What Exactly Is Good Nutrition?Written by Beverley Brooke
Secretly we all want just a few things in life, none least of which is to live a life that is healthy and energetic. One way to accomplish this is to eat a well balanced diet that fuels body to take on life’s challenges.Did you know that one of best things you can do to improve your overall health and well being is to eat a diet that is well rounded and nutritious? Diet can make difference between feeling great and feeling just o.k. But how do you know which foods will propel you to health and well being? Proper nutrition is easy. In fact, all you need to do to ensure your health and well being is follow five simple steps, outlined below. Top Five Tips for Maintaining Optimal Nutrition - Eat a well balanced diet. This means you have to incorporate foods from each of four food groups. - Adopt phrase moderation. At no time should you consider some foods ‘bad’ and other foods ‘good’. Rather, all foods can be nourishing if they are eaten in moderation. Chocolate cake will not make you fat if you don’t eat it every day for dinner! - Take a multi-vitamin. Even healthiest dieter may not get all of vitamins and nutrients they need from diet alone. Why? Our bodies aren’t always able to absorb nutrients efficiently from foods we eat. Thus it is important to take a multi-vitamin and mineral supplement daily.
| | Low-Carb: The Role of InsulinWritten by Beverley Brooke
There are three basic units body uses for energy:1. Fats 2. Proteins 3. Carbohydrates All three can be converted to blood glucose. However, while fats and proteins are converted slowly, carbohydrates are converted quickly causing quick spikes in body’s blood sugar levels. These spikes in blood sugar levels cause pancreas to create and release insulin until blood sugar level returns to normal. Meanwhile, insulin, a hormone produced in pancreas that lowers our blood’s glucose levels is released into blood as soon as body detects that blood sugar levels have risen above its optimal level. Insulin is a very efficient hormone that runs body’s fuel storage systems. If there is excess sugar or fat in blood insulin will signal body to store it in body’s fat cells. Insulin also tells these cells not to release their stored fat, making that fat unavailable for use by body as energy. Since this stored fat cannot be released for use as energy, insulin very effectively prevents weight loss. The higher body’s insulin levels, more effectively it prevents fat cells from releasing their stores, and harder it becomes to lose weight. According to many authorities, over long term, high insulin levels can lead to insulin resistance and cause serious health problems like ones listed below:
|
