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There are many different things to consider with healthy nutrition.  Some are more obvious – such as you should eat fruit and vegetables – but others are not always considered in the same way.

Each day there are certain vitamins and minerals that your body needs to function.  These help with a number of different areas from digestion, bones and the body’s immune system.  Some of the main ones are:

1.    Calcium – this is needed for your bones and teeth.In children and teenagers, calcium helps to strengthen teeth and bones.As an adult you need calcium to maintain these.Primary sources of calcium include dairy products and seafood.
2.    Fibre – helps your digestive system to function properly and can also reduce cholesterol.An added benefit of fibre is that it makes you feel fuller for longer after a meal.Good sources of fibre include vegetables (particularly baked beans and spinach), brown/wholemeal breads.
3.    Iron – this helps make red blood cells which carry oxygen around your body.Green vegetables and red meat are excellent sources.
4.    Magnesium – this helps your body produce energy.Cereals and nuts are a good source of magnesium.
5.    Potassium – this helps with maintaining blood pressure.Fruit such as bananas are a good source of potassium.
6.    Vitamin A – this helps your immune system and keeps skin healthy.Dairy products and fish (salmon, sardines and mackerel) are good sources.
7.    Vitamin C – helps the body form collagen which maintains healthy connective tissues, it also helps with the healing of wounds.Fruit such as oranges and blackcurrants and vegetables such as broccoli and potatoes are good sources.
8.    Vitamin D – this works to regulate the levels of calcium in your body and keeping your bones and teeth healthy.Our body produces vitamin D when it is exposed to the sun.Other than fortified cereals, it can also be found in oily fish and eggs.
9.     Vitamin E – is an antioxidant and this helps to maintain cells in your body. Nuts, seeds and cereals are good sources.

We are encouraged to eat 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day (which can be fresh, frozen or tinned), and with good reason.  Proper intake of the right nutrients and minerals maintains our bodies and keeps us healthy.  In growing children, for example, a lack of vitamin D or calcium in the diet can lead to Rickets.  This causes bone pain and can lead to poor growth and deformities in the skeleton.  It has recently been reported that incidents of scurvy – muscle pain, bleeding and swelling gums and tiredness – are increasing.  Scurvy is caused by a lack of vitamin C in a person’s diet.

What to eat is one thing, but what should we not eat?  We all know that our body needs certain intakes of fat, salt and sugars, but although these are naturally present in foods, we should avoid excessive amounts of these.  Highly processed, fatty or sugary foods, whilst they may be nice to eat should not form a large part of our diet.  The way food is cooked can also have an effect on its potential benefits to our bodies – grilling instead of frying foods or steaming vegetables instead of boiling them, for example.

We all hear that there are concerns over levels of obesity in society and often people turn to simple solutions to help them diet.  Once such solution is eating or drinking low calorie food stuffs.  Take, for example, low calorie drinks.  It is reported that people who switch to low calorie drinks may see weight loss in the short term, but a downside is that people drinking low calorie drinks may compensate elsewhere in their diet by eating more than they might have done otherwise.  However, artificial sweetners are not without risk.  Aspartame, for example, has been claimed to have links to allergies and cancer.  Another issue is that in a study in the journal Nature, it was found that low calorie sweetners altered animals’ metabolisms leading to higher blood sugar levels which are an early sign of developing type 2 diabetes.

So, we have thought about what to eat and maybe what not to eat.  Other factors to consider are when and how we eat.  Eating at regular times is good as our bodies become accustomed to receiving food at certain times and produce gastric juices (fluids to aid digestion) in anticipation of this.  Sitting upright to eat is also good as it allows the food to be eaten properly and flow through our system.  A recent consideration is not only when you eat but also restricting the timeframes in each day when you eat.  Researchers have found that by extending the period that you fast for (the time between your evening meal and breakfast) can also have some benefits.  The theory is that your body processes food in different ways at different times – high calorie, fatty foods are dealt with better earlier in the day – and it may be a way to reduce cholesterol and blood sugar levels.

This is all very complex, just as our bodies are, but there are some simple rules to follow:

1.    Follow the 5 a day rule;
2.    Include meat and fish in your diet;
3.    Switch to brown or wholemeal breads to ensure intake of fibre;
4.    Avoid highly processed and sugary foods;
5.    Eat at regular times.

To read more about food and nutrition, take a look at our eBooks that include:

Human Nutrition

Nutritional Therapy