Nutrition & Healthy Food – Critical Components of Health & Fitness

When a lot of folks want to talk about health and fitness, they focus a lot on the physical activities that the process requires. This may not be unrelated to the fact that everywhere we look, we see images that tie fitness and health to a physical appearance or activity.

Interestingly, experts, as we can see here, have stated that the single most important aspect of fitness is nutrition. Our focus in this article will therefore be on the role that food and nutrition can play in health and fitness.

What is Nutrition and Healthy Food?

To ensure that we are all on the same page, we need to take some time to address this issue of healthy food and nutrition. When we use the term healthy food, we are by implication indicating that there is such a thing as unhealthy food. To put things in proper perspective, we shall therefore go ahead to elaborate on each of these terms.

Nutrition

Nutrition refers to the supply of nutrients regarded as essential for the maintenance, repairs and growth of a living organism, in this case the human body. These nutrients are largely derived from the things we ingest by way of foods.

Nutrition science studies the interaction between different nutrients and the body, determining the impact each one has on the body. It is in this area of study that we understand what constitutes nutrition and in what quantity it can still be regarded as nutrition. We say this because something that is regarded as a nutrient to the body in a particular quantity can become harmful to the body in a much larger quantity. We will therefore look at nutrition in terms of good and bad nutrition.

The major nutrients that are usually mentioned in human nutrition include these seven: vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, fiber, fats, proteins and water. You can learn more about this subject here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_nutrition.

Healthy Food

Based on our description of nutrition above, a healthy food can be described as one that fully meets the nutritional needs of an individual. This means that they provide (in the right proportions) nutrients which will cover micro and macro nutrients as well as fluids and a sufficient supply of calories.

Unhealthy Food

Without complicating matters, food that can be described as unhealthy can, also from all that has been said above, be defined as one that cannot adequately perform the functions that nutrition is supposed to perform in the body. These include maintenance, repairs, sustenance and growth.

In fact, in many cases, such foods will begin to have adverse effects in the body, depositing compounds that build up and become a health challenge.

How Does this Impact Health and Fitness?

You must have heard the term “you are what you eat”. This practically explains it all. We are what we eat therefore if what we eat is properly examined and the state of our bodies is also examined, it will be found that they reflect each other.

While many people find food highly enjoyable, the purpose of feeding is not primarily for enjoyment but for the nourishment of the body. Aside from in situations caused by famine, poverty and the likes, other bad feeding habits arise from a skewed emphasis of the purpose of feeding.

When enjoyment becomes the sole aim for feeding, unhealthy eating is most often the outcome. People who know now regard food as much more than just for providing nourishment to the body. It has now been classified as also playing a medicinal role.

How this factors into health and fitness should now be getting a bit more obvious.

Health

Let’s start with health. The entire body is made up of several compounds which interact with each other, performing different but complimentary roles. What we take in replenishes what has been used up, allowing the body to continue to function optimally.

When any of these individual compounds that make up the body begins to go below its optimal level, the body begins to experience a deficiency in that area which can then result in one health condition or the other. Examples of such situations include: scurvy, anemia and cretinism just to name a few.

On the other hand, when, by reason of a high intake of a particular nutrient, some compounds in the body begin to exceed their optimal proportion, we also begin to experience health problems. A few examples include: obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular conditions.

Fitness

When we work out, we use up some materials in the body a lot faster than normal. This is because the muscles and tissues are being to put to work and so will burn up nutrients faster. The muscles will also tear and need nutrients for repairs and growth.

If the nutrients that have been used up are not replaced, there will be a deficiency. If the nutrients needed for repairs and growth are not provided, there could be problems and certainly the full benefits of those workout routines will not be enjoyed. You may end up developing some health conditions as a result of this.

How to Eat Healthy

It should be clear from everything we have looked at up to this time that what we eat is critically important to our well being. It becomes even more so when we are engaged in serious physical activities like workout sessions for fitness.

There is such thing as a healthy or balanced diet. This can be discussed in general terms. However, in a lot of cases what will constitute a balanced diet will differ from person to person. This is because the exact nutritional needs of an individual will be based on their unique body requirements.

You can get general nutritional recommendations from sites like TheSETStudio.com. However, to ensure you are getting exactly what your body needs, you may need to look at your lifestyle, the activities you engage in and some other factors.

In extreme cases, a dietician may be required to design a special diet that will fully supply the nutrients that your body requires to maintain full health and replenish any nutrients you may be expending in your day to day activities.