The Connection between Nutrition and Disease

 

 The Connection between Nutrition and Disease

It's no secret to most people by now that good nutrition leads to good health. What most people don't realize is that of the top 10 leading causes of death in the United States, four are directly related to nutrition. What are theses nutrition related killers, you ask? Looking at Table 1.1 we see deaths related to nutrition take up the following slots in the top 10 leading cause of death in the US being #1 - heart disease, #2 - cancers, #4 - strokes, and #7 - diabetes.

 

 

So what does this mean for you and your personal health? It means you must take a good hard look at what kinds of foods and beverages you are putting into your body and determine if they are nourishing and healing your body or if they are damaging your body and putting you at risk for disease. The choices you make on a daily basis regarding nutrition profoundly affects your health not only today, but in the future as well.

 

 

Although it may not be fun to face the fact that your French fries and sodas may be making you sick, the reality is foods filled with fats, salt, and sugar like most fast foods and processed foods are directly harmful to the body. Habitual habits of consuming these foods leads to chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer , diabetes, and strokes. If your not sure which foods are healthy and want more information on which foods nourish your body and which ones harm them, click the link below: this is the website of the Alliance for a Healthier Generation and is full of great info and recipes.  

 



https://www.healthiergeneration.org/live_healthier/eat_healthier/?gclid=CjwKEAjwhbCrBRCO7-e7vuXqiT4SJAB2B5u7oo8U3tO9cYsgycgBJP_kluBpy7-R_qkUnyPJGB6fNxoCnBPw_wcB

 

Other health risks of poor nutrition besides chronic disease include obesity and malnutrition. According to Nutrition Concepts and Controversies: A Lifetime of Nourishment malnutrition is a condition caused by excess or deficient food energy or nutrient or by an imbalance of nutrients. While most people think of malnutrition in cases of undernutrition and associate it with the starving children in third world countries, it is also a term that describes the much more prevalent overweight population who have excess levels of nutrients and energy. When the body has too much food, or energy and it's not being used through physical activity the only thing the body can do with it is store it. Therefore as a person continues to eat fatty, sugary, fast or processed foods, the body continues to store them as fat, which has detrimental health affects. These types of foods don't contain the array of nutrients our bodies need, and when we are deprived of these essential nutrients for so long it starts to take a physical toll on your body.

 

Education is key in the reversal of the obesity and malnutrition epidemic in the United States. Learn the basics of nutrition so you will have the tools necessary to navigate your way through the enormous amount of products that are available for consumption and make healthy, nutritious choices for you and your family. Learning to read ingredients and decipher labels is important, although most of your diet should be made up of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and lean meats which don't require much of any ingredient list, other than for the grain products.

 

Helpful tip: Consider eating for your blood type for optimal health. For more information visit

 

http://www.dadamo.com/

 

 

 

Resources

 

Sizer, F. & Whitney, E. (2013).  Nutrition: Concepts and Controversies (13th ed.).  Mason, OH:

Cengage Learning.