You Are What You Eat

 

Diet || Diet essay

You Are What You Eat

        I would be willing to hazard a guess that the above is very probably a phrase that you have heard before. But, let me ask you, have you ever really taken a moment to think about it and what it actually means? Allow me to assist you. Every time you plow your way through a double cheese dog with extra fries, it is not just about gaining a few ounces. It is, however, very definitely about accumulating all sorts of noxious substances and harmful chemicals in your body, stuff that can bring your life to an end far sooner than necessary! Many people would, no doubt, think that this is scaremongering, that one fast food meal is not going to harm anyone, and that to a large extent is true, assuming that everything else that you eat is good for you. But the chances are that it’s not, and therein lays the problem. The overwhelming majority of foodstuffs that we consume nowadays are processed in some way, and this processing almost always involves some additional chemicals or preservatives being added to the foods. Foods that survive for a week or more on the shelves of your local supermarket only do so because they have chemical preservatives added to them. The succulent-looking cuts of meat that you pull from the chilled cabinet are only the color that they are because they have had artificial colorants added to make sure that they stay looking the way that shoppers believe they should. Put another way, do you think that eating sodium propyl parahydroxybenzoate is going to be good for you, particularly when you know that it is a preservative that is most commonly used in hand lotion and shampoo?

How about Potassium hydroxide or Propylparaben?

         Even without knowing exactly what these things are, I would imagine that most people would feel that they are not things that you really want to eat. They sound like things that your natural human instinct would suggest are not going to be good for you. Yet, all of these are what are known as ‘E-numbers’ in Europe and many other parts of the world, permissible food additives that manufacturers can process into the foods that they produce. Such chemicals are added to foods for a wide variety of reasons. They can sometimes give the food a longer shelf –life (preservatives), make the food taste better (flavor enhancers), add extra color, and so on.

Are such chemicals harmful?

          Well, the truth is that in a lot of cases, we simply do not know the real answer to that question. Sure, some research may have been carried out into the shorter-term effects of many of the chemicals that are added to our foodstuffs, but the longer-term effects of the overwhelming majority are still pretty much unknown. Do these chemicals simply pass through your body 100% effectively, or do traces gradually accumulate over the years, slowly poising you? Again, who really knows the answer to that question when the only people who have probably done any kind of research at all into the question are the food companies themselves? And they can hardly be said to be entirely unbiased, or to have a totally objective view, can they? That said, what would your common sense tell you? And the even worse news is that it is not only added chemicals in the food that you eat that can harm you. For example, fats are an essential part of a healthy human diet, as they form a long-term store of energy on which the body can call whenever it is needed. However, too much fat is a bad thing – and that is not ‘burned’ is simply accumulated by the body, generally in all of the unhealthiest places – and the wrong types of fat are particularly harmful. Trans-fatty acids (sometimes known as trans fats) are, as an example, widely acknowledged to be very bad for you indeed. Such fats occur naturally in small amounts in dairy products and meat and are also formed by a process called partial hydrogenation, which is used to extend the shelf-life of processed food. They are still fairly commonly found in margarine, biscuits, cakes, and fast foods. And yet recent US research revealed that a paltry 2% increase in the energy intake from trans fats was associated with a 23% rise in the occurrence of coronary heart disease.

It really couldn’t be much clearer that trans fats are bad for you, could it?

        According to experts, trans fats have no nutritional value whatsoever either, and some countries such as Denmark have banned them entirely, without any discernible impact on the consumer at all. So, are you still eating trans fats every day, without even thinking about it? If so, why? Don’t you want to be healthier? The World Is Getting Fatter Across most counties of the developed Western world, obesity is fast becoming one of the greatest public health challenges of the 21st century. For example, according to the World Health Organization, its prevalence has tripled in many European countries since the 1980s, and the numbers of those affected continue to rise at an almost unbelievable rate, especially amongst children. Obesity is already responsible for 2-8% of health costs and 10-13% of deaths in different parts of the European region. And the picture in the USA is, if anything, considerably worse!

         Nearly four out of every 10 adults in the USA will be obese within the next five years if people keep packing on pounds at the current rate, obviously putting their health at very serious risk. Currently, about 31% of the US populace, or about 59 million people, are obese, defined as roughly 30 or more pounds over a healthy weight. Obesity significantly increases the chances of developing diabetes, heart disease, some types of cancer and a host of other health problems. The medical costs of treating these diseases will put a growing strain on the health care system and world economy in the years to come as well. Simply put, at this current moment, Americans are, on average, gaining one to two pounds a year, and at the current rate, 39% of Americans will be obese by 2008.

         And, according to the latest research, being obese will, on average, shave seven years off a person's life, and even being overweight (10-30 pounds over your ideal weight) can shorten your life span by three years. Could it be any clearer than that just how bad being obese is for you? Stop Thinking, Start Doing!

          Being obese or overweight is obviously not healthy. Eating an unbalanced diet is not healthy either. So, it follows that becoming less heavy and consuming foods that are part of a balanced diet are both important aspects of becoming healthy! Only you can make the changes necessary to address these problems successfully, but this book will help you to do so too. Let’s begin to look at how. Reversing The Weight Gain Despite the plethora of trendy or faddish diet plans that you can spend your money on, there really is no magic answer to losing excess weight. And, before you can actually begin to lose weight, you must take the all-important first step, that is, you must stop putting the poundage on. To do so, you either need to burn 100 calories of energy more a day with physical activity or eat 100 calories less, simple as that.

How would you do that?

       Well, there are 400-500 calories in 100g of chocolate, for example, so you would need to eat around 20-25g less. A well-known brand of ice cream contains 300 calories per 100g, so you need to eat 35g less. A can of cola or soda weighs in at 130 calories, so skip one per day, and there is your 100 calorie reduction! Or, take a 15-minute walk, and burn off that cola. Now, do not get the idea that shaving 100 calories off your daily intake or walking for 15 minutes is going to lead to significant weight loss. It is not. But, you cannot begin to lose weight without first stopping gaining it. Maybe that sounds silly, but it seems to be a fact that many would-be dieters choose to ignore, Stopping your weight gain is a significant first step towards a sleeker, ‘Healthier You’.

Start Eating Right

        Okay, now that you have stopped gaining weight, it is time to actually start losing it. To do this, you need to increase your exercise levels and reduce the calories that you take on board every day. The actual amount of calories that you need to take in every day will vary according to both your size and the work you do as, logically enough, if your work involves a good degree of physical effort, then more energy is needed to drive that effort. So, for a 60kg male, a lightworker would require 2450 calories per day, whereas someone involved in physical labor would need nearer to 3800 calories to power them through the day. Similarly, the calorie requirements for a 50kg female would range from 1875 to 2925 per day, in the same comparative circumstances. Children need far more calories than their size would possibly suggest as well, simply because they need fuel for growing at such a rapid rate! For example, a child of 1-3 years of age needs 1240 calories per day, increasing to 1950 calories per day for a child of 7-9. Taking these calorific requirements into account, it is crucial that you start eating a healthy, balanced diet, one that will help prevent disease and illness as well as manage your weight. Such a diet will also assist you to live longer and keep things such as hair, skin and nails in good condition too. First and foremost, eating healthily does not mean that your diet should consist of only salads and steamed vegetables – although both can be extremely enjoyable!

A healthy, balanced diet is one that is made up of a bit of everything in the correct proportions. This ensures your body gets enough of what it needs and is in no way deficient, but that you are not taking on too much either, as it is essentially this ‘too much’ that invites your body to store it as fat.

In fact, recommendations on diet are now laid out not just to prevent deficiency, but to actively promote optimal health! Your specific personal nutritional requirements will vary according to your age, sex and overall level of fitness. However, for the average adult, it is recommended that around half of your energy should be provided by carbohydrates, 35% from fats and 15% from protein. To turn this theory into a workable and usable diet plan, first divide foodstuffs into the following 5 groups:

* Bread, cereals, and potatoes

* Fruit and vegetables

* Meat, fish, or other protein alternatives

* Milk and dairy

* Foods containing fat and foods containing sugar

Then, base what you eat on these guidelines:

· Try to eat 5-10 portions of starchy foods, such as bread, cereals and potatoes every day. (This also ensures that you eat enough fiber too).

· 2-3 portions of meat, fish, or protein-rich alternatives;

· at least 5 portions of fruit and vegetables (we’ll return to this later)

And · finally, try to stick to only 2 portions of fatty and/or sugary foods each day. The fact is that good nutrition, a varied diet, and keeping fit are the keys to optimum health. So, please remember that all foods can be included in your balanced diet and that nothing is actually forbidden as long as it is eaten in the right proportions.

Eating correctly is not only meant to help you to lose excess weight, nor is it solely a preventative measure either. Instead, it promotes maximum health and vitality, which is something that we all wish to achieve!