Measuring Health

A perfect diet should contain all needed health nutrition such as carbohydrates, fat, protein, vitamins, minerals, fibre, in the right quantities.

The WHO suggests at least fifty per cent of calories in our diet should come from complex carbohydrates, no more than thirty five per cent comes from fat and up to fifteen per cent comes from protein. The allowance for alcohol consumption is no more than five per cent.To get fifty per cent or so of carbohydrates you need to ensure that at every meal you have a good portion of starchy carbohydrates food such as rice, pasta, potatoes, or bread.

At most meals, you need good portion of vegetables and/or fruits. You should also include small portion of low- or moderate-fat protein such as fish, poultry, pulses and lean meat in our diets. High-fat protein such cheese, dairy product and fatty meats should be eaten less frequently and in even smaller portions. As all fat is a calorie-dense food, ideally you should include only small quantities of oil such as olive or corn oil in your meals. The majority part of your daily calorie needs have been taken up. There is only little room for alcohol and for the sugars. So, add these to your diet in moderation, if at all.A variety and a balance intake of health nutrition is the most important element of a healthy diet for life. To ensure adequate amounts of all necessary vitamins, minerals, fat, protein, carbohydrates and fibre, eat as wide a variety of foods as you can. You should eat different sources of carbohydrates, varying types of protein, lots of different vegetables, salads and fruits.

There is no need to worry too much about the exact nutritional content of every morsel of food you eat. A general relationship of 60-65% carbohydrates, 12-15% proteins, and less than 30% fats is accepted as a healthy one. All of the food groups are possible sources of fuel production within the body. It is important to distinguish between fat intake, the simple act of the consumption of the food group, and fat oxidation, the process by which fats are converted into an energy source.

 Doctors use several equations to calculate how many calories a person should at each day to maintain a stable weight. The most precise ones include height, weight, age, sex, activity level and stressors like an injury or disease. The simplest way to estimate your daily target for calories is to multiply your weight in pounds by:

• 12 if you are sedentary (little or no exercise)
• 13.5 if you are somewhat active (light exercise one to three days a week)
• 15.5 if you are moderately active(moderate exercise like brisk walking – you break into sweat – three to five days a week)
• 17 if you are very active (vigorous exercise or sports six to seven days a week)
• 19 if you are highly active (daily vigorous exercise or sports and a physical job)

For example, a somewhat active person who weighs 145 pounds (66 kg) needs about 1,950 calories a day (145 times 13.5) to keep a steady weight.

To lose weight, start by reducing your intake by 250 calories per day. That’s one can of cola and two butter cookies or 50 gms of potato chips. If you keep that up for a year, you could shed 20 pounds. Add in more exercise, and you could make it 30.

 

 

VITAMINS

Vitamins are chemical compounds and minerals are chemical elements. They are nutrients for the human body that are contained within food substances. Vitamins control the chemical reactions within the body to convert food into energy and living tissue. They help the body use the energy nutrients, maintain normal body tissue, act as a regulator, and are only needed in small amounts. Minerals are needed for several body functions including building strong bones, transmitting nerve signals, maintaining a normal heart beat, and are used to produce necessary hormones.

There are a total of thirteen needed vitamins, four that are produced in the body itself. Biotin, pantothenic acid, and vitamin K are made in the human intestine and usually in adequate amounts to meet the body’s needs. Sunlight on the skin surfaces can produce sufficient amounts of vitamin K. The remaining vitamins must be supplied in the daily diet.

Each vitamin and mineral substance meets specific body needs that one of the other compounds cannot substitute or act for instead. However the lack or deficiency of one of them can sometimes interfere with another vitamin or mineral’s function. If a vitamin or mineral deficiency continues, the person can incur a related disease such as beriberi, pellagra, rickets, and scurvy. Conversely, too much of some minerals and vitamins brings on a toxic condition.The best and recommended way for a healthy person to obtain needed vitamins and minerals is to eat well-balanced meals. A daily diet of varied foods can provide needed vitamin and mineral nutrients for maintaining a healthy body. Some people also take processed or manufactured vitamins in pill, liquid, or capsule form.

 

MINERALS

 

Minerals are elements that originate in the soil and cannot be created by living things, such as plants and animals. Yet plants, animals and humans need minerals in order to be healthy. Plants absorb minerals from the soil, and animals get their minerals from the plants or other animals they eat. Most of the minerals in the human diet come directly from plants, such as fruits and vegetables, or indirectly from animal sources. Minerals may also be present in your drinking water, but this depends on where you live, and what kind of water you drink (bottled, tap). Minerals from plant sources may also vary from place to place, because the mineral content of the soil varies according to the location in which the plant was grown.

 

PROTEINS

 

Protein is an essential part of the diet. It is made up of various combinations of small organic chemicals called amino acids. When we eat food containing protein it is broken down during digestion into its constituent amino acids. These amino acids are absorbed by our bodies and are used to produce new proteins and other necessary substances. Our bodies can make some of the amino acids needed to manufacture proteins, but others must be obtained from the diet; these are the eight so-called ‘essential’ amino acids. In addition, one other amino acid is needed by infants during early growth and development.Proteins form part of the structure of the body, so that a continual supply of amino acids is needed. Our bodies are able to put these basic amino acid units together, using different arrangements of amino acids, to produce specific proteins, which can only be produced if all the necessary amino acids are available.

The nutritional value of a protein food can be judged by its ability to provide both the quantity and number of essential amino acids needed by the body. Different food sources contain different groups of proteins, which are made up of different arrangements and amounts of amino acids. In general, proteins from animal sources are of greater nutritional value because they usually contain all the essential amino acids. Proteins from plant sources, such as cereals and vegetables, may be deficient in one or other of the essential amino acids. For example, the proteins obtained from wheat lack adequate quantities of one essential amino acid, and those from beans are deficient in another.

Because the deficiency is different in each food, when they are eaten together they complement each other and the mixture is of higher nutritional value than the separate foods, and is as good as animal protein. It is important, particularly for strict vegetarians who do not consume dairy or egg products that a variety of different types of protein foods are eaten.

Cooking can alter the amino-acid composition of protein and this usually results in desirable flavour and browning development. Very little nutritional value is lost.

There are two main sources of protein:

• Animal products (fish, poultry, eggs, meat and dairy products) are considered “high quality protein.” You may need to limit dairy products because they are high in phosphorus; they may cause your blood phosphorus level to be too           high.

• Vegetable products (breads, cereals, rice, pasta, dried beans) are considered “low quality protein.”You will need some of each type of protein each day.

 

 

CARBOHYDRATES

Carbohydrates can be divided into two main groups:

• sugars
• starches

The main sugars in food are sucrose, glucose, fructose, maltose and lactose. Sucrose is obtained from sugar cane and is usually called ‘sugar’. In addition, sucrose (as well as glucose and fructose) is found in fruit, fruit juices and honey. Besides providing energy, sugars also produce the sensation of sweetness. Each sugar contributes the same amount of energy (kilocalories) to our diet regardless of its sweetness. Different sugars are not equally sweet and the degree of sweetness of a food is often not a good indication of the amount of sugars present.The use of non-nutritive or artificial sweeteners can be used to make food and drink sweet without contributing significant amounts of energy. Although there is controversy about their safety, the most widely used artificial sweeteners are saccharin and cyclamate. The label of any food or drink containing these sweeteners must indicate that they are present. An artificial sweetener recently approved by some health authorities is aspartame. It has about the same energy value as sugar but because it is 180 times sweeter, very little needs to be used. The amount of aspartame providing sweetness equivalent to one teaspoon of sugar will only provide one-tenth of a kilocalorie.

Starch is the main form of carbohydrate in our food. It is present in a variety of cereals, vegetables and fruit, with major contributions from flour, potatoes and legumes (beans, peas). Starchy foods are usually cooked to improve digestibility and give a more desirable texture and flavour. During the ripening of fruit, starch is changed into sugars, which give sweetness to ripe fruits. In contrast to sugars, starch is often accompanied by significant amounts of other nutrients including dietary fibre. Starch has the same energy value as sugars. Health authorities are in agreement that we should increase our consumption of foods containing starch, such as wholegrain bread, cereals, fruits, vegetables and nuts.

There is no specific dietary requirement for carbohydrate because energy can also be derived from protein, fat and alcohol. However, a diet that does not contain carbohydrate can lead to muscle breakdown, ketosis and dehydration. This can be prevented by 50 to 100 grams of carbohydrate per day, but levels above this are desirable. Sources of complex carbohydrates, such as starch, are recommended as these often also provide necessary vitamins, elements (minerals) and dietary fibre.

  

FAT

Saturated fats are the ones we should try to avoid as the more saturates we eat the more cholesterol the body produces. This builds up in our blood and can increase the risk of developing heart disease and other health problems.Saturated fats are mostly found in animal products such as meats and some dairy products. They can be found in some vegetable oils like coconut oil or palm oil, in hard margarine and cooking fats. Sometimes they can be found as “hidden fat” in cakes, biscuits, chocolate and puddings. They may be listed in some ingredients as hydrogenated vegetable oils / fats, so check the labels! These type of fats should be eaten in moderation as they can block the action of essential fats required for good health.

 

A good tip to remember is saturated fats are usually hard at room temperature, just look at a cold frying pan after cooking sausage or bacon!

Unsaturated fats are essential to the body although only in small amounts. They include polyunsaturated oils and monounsaturated fats. Unsaturated fats are found in vegetable oils such as sunflower, corn, rapeseed,canola products, soy and olive oils. They can also be found in nuts, soft margarines labelled “high in polyunsaturated oils”, also oily fish such as sardines, herring, trout and pilchards contain high levels of polyunsaturated oils. These fats have a protective quality in that they contain the fatty acids necessary to the absorption of vitamins A, D, and E into the body.

The difference between the types of fats and oils above is that some are non-essential like saturated fats and therefore are not needed at all by the body, and some are essential like linoleic and alpha-linoleic acids found in foods high in polyunsaturated oils such as safflower, sunflower oils and some oily fish. From a health point of view we should avoid the saturates and probably consume more fish, however one thing these types have in common is they both contain the same number of calories so in terms of weight control we should be limiting our fat intake no matter which type it may be.

Care when cooking with fats

Most good oils like nut and seed oils should be kept cool and not used in cooking. Many people use vegetable oils for cooking but the high temperature changes their structure making them potentially damaging to the arteries. It may be best to use olive oil for cooking at high temperatures.