Nutrition and Healthy Eating

Nutrition is the provision to cells and organisms of the materials needed to support life. Many common health problems can be prevented or alleviated with a healthy diet. A nutritionally poor diet can have an injurious impact on health, causing deficiency diseases like scurvy, or health threatening conditions like obesity and metabolic syndrome, or chronic systemic diseases like cardiovascular disease, diabetes and osteoporosis.
Healthy food choices can help you to reduce the risks of developing the diseases outlined above.

Healthy eating is about learning about eating, not just what you eat, but how you eat too. Learning the habits of healthy nutrition can boost your energy, sharpen your memory and stabilize your mood. There is both an informational learning process to get to a point of good nutrition (i.e. learning the mechanics of nutrition and nourishing your body physically) and there is an emotional component (eating can be a habit, a way to make yourself feel good, a way to avoid distress, etc).  Both components go hand in hand in learning to change your nutritional patterns.

It is important to slow down and think about what you are eating as nourishment and not just fuel to gulp down between meetings and your other commitments. Eating with other people has social and emotional benefits, it also makes you take the time to reconnect to the joy of eating, whereas eating in front of the television or computer screen often leads to mindless overeating.

It is not easy when you are juggling a busy schedule and convenience foods or fast foods are so readily available. To set yourself up for success think about making small changes rather than one big dramatic change. A key foundation for any healthy diet and nutritional needs, is moderation, so rather than banning certain food groups, enjoy them all, but some in more moderation than others.