Nutrition – The Backbone of Health

2011-07-26T16:23:00.000-07:00

You can exercise all you want and still not have optimal health. What you put into your body as fuel can make a huge impact on your health. Nutrition is the backbone of all health. It will make your exercise better, it will improve your energy, it will help you lose weight and maintain it, it will keep you from getting sick, and it will increase your strength. Whatever your health goals, there should be a focus on nutrition to help you accomplish them. Nutrition is made up of the basic elements that your body needs to function. It supports life. And it prevents problems from developing.

Nutrition is so important that many governments feel the need to regulate product sales to ensure that nutritional values are held to a standard. In the US, the nutritional values labels are found on every type of food and supplement that you can buy. The body has very specific needs when it comes to nutrition. The US government has had the food pyramid to guide food choices for Americans for many years. The human body needs water, carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. It needs elements like oxygen, calcium, iron, magnesium, etc. to thrive in its environment. This is what nutrition is all about.

The basic nutrients are carbohydrates, fats, minerals, protein, vitamins, and water. Vitamins and minerals are classified as micronutrients since your body needs less of these than other things. Carbohydrates, fats, protein, and water are seen as macronutrients because your body needs large doses of these to continue functioning. Each of the macronutrients provides varying levels of energy in the form of kilocalories, or units of heat/energy. Carbohydrates and proteins contain about 17 kcal of energy per gram. Fats have about 37 kcal per gram. Vitamins, minerals, and water do not provide energy but are needed for other bodily processes. Fiber is another element of nutrition that is needed but doesn't provide energy to the body.

Micronutrients are being studied and discovered all the time. Micronutrients provide protection and health to the body in ways that are not well understood. Antioxidants, for instance, are a recent and important discovery, as are phytochemicals. Most of the food you eat contains a combination of macro and micronutrients that are needed to maintain health. Being sure that the food you eat has the proper nutrition is vital to ensuring that your body functions at its best all the time.

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Nutrition – The Backbone of Health