Diet Health and Nutrition Information

These days, a wealth of nutrition information is at your finger tips. From diet books to newspaper articles, everyone seems to have an opinion about what you should be eating.

It's no secret that good nutrition plays an essential role in maintaining health.  While you already know it is important to eat a healthy diet, you may find it more difficult to sort through all of the information about nutrition and food choices. Ebiz247 links you to Web sites that provide you a variety of resources to help you start healthier eating habits.

Understanding the Energy Equation
Whether you want to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight, it's important to understand the connection between the energy your body takes in (through the foods you eat and the beverages you drink) and the energy your body uses (through the activities you do).

To lose weight, you need to use more calories than you take in. To maintain a healthy weight, you need to balance the calories you use with those you take in. No matter which results you want, eating a healthy diet and being physically active can help you reach your goal.

Getting the Most Nutrition out of Your Calories
There is a right number of calories for you to eat each day. This number depends on your age, activity level, and whether you are trying to gain, maintain, or lose weight. You could use up the entire amount on a few high-calorie foods, but chances are, you won't get the full range of vitamins and nutrients your body needs to be healthy.

Choose the most nutritionally rich foods you can from each food group each day - those packed with vitamins, minerals, fiber, and other nutrients, but lower in calories. Pick foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat milk and milk products more often.

"Eat your fruits and vegetables." You've likely heard this statement since childhood.

Research shows why it is good advice:

Healthy diets rich in fruits and vegetables may reduce the risk of cancer and other chronic diseases.  

Fruits and vegetables also provide essential vitamins and minerals, fiber, and other substances that are important for good health.

Most fruits and vegetables are naturally low in fat and calories and are filling.

Peak Bone Mass
Peak bone mass refers to the genetic potential for bone density. By the age of 20, the average woman has acquired most of her skeletal mass. A large decline in bone mass occurs in older adults, increasing the risk of osteoporosis. For women this occurs around the time of menopause. 

It is important for young girls to reach their peak bone mass in order to maintain bone health throughout life. A person with high bone mass as a young adult will be more likely to have a higher bone mass later in life. Inadequate calcium consumption and physical activity early on could result in a failure to achieve peak bone mass in adulthood.

Calcium
Calcium is a mineral needed by the body for healthy bones, teeth, and proper function of the heart, muscles, and nerves. The body cannot produce calcium; therefore, it must be absorbed through food.

Good sources of calcium include:

Dairy products-low fat or nonfat milk, cheese, and yogurt

Dark green leafy vegetables-bok choy and broccoli

Calcium fortified foods-orange juice, cereal, bread, soy beverages, and tofu products

Nuts, particularly almonds

Iron Deficiency
Young children are at great risk of iron deficiency because of rapid growth and increased iron requirements. Iron deficiency can occur due to lack of iron in the diets. If this continues, anemia results.

Anemia is a manifestation of iron deficiency when it is relatively severe.  It is important to note that not all anemia is due to iron deficiency. The primary causes of anemia include reduced red blood cell and hemoglobin production, hemolysis of red blood cells, and loss of blood. Although an inadequate dietary intake of several nutrients may reduce the production of red blood cells and hemoglobin, the most common cause of anemia throughout the world is iron deficiency.

Poverty, abuse, and living in a home with poor household conditions also place children at risk for iron deficiency anemia. Iron deficiency anemia is seen most commonly in children six months to three years of age.

Those at highest risk are low birth weight infants after two months of age, breastfed term infants who receive no iron-fortified foods or supplemental iron after four months of age, and formula fed term infants who are not consuming iron-fortified formula.

Iron deficiency anemia significantly impairs mental and psychomotor development in infants and children. Although iron deficiency can be reversed with treatment, the reversibility of the mental and psychomotor impairment is not yet clearly understood. Thus, prevention and treatment need to be emphasized more than detection. In addition, iron deficiency increases a child's susceptibility to lead toxicity. Lead replaces iron in the absorptive pathway when iron is unavailable.