Eating different foods helps maintain a healthy and interesting diet that can
prevent diseases such as obesity, diabetes, cancer and heart problems.
Many times people have been told to eat healthy to ensure they keep illnesses away. Unlike the monotonous meals many consume, eating a variety of meals helps to make meals interesting and ensure an increased likelihood of getting exposed to sufficient quantities of all essential nutrients, which vary in amount and combination among different foods.
Certainly, good food variety means good nutrition but food variety is not based on how much of each food one eats or how often such is eating. Rather food variety means eating food with different nutrients and from each of the five different food groups in the recommended amounts. For example,
oranges provide vitamin C but no vitamin B12; cheeses provide vitamin B12 but no vitamin C. Also, some vegetables and fruits are good sources of vitamin C or vitamin A, while others are high in folate; still others are good source of calcium or iron.
Changing from a monotonous diet to that which is varied is likely to cut the risk of killer illnesses, including heart disease, Alzheimer’s, diabetes and obesity.
Scientists have found that rather than just a narrow range of foods been responsible for boosting health, the answer is a widely varied diet that might include oily fish, porridge oats, fruits and vegetables.
The outcome of the study carried out at Anti-diabetic Food Centre at Lund University in Sweden showed that it is the consumption of variety in meals rather than just single foods with anti-inflammatory effects that ensure that diseases are kept at bay.
The study saw 44 healthy but overweight people between ages 50and 75 take part. They ate foods, which are presumed to reduce low-grade inflammation in the body, a condition that in turn triggers metabolic syndrome that leads to obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart diseases.
The researchers found that consuming variety in meals reduced drastically bad cholesterol by 33%, lipids – blood fat – by 14%, blood pressure by 8%. In addition, a marker of inflammation in the body was greatly reduced, while memory and cognitive function were improved.
No doubt understanding how food choices ensure good health is important for every individual, irrespective of age and gender. Consumption of variety of food ensures the body does not lack micronutrients which are essential for prevention of many diseases.
Consumption of variety is central to eating right and ensuring this, everybody must know their daily recommended dietary allowance. For children, because they are still growing, the need plenty of protein for growth and maintenance of body tissues. But what the adults require is different because they are no more growing.
This is one f the many reasons adults are asked to cut down on their meat intake as well as oily foods. Basically the amount of food a person requires is dependent on age, job specification, whether convalescent or nursing a baby. The nutrient needs of a pregnant woman or lactating woman is more in comparison with the needs of other women. Still yet, there are other clear benefits to eating a wider variety of foods which taking multivitamin does not solve the problem. This ensures food enjoyment and plays a pivotal part not just as prevention but as a tool for speedy recovery as well. Eating the same three things is a sure part to food boredom. Eating should come with a serving of sensory enjoyment. In addition, it ensures the dilution of food toxins. Food toxins usually operate in a dose-dependent manner, so keeping variety would help keep the dose low and spread thin.
Fortunately, eating variety of foods also seems to affect habituation. A study found that limiting snack to a single variety increased the satiety derived from snacking, as opposed to participants who were allowed to snack on a variety of foods.
Everyone has some degree of risk for diet-related chronic diseases, and this risk increases with age.
Weight And Cash- Lifestyle Factors That Contribute To Increased Risk For These Diseases: -
1. Eating too many foods high in saturated fats (fried foods, full-fat dairy products, fatty cuts of meat).
2. Not eating enough fruit and vegetables.
3. Not getting enough exercise.
Weight And Cash-Major Leading Causes Of Death: -
1. Overweight or Obesity.
2. High blood pressure.
3. Heart diseases.
4. Diabetes
5. Many cancer.
6. Stroke.
7. Death.
The above factors are largely preventable through lifestyle choices, such as eating more fruits and vegetables. Eating 5 to 9 servings of fruits and vegetables a day is one of the easiest things everyone can do to lower their chances for all of the diet related diseases.
Ironically, fad diets that restrict the types of food people eat such as Atkins diet could also jeopardize one’s overall health. Such weight loss schemes are based on the erroneous notion that eating only a few specific foods can lead to better health.
The American Heart Association (AHA) in a recommendation advised that people stay away from high protein and low carbohydrate diets e.g. Atkins diet, because they are not heart-healthy and friendly. According to the AHA, most people that remain on these diets (like Atkins Diet) for a long time would see their level of bad cholesterol rise. And, that is of great concern because high protein and low carbohydrate diets stresses the kidneys.
However, choosing the right variety of food is as well vital in battling diseases such as cancers, diabetes, too much weight, hypertension, a weak heart and kidneys. For instance the best diet for a healthy heart is a diet low in fatty and sugary foods and rich in fruits and vegetables which are quick foods which require little or no preparation time. They are loaded with important nutrients like vitamins, minerals, fiber and disease fighting antioxidants. Unsaturated oils (refined oils) help maintain blood cholesterol level if consumed in recommended quantities. In addition, to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight, one needs to eat more low-energy-dense foods.
Twenty years of research and scientific studies show fruits and vegetables help prevent diseases such as colorectal cancer and stroke. And vegetables lower the risk of heart disease just as less consumption of preserved meats such as bacon, cured ham and hot dogs could decrease the risk of colorectal cancer by 50 per cent than those who ate preserved meat.
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