Eating a nutritious diet is essential for good health and wellbeing. It can help to reduce the risk of serious health problems, such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes and obesity. For people with chronic illnesses, a healthy diet can help control these conditions and prevent complications. Good nutrition means that the body gets all the nutrients, vitamins and minerals it needs to function at its best.
Planning meals and snacks to include nutrient-rich foods that are also low in calories is key to maintaining a healthy diet. Nutrition is a fundamental part of health and development. Better nutrition is linked to better infant, child and maternal health, a stronger immune system, safer pregnancy and delivery, a lower risk of non-communicable diseases (such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease), and longevity. Eating a balanced diet is an important part of good health for all. The type and amount of food you eat affects the way you feel and how your body works. Our immune system requires essential vitamins and minerals to function optimally.
Eating a healthy and varied diet ensures that the immune system works at its best and protects it against diseases and immunodeficiency problems. When buying food, check the serving sizes on nutrition labels to see what amounts are equivalent to a normal serving and how much it provides in terms of nutrients. Evaluating if your diet is nutritious enough can be simple. Today, the world faces a double burden of malnutrition, including both undernutrition and overweight, especially in low- and middle-income countries. A well-structured nutrition plan should allow a person to maintain a healthy body within acceptable levels of body fat (18 to 24% for men and 25 to 31% for women).
For many, the word “malnutrition” produces the image of a child from a third world country with a bloated belly and thin arms and legs. Having a nutritionist means that you have someone with whom to resolve your problems and relapses, as well as someone to help you achieve your nutrition goals. Whether it's on the advice of a professional or through your inner voice, enjoying good nutrition is something we should all strive for. For pregnant women, supplying their bodies with a mix of nutritious foods will make them feel healthy during pregnancy and may facilitate childbirth. They focus on general health and wellbeing, so if you have a specific health problem or goal to achieve, such as dealing with a metabolic disorder, a holistic nutritionist may not be able to help you as much. Nearly a hundred years later, nutritionist Victor Lindlahr wrote in an advertisement in 1923: “Ninety percent of diseases known to man are caused by cheap food.” Nutrition 100 Nutritional Applications for a Healthy Lifestyle by Lynn Klees is licensed under an international Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 license, except where otherwise noted.
While breastfeeding protects against malnutrition and overweight, only 44% of babies under 6 months of age are exclusively breastfed. For children, adequate nutrition is one of the most important factors influencing growth and immunity. Many people mistakenly associate weight loss with fad diets, but following a nutritious diet is actually the best way to maintain a healthy weight while getting the nutrients needed for healthy body functioning. Overnutrition is an epidemic in the United States and is known to be a risk factor for many diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, inflammatory disorders (such as rheumatoid arthritis) and cancer.
