day basis. Poor nutrition habits can be a behavioral health issue, because nutrition and diet affect how you feel, look, think and act. A bad diet results in lower core strength, slower problem solving ability and muscle response time, and less alertness. Poor nutrition creates many other negative health effects as well. You might think this is not an important issue to you now as a young adult, because these diseases tend to occur later on in life. But remember, poor nutrition at this age still increases your risk. Moreover, the eating habits and food choices you make now, as independent individuals tend to stick with you for life- so make the right ones!

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