Diet
Diet and Illnesses
There are illnesses that you can get from dieting and they are called eating disorders. There are two main types and they are anorexia and bulimia. There are about 2 million people in the United States that are suffering right now from one of these eating disorders. These illnesses are going to be more likely in girls and women than in men however there are male patients that are battling eating disorders as well.
Anorexia is showing up more and more in teenagers. This is true more so for girls of middle to upper class families. Men and boys suffer from anorexia but not as often. Anorexia is when a person will not want to eat when they need to in order to survive. There are anorexia patients that avoid eating most of the foods that are out there but will also be more likely to follow activities like grueling physical exercises in order to make their weight come down. Usually their weight is already below normal. Gaining weight is the worst fear of a person with anorexia. The excessive weight loss that anorexics usually have will cause hormonal disturbances in women and girls and will seem to have a number of health problems that can occur.
The reason behind anorexia has not been found out yet. There are health experts that believe that biological, nutritional and psychological causes combined will lead to this disorder. There are social and environmental causes like puberty, a death in the family or any other stress related reason could lead to this. There is not one single treatment that will exist for anorexia at this moment. There are medications that are going to treat depression that is associated with anorexia. The psychological and family support is going to need to be there for the patient come of their eating disorder without fear.
Bulimia nervous is a common eating disorder where the patient is going to have a tempting urge to eat. They will have repeated episodes of binging in a very short amount of time. The patients of bulimia are going to be very afraid of obesity and this will lead them to do self-induced vomiting in order to get the food out of their body. Patients will also try laxatives, diuretics, strict fasting, and dieting of any kind. They will also want to do hard physical exercises for their body to prevent the weight gain. These are all going to be hard on the heart and kidney functions as well.
Anorexia and bulimia are far more often seen in girls rather than boys. However there are men that suffer from the disorders. There are around 7% of the young women seeking heath advice or treatment that suffer from bulimia. Like anorexia, the cause of this disorder is not known. There can be no one effective treatment for the disorder. Medication may be used to help treat depression and there is counseling that can help as well. Having the support of family is going to help the bulimic patient as well. Both anorexia and bulimia are dangerous and life threatening to anyone. If you are or know someone that is suffering from either one, this is not a good diet and you need to find help immediately.
Diet and Family
It is hard to diet on your own this is true. You can turn to some things like exercise classes, support groups, and even a partner to diet with. Some like to go to special health clubs to get the help that they are looking for. You may be forgetting one thing, you have your family there with you to lean on and get great support from.
Families will come together to work through just about anything. They can work through tragedies and successes. You should involve your family in the dieting process as well. You should check with your doctor first and make sure that the particular diet is going to be safe and secure for all of your family members to participate in. You can get your kids, spouse and even your parents involved in this plan.
One of the best ways to get over temptation is to create a healthier environment. When you get the junk food out of your sight and out of the house, you will be able to feel better because you are not going to want to eat it as much. Getting your whole family involved will help your dieting and get everyone in shape and healthy in the house. At first, there may be some resistance to this idea, but you can all pull together and get this moving in the right direction that will benefit everyone and get you all closer.
Finding diet activities that everyone can participate in can be a challenge. However it will be worth the time and effort. Cook together as a family and give your children the special skill that they will need to make healthier choices for their diet. You can learn to cook healthier and find the good tasting and nutritious recipes that are going to be easy to make and fun as well.
You can also get the whole family involved in exercise. This is very important to do. Get outdoors and play some games. Choose your favorite sports and get down to business. This is fun for everyone and when the kids and the adults are having fun together as a family, everyone is growing together and getting healthier at the same time.
The last thing that you can do is learning nutrition together. There are different books that are helpful towards children and available to learn about the food pyramid and other health concerns. These books are a great place for adults to start the learning experience. You can encourage your children to ask the doctor or the school nurses any questions that they may have. You can incorporate eating healthy in your child’s science project too or any other school idea.
Family dieting can be fun and good for the health as well. Children that learn how healthy habits can help them from early on are less likely to make unhealthy choices in the future like smoking or drinking alcohol. Work together as a family and battle the bulge so that everyone can benefit from it.
Diet and Dining
There is nothing to argue about, dining out when you are on a diet is very stressful. This is especially true for people that love to eat and like food a lot. This may seem like torture, the right way to go about it is out there for you to eat normally. You do not need to splurge on some things even when you go out to a restaurant. There is no reason why you have to give up dining out all together. Remember that a diet is going to boost your health and to not ruin it and the way that you are feeling.
When you are going out to eat to the fancy restaurant’s the menu is going to get you all worked up. The foods on there that are so fattening, yet so delicious can tempt you. You need to relax and think about eating more your favorite salad or soup before turning to eat the main entrée. Sometimes you have to watch though what type of soup and salads you are eating. Some are rich in calories and can leave you feeling even hungrier than you were before. Try to take on things like a broth vegetable soup or some salad with lemon or the dressing on the side, this will help in the fact that you do not have to eat it all. More often than other, restaurants will give you more than just one serving size.
It is easy to have guilty pleasures with food when they are eating at a restaurant. Many of the restaurants will have options for those that are dieting but it can still be hard to pass up the tempting calories. You can make your meal healthier with a few things. One example is to order a side salad instead of the fries that most likely come with the meal. You can also order low or no cheese when it comes your burger.
The sauces for a lot of people are hard to resist. They are a large source of fat that you may not even notice. A good idea is to remember that the creamy sauces are worse for your diet. Meat and chicken sauces, light salad dressings and on the side cream sauces will keep your fat intake in a reasonable manner. Keep it all as low as you can get it and you will not have to use all of the sauce that is on your plate.
Having the quality control is very important. Restaurants will bring you a larger portion that what you need most of the time. You should eat less of the meal and dining out can become as safe as your home dinner experience. The best idea is to share your meals with your dining partner. You can also always take the rest of the meal home for the next day. This is like two meals in one. You do not have to wreck your diet with dining out. Keep it under control and you will find that some of the foods are going to be good for you and taste good too.
Diet and Exercise
Nutrition and physical activity is going to go along together for our bodies. Exercise is going to give us fitness along with four major things: flexibility, strength, muscle endurance, and cardiovascular health. Diet on it’s own is not going to be able to give you this. You need to have the physical part as well. One thing to remember is that a bad diet can affect the way that your fitness training goes even if you follow the best type of exercise plan that you can. You need to put a healthy diet and a lot of exercise together to stay as healthy as you can.
It is going to be achievable to answer the question of how long you need to exercise to keep as healthy as you can. The average is at least 20 minutes of exercise at least three times a week. This will help to strengthen the cardiovascular health. Another idea is that 3500 calories must be used in a week by doing any sort of physical activity. This will benefit you and your heart as well. It is a good idea to speak to your doctor first to find out what exercise plan is going to be best for you and your body.
The energy nutrients that are stored like glucose and fatty acids with a few amino acids are let out into the blood during exercise in order to provide energy for what you are doing. This means that the body will respond to exercise by adjusting its fuel amounts.
There is a way to use diet to control high blood pressure and now they are finding out that exercise has a role in keeping blood pressure from increasing. With the reduction of sodium into your body, weight loss and limited alcohol use, along with the increased amount of physical activity and a low fat diet, you can control hypertension. Foods that are used for the purpose of lowering blood pressure without using medication can include sweets and many beverages that have sugar in them, red meat and fats.
To build muscle in the body, proteins are used and this is true when the body is at rest after exercise or any type of physical activity. There is research that has shown that athletes will retain more protein and use more of it as fuel for the body. The American Dietetic Association has said that one gram per kilogram of bodyweight is recommended for people that do not exercise at all. For the athletes, the protein amounts are going to be higher. It should be considered that athletes also need more carbohydrates as well. If they do not take in enough crabs, their protein will be used all up for fuel and there will not be anything left for muscle building after exercise is done.
There is increasing evidence that weight bearing exercises like walking, dancing, running, sports and so much more. Are very good at getting good bone health. Swimming has been a great use for bone health. Eating disorders like bulimia and anorexia have been said to damage bone strength. Exercise alone cannot make your body healthy. You need to have the proper calcium and other vitamins and minerals required for bones must go with the adequate amount of exercise to provide the best bone health. Along with exercise, diet can help keep your body working good and in the right mode for the rest of your life.
Diabetics
When you have diabetes it does not mean that you have to eat bland food for the rest of your life. You do although need to learn what is going to be good for you and what is bad for your body. You need to create a healthy diet that will keep your life healthy and give you the nutrients that your body needs to keep heart disease away.
What is really bad for the diabetic to eat? This is what would be a bad diet for everyone else. The answer is a diet that is high in fat, salt, sugar and the over processed foods that you can find. This sort of foods is often filled with poly saturated fats or trans fat, which cannot be burned off through exercise. They are going to stay in the body and clog up the arteries. If you have diabetes it can be the worst thing for your diet and this will increase your chances of getting heart disease, stroke, and other heart problems that can lead to complications.
This will not mean that you have to cut out the fat forever, however some fats are healthy and necessary. It is very important if you have diabetes to know which fats and foods are good for you and which fats are harmful for you too. Fats are found mostly in processed foods and found in most of the fast food restaurants and are not healthy. Omega –3 fatty acids are found more in fish and are very good for diabetics due to the fact that they can help decrease the risk of sudden heart attack. When you are working on your diet, you need to remember that you can still have some sugars and fats but in lower amounts. The way that these foods act with your body will increase the chances of health problems happening in your body. You need to eliminate them from your diet so that you can have the good effects for your health that your body needs for a certain amount of fat to be healthier.
You need to control your intake of carbohydrates because it is important for diabetics. This is because of the excess carbohydrates will turn into sugars in the body and diabetics should be careful about the amount of getting too many carbohydrates in their diet. This will affect their blood sugar levels. Diabetics can learn about how to count their carbs from nutritionists or a book that is good on the subject. This can help them in deciding how much to eat and with what type of meal.
When you are a diabetic it does not mean that you have to limit your diet to foods that have no taste. You can still have the foods that you want as long as you keep the portions under control. It is about taking control so that you are not eating more than what your body can process and that is the diet that everyone should have in their life to be healthy and happy too.
High Fiber Diets
Fiber is mostly polysaccharides composed of glucose units, but human digestive enzymes cannot break the bonding of these units. We can think of fiber as non-starch polysaccharides. These include cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin, and some other types of fiber. That might sound like Greek to you, but fiber is an important part of our daily diet, and a high fiber diet might be perfect for your body.
Depending on their solubility in water, there are of two main types of fiber: soluble fiber and insoluble fiber. Both of these types are important for optimum health. Fiber has a number of health benefits and hence is highly recommended in daily food. Some of its health benefits are:
- It promotes the feelings of fullness and reduces energy consumption.
- It prevents constipation, hemorrhoids, and other intestinal problems.
- Fiber helps prevent bacterial infection of the appendix.
- It reduces the risk of colon cancer.
- It stimulates the muscles of the digestive tract and helps them retain their health and tone.
To keep the digestive tract healthy and prevent other disorders like hemorrhoids and intestinal problems, people normally need 20 to 35 grams of fiber daily. These can be obtained from a variety of plants, vegetables and fruits. Fibers are especially abundant in whole foods. All fruits are rich in fiber. For just 2 grams of fiber, you could eat 1 small apple, 1 peach, 1 small banana, 2 prunes, 16 large cherries, or a number of other fruits. Grains also contain fiber. For 2 grams of fiber, simply try 1 slice of whole wheat bread, 2 slices of cracked wheat bread, 1 cup of cooked oatmeal, 2 cups of popped popcorn, or ¼ of a cup of corn bran.
If you are on a low-carb diet, you can try eating cooked vegetables to provide your body with adequate fiber. For 2 grams of fiber, eat ½ of a cup of broccoli, 1 cup of celery, ½ of a cup of carrots, 1 small potato, 1 large tomato, or a variety of beans. Beans, or any type of legume, are the real powerhouses for fiber. By only eating ½ of a cup of kidney beans, 1 cup of dried peas or lentils, or ½ of a cup of canned baked beans, you can provide your body with a whopping 8 grams of fiber. If all else fails, small amounts of fiber can also be found in peanuts, walnuts, and pickles, so there is really no excuse for not getting enough fiber in your diet!
Food Pyramid
An overwhelming variety of both natural and highly processed foods is available at the market. To guide people in picking healthy food items, the US Department of Agriculture has designed the food pyramid. It is a labeled illustration, shaped like a pyramid, which demonstrates groups of essential food types and the quantity in which a normal individual requires each of these foods.
At the base of the food pyramid are such food items that serve as ready sources of energy. These are rich in starch, low in fat, and include cereals, pasta, bread, and different types of grains. By the specifications of the food pyramid, a normal adult individual needs 6 to 11 servings of these items daily. Whole grains are the best and healthiest food of this group. In a single serving of these foods you can include a slice of bread, a cup of cereal flakes, one flat tortilla, and one ounce of rice or pasta.
As the geometry of the food pyramid shows, vegetables and fruits are required in less quantity than carbohydrates. Normally, a grown person would need 3 to 5 servings of vegetables and 2 to 4 servings of fruits daily. The high fiber content of vegetables and fruits make them ideal food items as fiber keeps the bowel movements in order. In addition, they are both rich in vitamins (required for immunity and general health) and minerals, which ensure the proper functioning of various body organs. Among vegetables, go for more dark green vegetables and try to pick fresh fruits instead of fruit juices.
Next upper chamber in the food pyramid is occupied by proteins and dairy products. You need 2 to 3 servings daily of each of these foods. Protein comes from lean meat, eggs, fish, beans, and nuts. It is advisable to remove the visible fat on the meat so as to make it a low fat item. Be moderate in using nuts, since they also hold fats. Among the dairy products, milk is the complete diet with most of the required vitamins and minerals like calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium. Cheese and yogurt are also recommended dairy foods. Try to abstain from high intake of ice cream and cheese that is high in fat.
Lastly, at the top of the food pyramid lie fats, including oils, and sweets. The recommended quantity of these items is limited to sparing use. Butter, cream, oils, candies, margarines etc., are all foods that are not easy to digest and hence should be used in minimal amounts. However, it is an important part of our diet, just as all the other parts of the food pyramid are important as well.
Fat
Numerous sources of information will tell you that fats are potentially harmful elements of your diet. While this is true in general, it does not imply that fats are not valuable from a nutritional point of view. In fact, fats are absolutely necessary for maintaining proper health. Fats are the chief form of energy stored in the body. During times of unavailability of food, the fats stored in the body provide energy to prevent starvation.
There is good scientific reason behind why fats, and not carbohydrates, remain the chief form of stored energy in the body. The body cannot store glycogen (the dominant form of the body's carbohydrates) in great amounts because glycogen holds a great deal of water and is very bulky. Fats, on the other hand, can be packed tightly together without water. They can store much more energy than glycogen in a small space.
Foods rich in fats are valuable in many situations. One gram of fat (or oil) provides twice as many calories as obtained from one gram of carbohydrates. People doing hard physical labor and those traveling in cold climates require ample supply of fats to provide energy in the form of heat. Fatty foods usually carry tempting aromas and flavors that cause you to eat these foods in excess, getting unneeded calories.
How do you know when to stop eating? Well, there are certain fats in the food that slow digestion and give the brain a signal to stop eating. That is why fatty foods give a fuller feeling of satisfaction.
The vital organs of the body are surrounded by and cushioned in fat pads that function as shock absorbers. Also, the layer of fat beneath the skin prevents the body from extremes of temperature conditions. Fats also dissolve some essential nutrients like vitamins A, D, E, and K.
Without some fat in our diet, we cannot survive. The fear of eating too much fat and gaining weight is often associated with anorexia and other eating disorders, but fat, in moderate amounts, is actually healthy for your body. Look for fats that are good for your body, such as those found in olive oil, and reduce the fats that are bad for your body, such as the ones found in fast food. Remember to eat a small amount of good fats every day so that you can maintain good health.
Fad Diets
Fad diets are a sort of diet plan or aid that aims at losing weight, usually in a relatively short time. Fad diets attract a large number of people who suffer from weight problems and are helplessly looking to some way of arriving at a shapely physique. The problem with fad diets is that their fat-reducing effect is temporary and results in quick regain of weight. What is worse is that most of these diets are harmful to health.
Fad diets are not as new as they might seem at first. These date back to the mid 19th century when an obese Londoner was prescribed such a diet on experimental basis. Now, after a century and a half, fad diets have become popular among people with weight problems. Teens and young adults especially flock to fad diets for answers to weight problems.
Fad diets are usually centered on a higher consumption of fats or proteins while stressing to go easy on or, in some cases, completely cut out carbohydrates. It is the low intake of carbohydrates that brings about rapid weight loss. In fact, this rapid loss is the loss of water that glycogen has stored. With loss of glycogen, the large amount of water stored in it is also lost and body weight drops. The fats are still there and as the fad diets are given up, the body regains its proportion of water lost. Weight is put back on as fast as it was lost.
Normally, carbohydrates remain the source of energy for work. With fad diets, the carbs are no longer there so the body starts using the stored fat, breaking it down. This may appear beneficial but in fact it is not. In the absence of carbs, fats cannot be completely oxidized and put to work. Hence, the body feels fatigued and weak. In addition, the ketone molecules resulting from the fat-breakdown accumulate in the blood and are excreted out via urine, causing dehydration.
Given the harmful health effects of fad diets, it is important for us, especially the weight-conscious people, to recognize and beware of these diet plans. Watch out for diets that:
- Promise quick weight loss
- Publicize before and after pictures
- Present weight-loss testimonials
- Tend to limit natural food choices
- Require a large sum of money
Fad diets may be popular, but they can greatly hurt your body. Be careful with any diet or exercise program and ask your doctor to be sure it is safe.
Diet and College Students
When you go away to college, you are thrown into an unfamiliar environment. Sleeping in a bed that is not your own and dealing with a new roommate you don’t know may be difficult enough, but you can’t forget about learning how to eat healthy foods while at college. Healthy eating is important so that you keep the weight off and keep your immune system healthy.
It is first important to settle into an eating routine. At home, you would probably never eat after a certain time at night—don’t at college either. If you’re used to eating breakfast, wake up before classes in enough time to do so. At the very least, be sure that you have time between classes for a balanced lunch and dinner. Don’t skip meals.
If your schedule is hectic, as most people find, you’ll need to schedule time to eat. Instead of grabbing food from a vending machine when you are hungry, plan ahead. Take a healthy salad or sandwich with you to eat if you have class over mealtime. Most professors don’t mind if you bring food to class as long as your eat it quietly.
When you do have time to eat in the cafeteria, it is important to make healthy decisions. Most colleges offer pizza and a variety of desserts every day, but that doesn’t mean you have to eat them! Look for choices that have a balance of the food groups in every meal. A good indication that you have a nutritious meal is color. If your trey is colorful, with fruits, vegetables, and proteins, you are on the right track.
Of course, not every college has a cafeteria, and even if yours does you might choose to eat elsewhere. It’s very tempting to order Chinese food or other delivery, especially when participating in study groups. Try to find the best options here and allow yourself to splurge only on special occasions. For example, if someone is ordering pizza, see if the pizzeria also offers salads. This may be a healthy option. Try to stay away from fried or greasy foods.
College is one of the best times of your life. Don’t let poor eating choices ruin the experience. You might also want to note as a closing thought that alcohol has more empty calories than most of the foods you can eat at the cafeteria combined. Staying away from it can not only keep you safe, but also healthy. Add an exercise routine at a local gym, and you’ll never see that freshman fifteen!
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