Diet and Nutrition

When most people go on a diet they are not always thinking about nutrition. The focus is not on “what is good for my body?” More than likely the thought is, “what will make me skinny?” Truly, a weight loss plan should not be thought of as a temporary ordeal that must be endured until weight is lost. It should be thought of as a lifestyle of healthy living with healthy food choices.

What is Good Nutrition?

A balanced eating plan means giving your body all of the energy and nutrients it needs to function properly. You give your body energy by eating three nutrients: carbohydrate, protein, and fat. Additional dietary elements your body requires are water, vitamins, and minerals.

Water is possibly the most important element because your body can only survive a few days without it. In addition to drinking water, it is also found in many foods such as fruits and vegetables.

Vitamins are needed for normal function, growth, and maintenance of body tissues. They come in two types: fat soluble and water soluble. Taken in excess, the water soluble vitamins leave the body through the urine, but the fat soluble vitamins do not do this. They are stored in the body and excess can be toxic. Because of this, it is best to get all of the vitamins your body needs through food to prevent toxicity of the fat-soluble vitamins. However, because so many Americans do not eat nutritionally sound diets, a multi-vitamin supplement is usually recommended.

The major minerals needed are sodium, potassium, calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium. Iron and zinc are considered trace minerals because they are needed in lesser amounts. In general, a low sodium, high potassium, high calcium diet is best.

See the links below for in-depth articles addressing carbohydrate, fat, and protein.

Don’t Leave Anything Out

Any diet that completely, or partially, eliminates an entire food group is best to be avoided. Some good examples of these are the low fat/no fat diets of the 1980’s and 1990’s, and the resurgence of the low carb/no carbs diets more recently. Not only do these plans not work (deprivation is not a long-term diet plan), they are not nutritionally complete.

So, how can you lose weight AND get all of the nutrition that you need? It’s all about food choices and portion size. Five servings of vegetables a day might sound like a lot, but that does not mean five full-size salads. A serving is ½ cup of cooked or 1 cup of raw vegetables. That’s about a light bulb size serving of cooked broccoli.

Using the new USDA Food Guide Pyramid is a great way to figure out how much of each food group you should have based on your age, sex, and weight goals.

Diet and Nutrition Tips

There are many dimensions to diet and nutrition, for example why we choose the foods we do, why we are stuck at a certain weight, why we feel tired in the afternoon. Keep a food journal, learn to read food labels, exercise regularly, and address any issues that contribute to overeating or food choices. Become more in tune with your body and its needs; see food as an energy source and a tool for wellness. All of these things will help you to see your eating habits not as a “diet”, but as a nutritious new lifestyle.