We've all heard the old saying “you are what you eat.” And it's
still true. If you stick to a healthy diet full of vitamins and minerals, your
body reflects it. You feel healthy, energized, and just all-around great.
However, people who limit their diet to junk foods will undoubtedly suffer the
consequences of not giving their bodies what they need to thrive. The result is
not only fatigue and low energy, but poor health as well. Understanding this
clear connection between your health and your diet may spur you to make better dietary
choices.
Your Diet and Your Health: What Your Body Needs
"Food
is essential. People take it for granted, but we need nutrients," says Anne
Wolf, RD, a researcher at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. Wolf
cites as one example the old days when sailors crossed the ocean for months
without proper nutrition. As a result, they ended up with scurvy because of a
lack of vitamin C from citrus fruits. Vitamin C and other vitamins and minerals
are necessary to keep all the different parts of the body healthy and
functioning — otherwise, we get sick.
Every little thing that
you do happens because of the nutrients that you give your body. Says Wolf,
"Food gives us the fuel to think and the energy to move our muscles. The
micronutrients, the vitamins, the minerals are there so that our bodies can
function. You need food not just to sustain health, but to feel better."
And the only way the
body will get the many nutrients needed to stay healthy and function is by
eating a wide variety of healthy foods.
Your Diet and Your Health: The Guidelines
The U.S. Department of
Agriculture's food
pyramid and the daily
food recommendations were established after extensive research and continue to
be updated as more is learned about the role of nutrition in good health. Their
goal is to make sure that people understand all the different nutrients their
bodies need to stay healthy.
Food went from being a
necessity to simply function to being the key to enabling the body to be at its
functional best, says Wolf. Research shows that the right nutrition optimizes
health and that getting enough of certain vitamins and minerals can also lower disease
risk.
Your Diet and Your Health: Poor Diet, Poor
Health
Many foods have a huge
impact on heart health. Research has long shown that fruits and vegetables and
a diet rich in whole grains and low in saturated fats can help protect the body
from heart disease and high blood pressure, while
a diet high in saturated and trans fats without enough fruits and vegetables
can actually cause those diseases.
Even small diet
deficiencies can have an enormously negative impact on your health. The most
common health problem due to a lack of nutrients in the United States is iron
deficiency, says Wolf. Menstruating women and girls need plenty of iron in
their diets to replace what they lose each month during their periods. Iron is
also an essential nutrient for infants, children, and growing teens.
Another example is
calcium, needed to keep bones strong and healthy, says Wolf. Without it, the
body can develop osteoporosis, a health condition characterized by weak and
brittle bones.
Eating a well-rounded
and varied diet will go a long way toward making sure you have all the
nutrients you need. Remember that our body uses everything we put into it, and
what we give it determines how it's used — for good health, or for bad.