What Role Does Nutrition Play in Our Health?
What Role Does
Nutrition Play in Our Health?
Nutrition as it applies to our
daily lives means that we take in what we need to maintain our body’s healthy
state. Nutrition has become an important
word thanks to the involvement of the USDA in our daily food requirements, and
the FDA’s involvement in determining what is and is not dangerous for us to
consume.
What about eating habits? What about vitamins? What role does our daily intake play in our
health? More than you have been lead to
believe or understand. The body’s
ability to remain well under anything other than ideal conditions is a direct
result of the nutrition received on a daily basis. The mind’s ability to remain well is, again,
a direct result of our nutritional intake.
For instance, the human brain doesn’t develop well without the necessary
input of protein in our daily diet. No
protein, no intelligence.
Nutrition refers to the nurturing
of our body, in our ability to keep it healthy and functioning as it is
supposed to do. Our ability to provide
the body with all the necessary food, vitamins, and minerals so that we
continue to thrive in our daily life processes.
How do we
determine that we are providing the essential nutritional needs? That knowledge comes by educating ourselves
about what our individual needs are, the needs of our family, and then taking
that knowledge and applying it to the foods we buy, that we prepare, and that
our families consume.
Health is taught as a science
course, and addresses matters of personal hygiene, diseases, and the broad
spectrum of health as it applies to the masses.
No individual attention is given to how to attain optimal health via our
eating habits. It’s funny that we skip
the most important, fundamental building block to good health: our nutritional
and caloric consumption in our food. I
personally believe we should have the field of nutrition and physical activity
married into something combined to provide every person that enters the school
system with a personal knowledge of their bodies’ needs, caloric, and
nutritional, so that they complete their education with mental and physical
competencies, as well as analytical and mathematical competence.
Nutrition is a concept that should
be as important to our educational process as our ability to count. The ability
to recognize our nutritional requirements, find the foods we need to fulfill
those requirements, and differentiate between healthy food consumption and
“unhealthy” eating habits is not an option.
Not for a healthy, happy, long, and quality life
What we should absorb as we travel
along life’s daily path is a way to incorporate good nutrition into our
lifestyle. There is generally just as
much room for good as there is bad, it just so happens that bad nutritional
habits hold more appeal.
Bad
nutrition receives more advertising dollars than healthy nutritional options,
and is often more visible. But that
doesn’t mean it’s any easier, more convenient, or cheaper. Habits, generally take about two weeks to
make the switch from conscious action to unconscious thought. Two weeks is not long, it’s not long at all
for decisions that will affect you for the rest of your life. It’s also not long for the potential reward
that comes from setting an example your children can follow, and you can be proud
for them to follow. You teach them daily about the good habits you want them to
develop, and then you demonstrate a bad one in your nutrition choices. C’mon, mom and dad, let’s practice what we
preach.