Introduction to Nutrition
The following information is from Session 1 of our Certified Health and Nutrition Counselor Course.
You are a collection of molecules that move. All these moving parts are arranged into patterns of extraordinary complexity and order – cells, tissues, and organs. The arrangement is constant, but its parts are continuously being replaced by a process using nutrients, and using energy derived from nutrients. Your skin, which has reliably covered you from the time you were born, is not the same skin that covered you seven years ago, it is made entirely of new cells. The fat beneath your skin is not the same fat that was there a year ago. Your oldest red blood cell is only 120 days old, and the entire lining of your digestive tract is renewed every three days. To maintain your “self”, you must continually replenish the energy you burn and replace the cells you lose.
All these pieces have come from your food. You are made entirely of what you have eaten. Amazingly, though, whether you ate spaghetti or apple pie last night, the nutrients supplied by these foods are handled the same way by your body, so that in the end there is no way to know which food you ate. Only if the spaghetti and the apple pie, together with the other foods you choose to eat, do not contain the nutrients you need, do you fail to function as well as you might. For optimum health, you need not only adequate amounts of the essential nutrients but, ideally, an assortment of nutrients in good proportion to each other. The science of nutrition is the study of the nutrients in food and the body’s handling of these nutrients.
Science of Nutrition
The science of nutrition is the study of nutrients and of their ingestion, digestion, absorption, transport, metabolism, interaction, storage, and excretion. A broader definition includes the study of the environment and of human behavior as it relates to these processes.
Dietary Guidelines and Suggestions for Food Choices
You are a collection of molecules that move. All these moving parts are arranged into patterns of extraordinary complexity and order – cells, tissues, and organs. The arrangement is constant, but its parts are continuously being replaced by a process using nutrients, and using energy derived from nutrients. Your skin, which has reliably covered you from the time you were born, is not the same skin that covered you seven years ago, it is made entirely of new cells. The fat beneath your skin is not the same fat that was there a year ago. Your oldest red blood cell is only 120 days old, and the entire lining of your digestive tract is renewed every three days. To maintain your “self”, you must continually replenish the energy you burn and replace the cells you lose.
All these pieces have come from your food. You are made entirely of what you have eaten. Amazingly, though, whether you ate spaghetti or apple pie last night, the nutrients supplied by these foods are handled the same way by your body, so that in the end there is no way to know which food you ate. Only if the spaghetti and the apple pie, together with the other foods you choose to eat, do not contain the nutrients you need, do you fail to function as well as you might. For optimum health, you need not only adequate amounts of the essential nutrients but, ideally, an assortment of nutrients in good proportion to each other. The science of nutrition is the study of the nutrients in food and the body’s handling of these nutrients.
Science of Nutrition
The science of nutrition is the study of nutrients and of their ingestion, digestion, absorption, transport, metabolism, interaction, storage, and excretion. A broader definition includes the study of the environment and of human behavior as it relates to these processes.
Dietary Guidelines and Suggestions for Food Choices
- Eat a variety of foods daily. Include these foods every day: fruits and vegetables; whole grain and enriched breads and cereals; milk and milk products; meats, fish, poultry, and eggs; dried peas and beans.
- Maintain ideal weight. Increase physical activity; reduce kcalories by eating fewer fatty foods and sweets and less sugar, and by avoiding too much alcohol; lose weight gradually.
- Avoid too much fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol. Choose low-fat protein sources such as lean meats, fish, poultry, dried peas and beans; use eggs and organ meats in moderation; limit intake of fats on and in foods; trim fats from meats; broil, bake, or boil – don’t fry; read food labels for fat contents.
- Eat foods with adequate starch and fiber. Substitute starches for fats and sugars; select whole-grain breads and cereals, fruits and vegetables, dried beans and peas, and nuts to increase fiber and starch intake.
- Avoid too much sugar. Use less sugar, syrup, and honey; reduce concentrated sweets like candy, soft drinks, cookies, and the like; select fresh fruits or fruits canned in light syrup or their own juices; read food labels – sucrose, glucose, dextrose, maltose, lactose, fructose, syrups, and honey are all sugars; eat sugar less often to reduce dental caries.
- Avoid too much sodium. Reduce salt in cooking; add little or no salt at the table; limit salty foods like potato chips, pretzels, salted nuts, popcorn, condiments, cheese, pickled foods, and cured meats; read food labels for sodium or salt contents especially in processed and snack foods.
- If you drink alcohol, do so in moderation. For individuals who drink – limit all alcoholic beverages (including wine, beer, liquors, and so one) to one or two drinks per day. NOTE: use of alcoholic beverages during pregnancy can result in the development of birth defects and mental retardation called Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.
