What is the connection between nutrition and disease?

  Life is about choices and one of the main choices we make daily is what we are going to fuel our body with so it can run efficiently.

 

Everything we consume will effect our well-being not only physically but mentally and emotionally as well. So how do we know what we should be eating? What is a healthy diet? Have you ever wondered if there is a connection between what you eat and how you feel? Can we prevent disease by changing our diet? Very good questions. Let's look into those and others together.

Here are two diseases that can be controlled or prevented with dietary changes:

Diabetes:

Diabetes if caught early enough can be prevented in the pre-diabetic stage. Changing your diet from to many of the wrong types of carbs, to much sugar, excess weight and not enough exercise. Compelling evidence shows that diabetes can be prevented with lifestyle changes. Intensive lifestyle modification promoting weight loss through energy-restricted diets together with increased physical activity can decrease incident diabetes to as low as 50%. Using the Mediterranean Diet to turn your risk around is highly recommended in this study (Salas-Salvadó, Bulló, Estruch, Ros, Covas, Ibarrolo-Jurado,  & Martínez-Gonzáz, 2014). If changing your diet can your chances of getting diabetes wouldn't you make the change?

Here is the Mediterranean Pyramid

(This diet is not only for diabetics but is a good general diet for everyone.)

Cancer: 

Nutrition is very important to the prevention of cancer and helping your body fight it should you develop it. If you are getting the nutrition, rest and exercise your body needs your immune system should be strong. It is when we let these things slip that we open ourselves up to disease. I know for me my cancer came when I was working 80 hours and not eating properly. How could I expect my body to stay healthy. It was like running a car on water instead of gas. Right away the doctors removed sugar, pork, red meat, fruit, all processed foods,  and high carb veggies from my diet. I could only eat whole foods to give my body a chance to heal. Since I was not getting the vitamins and minerals totally from the food I was left with I took whole food supplements to also aide in repairing the damage I had done to my body. Due to bad food choices, long hours my immune system was nearly gone. I realized the connection to eating right and staying healthy. One food group that has been shown to prevent cancer is cruciferous vegetables but more importantly you should make sure you are eating healthy, efficiently fueled foods for your body that build your immune system. Increasing fiber rich foods in your diet can prevent colon cancer, a simple preventative thing to do. Eat a rainbow of food everyday to ensure you are getting what you need before you get ill. 

Other chronic conditions that can be affected by your choice in nutrition are: hypertension, obesity, heart disease, Crohn's disease, ulcerated colitis and many others. The best thing to do is to be sure you are eating what your body needs, avoiding foods and empty calories that it does not need and getting exercise and rest. Another part is getting lots of water. 

Malnutrition is a very big issue when it comes to health issues. Here is how Sizer & Whitney describe it: any condition caused by excess or deficient food energy or nutrient intake or by an imbalance of nutrition (Sizer & Whitney, 2012). It is hard to think that you can be malnourished by eating to much but think of a diet of chips, fries, burgers, milk shakes, soda pop, coffee, sugar cereal, processed foods. When you fill up on those types of foods you have no room for foods your body needs to function. Where do you fit in fruits and vegetables, and no fries and chips are not healthy vegetables? You are eating high calorie food but they are empty calories for the most part. Or eating a diet of just one type of food can leave you malnourished as well. Along with malnutrition comes disease because your body cannot keep your immune system working.

References:

Salas-Salvadó, J., Bulló, M., Estruch, R., Ros, E., Covas, M., Ibarrolo-Jurado, N., &                 Martínez-Gonzáz, M. A. (2014). Prevention of Diabetes With Mediterranean Diets. Annals Of Internal Medicine, 160(1), 1-10.

          Sizer, F. & Whitney, E. (2012). Nutrition: Concepts and Controversies (12th ed.). WADSWORTH: Cengage Learning