Nutrition Benefits

NUTRITION BENEFITS

If you want to be healthy, start to make changes in your diet in a way that feels right for you. Remember, you're creating a lifestyle change, one that you'll keep for the rest of your days. Your reward for making this change is twofold: A healthy body that stays at a natural weight. Freedom -- you won't have to struggle and suffer over feeling out of control around food. Fear is the greatest antagonist of long term personal progress. Whilst the average person blames poor food choices for their weight issues, it must be ‘learned’ that balance is the key principle. What most people don’t know is why cheat days are essential. That’s right essential! Dieting at first will lead to a rapid alteration in neuro-hormonal response, meaning that you lose weight. Over time however these responses desensitise and your results slow. Enter the cheat day…… A strategic calorie overload is an important method in re-stabilising the hormones necessary for fat loss. Furthermore, a cheat meal or cheat day (depending on your personal needs) results in a rapid surge of thyroid hormones, which as a result speeds metabolic processes and can actually catapult your fat loss .

How the body uses Food Food has nutrients in it— substances that give our body many important things that we need. They provide us with energy and also help control the way our body grows. Before nutrients can go to work food must be broken down so that they can pass into our body. This is called digestion. It starts when we chew the food that we eat. When we swallow it it travels on to the stomach where it is mixed together with water and other fluids. Then the food is passed on to the intestine. Nutrients escape through the walls of the intestine into our blood. From there they are carried to all parts of the body. Most food leaves waste that the body cannot use. Some of it goes to the kidneys and turns into urine. The liver also filters out waste. What is left over passes through the large intestine and leaves our body.

Energy

Increased energy levels are the immediate benefits of switching to a healthy diet. Eliminating excess fats, sugars and refined carbohydrates helps prevent blood sugar fluctuations. Examples of refined carbohydrates include candy and white breads. Unprocessed carbohydrates including whole grains, fruits and vegetables are most nutritious. This allows you to maintain steady blood sugar and constant energy levels as a result. Small, frequent meals also help maintain energy. In addition, eating a healthy breakfast helps keep you energized throughout the day Water

Plenty of water in your diet helps digestion, skin, and muscle tone. It can help prevent cramping during exercise and even relive stress. Many times we are low on water - dehydrated, and don't realize it. Being dehydrated can manifest with symptoms like fatigue and depression. In fact, by the time we are feeling thirsty, we're already slightly dehydrated. That's one reason that we hear the recommendation to drink eight standard glasses of water daily. Adequate water helps you digest food an helps your body get rid of wastes. Your kidneys need to process water for you to eliminate waste by urination, and getting enough water ensures that these wastes are diluted. Not getting enough water can encourage the formation of painful kidney stones.

Nutrients

There are six main groups of nutrients: proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals and water. The energy that food gives us is measured in kilocalories, or one thousand calories. A calorie is the energy that is needed to raise the temperature of water by one degree Celsius Eating a proper, nutritious diet offers numerous health benefits that keep you mentally and physically well. Proper nutrition doesn’t mean starving yourself, but instead means eating a diet balanced in lean proteins, carbs and fats. MayoClinic.com recommends getting between 45 and 65 percent of your daily calories from carbohydrates, between 10 and 35 percent of daily calories from protein and between 20 and 35 percent of daily calories from fats. When you're eating nutrient-dense foods, you're giving your body the building blocks it needs. This means it has a much better ability to heal if you're unwell, to stay healthy when you get there, and to truly thrive

Our body needs fat in small amounts. Fats are made up of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen. They store vitamins and produce fatty acids. We need these acids to produce cell membranes. Fats can come from animals or plants. They are in meat and dairy products, like butter and cheese. Other types of fats are in vegetable oils, nuts or seeds. Too many saturated fats produce a high level of cholesterol, a waxy material made by the body. It starts building up in the walls of blood vessels and may block blood as it flows through our body.

Proteins

Proteins are among the most important building blocks of our body. Muscles, skin and hair, for example, are made up of proteins. Proteins are complex molecules made up of amino acids. The body can produce some of them itself, but we must get the others from food. Proteins are in cheese, eggs, fish, meat, milk, as well as in nuts, peas and beans.

Minerals

Minerals are needed for growth. They are inorganic, not made up of living things. Our body needs different amounts of various minerals. Calcium and magnesium, for example, are important for bones and teeth We also need small amounts of iron. It is a component of haemoglobin, which carries oxygen to red blood cells . Fluorine or zinc are other minerals we need in very small amounts. They are called trace elements.

WEIGHT GAIN

To prevent weight gain, you must eat no more calories than you burn each day. For weight loss, you must eat fewer calories than your body burns daily. Healthy and nutrient-dense foods, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean proteins, typically contain fewer calories than sodas, sweets and fast food meals. Shedding excess pounds reduces your risk of obesity-related conditions such as type-2 diabetes, clogged arteries and thyroid dysfunction. GOOD FOODS TO EAT Some Of The Healthy Foods You Should Be Eating Black Beans Kale Salmon Walnuts Pumpkin Apples Blueberries Bananas Broccoli Spinach Sweet Potatoes Kidney Beans Lentils Red Beets Eggplant . Free fat Yogurt Brussels Sprouts .Free fat milk Tomatoes . Tuna Whole-Wheat Bread . Dark Chocolate Quinoa .Almonds Steel-Cut Oatmeal Bulgur . Chia Seeds Lean Meat .FLAXSEEDS Seafood Cod Salmon Sardines Scallops Shrimp Tuna Nuts & Seeds Almonds Cashews Flaxseeds Peanuts Pumpkin seeds Sesame seeds Sunflower seeds Beans & Legumes Black beans Dried peas Garbanzo beans (chickpeas) Kidney beans Lentils Lima beans Miso Navy beans Pinto beans Soy sauce Soybeans Tempeh Tofu