You’ve likely heard that eating healthy is vital for wellness, but you may not know exactly why that is.
While many people advise eating well as a means to look fit, there are a ton of other benefits to a healthy diet that are more important than how you look!
When you have a nutritionally sound diet, your whole body is able to function better. You’re less likely to get diseases and fall sick. Generally, you’ll feel lighter and more comfortable in your body, and your mental health will generally be better as well.
What is the Importance of Good Nutrition?
Nutrition is key to maintaining good health. Good nutrition provides the body with the essential vitamins, minerals, and nutrients it needs to function properly. Nutrition allows the body to grow, develop, and heal; it also fights off infection and disease.
A well-balanced diet is vital for everyone but is especially critical for pregnant women and young children. Poor nutrition can lead to a variety of health problems, including obesity, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and malnutrition.
Consuming a variety of nutrient-rich foods is the best way to get the essential vitamins and minerals needed by the body.
Prevent Illness
Making better food choices is important for maintaining optimum weight and reducing your risk of developing chronic diseases such as heart failure, stroke, and diabetes. By consuming a balanced diet full of nutrient-rich foods, you can help keep your body strong and in better health now and in the future.
Your immune system requires many different vitamins and minerals to function properly. A well-functioning immune system helps to prevent cancer and keep you from falling ill often. You’re also less likely to have a bad bout of illness if you have a strong immune system, and can recover faster.
Feel Good
A nutritious diet gives you more energy!
Highly processed foods, excess sugar, oils, and salt, and lack of nutrition all lead to feeling sluggish and fatigued. It’s a vicious cycle because what do we often feel like eating when we are exhausted? That’s right: cheap, quick, easy, junk food. And it just keeps us in the loop of feeling low.
Having a well-rounded diet can help you keep from feeling too overwhelmed by life since you’ll have more energy and brain power to face your struggles.
Well-Oiled Machine
Proper nutrition means your heart can work well, your lungs can breathe easily, your digestion functions properly, your joints and bones feel good, and your muscles are strong.
You’ve probably heard it before, but generally, getting fit is 80% diet and only 20% exercise. Even if you aren’t a health nut, this is good news! It means you can be at least 80% at peak health just by eating well; you don’t even need to exercise very much at all in order to be in good health!
As long as you move around periodically throughout the day and perhaps take a walk every once in a while, if you’re eating well, that should be enough to help keep you feeling great.
And if you do like to sweat it out in the gym? Your recovery and muscle growth will be substantially better with the right foods. Proper nutrition also cuts the risk of sports injuries like broken bones, torn ligaments, worn-down connective tissues, and heart and lung problems.
Mental Health
Nutrition helps mental health in two ways: supporting the brain and supporting the “second brain” aka the gut.
With proper vitamins and minerals, brain functions, hormones, and enzymes can function more properly and can even reduce your chances of problems like depression, anxiety, and mood disorders.
Proper nutrition can lessen the severity of some challenges related to things like autism and ADHD.
Furthermore, nutrient deficiencies can cause cognitive impairment, myeloneuropathy (B12 or copper deficiency leading to numbness in the limbs), sleep problems, and mood disorders. Some deficiencies may increase your risk for Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and dementia, multiple sclerosis, and ataxia.
As for the gut, a nutrient-rich diet combined with fiber and pre/probiotics means that your digestive system will be thriving. Emerging science suggests that a healthy gut produces hormones, chemicals, and enzymes that help mental health stay positive.
There is a definitive link between the gut and the brain!
Support your personal health better by learning about nutrition from a dietitian on Superprof.
20 Benefits of Eating Healthy
1. Improved Energy
Eating well means that your body and mind have more energy so you can get more done in a day without becoming overwhelmed and fatigued.
2. Improved Sleep
On the flip side, a healthy diet supports great sleep!
3. Healthy Teeth
Unhealthy foods contribute to tooth decay way more than less-processed foods. How do you think our ancient ancestors were able to keep their teeth even without toothpaste and dentists? Their food didn’t have as much added sugar, fats, and salts that can contribute to tooth decay.
4. Maintain Healthy Weight
While many people want a healthy weight so they can look good, the more important aspect of weight is simply for your body’s well-being. Some people are naturally heavier or lighter than the average person, and that’s okay! The important part is staying in a healthy range for your unique body so that you have enough body fat for vital bodily functions, but not so much that it impedes your organs’ ability to function.
5. Improved Eyesight
Vitamin A is crucial for good eyesight. Without it, you may experience night blindness and even cataracts!
6. Glowing Skin
A good diet means beautiful skin! And, since skin is a good indicator of problems in the body, you’ll notice abnormalities faster when your skin is usually very typical.
7. Luxurious Hair
Dull, dry, brittle hair can be the result of poor nutrition. When you eat well, your hair will become soft and lustrous.
8. Strong Bones
Avoid stress fractures and osteoporosis with a healthy diet. Prevention is key!
9. Healthy Heart
A diet high in salt, fat, and sugar means that you are at higher risk of heart problems including heart attack. A healthy diet keeps your arteries more clear and your heart functioning better.
10. Smooth Move
If you have ever struggled with digestive issues, you know how painful and inconvenient they can be. A healthy diet helps keep your digestive system functioning well so that you never spend too much time in the loo.
11. Prevent Diseases
Many diseases can be entirely prevented through a healthy diet. Some people are prone to certain diseases due to genetics or other factors, but even they can lessen their risk of developing these diseases.
The diseases in question include type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart attacks, heart disease, arthritis, autoimmune disorders, certain cancers, gall bladder disease, anemia, obesity, hypo/hyperglycemia, macular degeneration, IBS, diverticulitis, and many, many more.
12. Enjoy Your Life
When you feel good, your body moves well, and your mental health is positive, you have the perfect recipe for a life that you love! You can do many activities and enjoy time with your family even as you age. Your quality of life can be heightened for many years.
13. Positive Mind
Mental health is affected greatly by nutrition. The brain needs nutrients to function, our hormones need nutrients to work properly, and the gut needs to be healthy to support mental health as well.
With proper nutrition, you are less likely to experience severe mood swings or disorders. Your mood will likely be enhanced much of the time and will remain more stable.
14. Stay Sharp
Cognitive function can be retained in part through good nutrition. There are new studies that suggest diseases like Alzheimer’s may be more likely to happen, and with more severity, in people with vitamin and mineral deficiencies.
15. Save Money
Healthy foods are actually cheaper on average than processed foods. Fruits, vegetables, grains, rice, beans, legumes, and spices are more affordable than red meats, processed snacks, and ready-to-eat foods.
Many people choose the less-healthy option because they don’t have time or energy to make healthier food themselves. While it may not be convenient now, making meal cooking time a priority will save you a lot of time in the future since you’ll not need to accommodate for poor health!
16. Delay Aging
Have you noticed that many people who eat super-healthy appear way younger than you’d expect? That’s a real side-effect of eating healthy! Your skin, organs, and brain can all age at a slower rate than people with poor diets (unless you have a genetic disposition to faster aging).
17. Better for the Environment
Unprocessed foods tend to be better for the environment because they use fewer resources in their journey from the farm to your home. Highly processed foods start out with something recognizable, like corn, but then they’re processed in a factory that creates emissions and pumped with chemicals that each have their own carbon footprint.
The packaging on processed foods creates trash, whereas many unprocessed foods can be purchased without packaging (think fresh fruit or grains in a reusable linen bag).
18. Better Pregnancies
For women, good nutrition means that both their body and their baby’s body are in tip-top shape. The mother can pass on vital nutrients to the baby, ensuring that their organs develop properly. It’s especially important for developing fetuses to get enough folic acid, or risk getting brain and spinal cord defects.
A healthy mom means her body can thrive while pregnant, she can recover from birth or C-section faster, and her milk is more likely to be nutrient-dense and abundant.
19. Longevity
You’ll not only feel healthier into your old age, but you may live longer as well. And remember, you will be living longer and feeling good at the same time!
20. Feeling Powerful
There are so many things outside of our control in our daily lives. What we eat can be an easy way to have control over something multiple times per day. It shows that we love ourselves enough to eat well, we have the discipline needed to commit to a healthy lifestyle, and we get to choose what flavors and textures we are putting on our plates.
It’s important to recognize that feeling in control and having an eating disorder are two separate things, and if you feel you are developing an eating disorder, you should seek medical advice.
Develop a healthy eating plan with a dietician in Mumbai or your own city.
Vitamins, Minerals, and Nutrients for a Healthy Body
There are dozens of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients that make up the typical human body. All of them are crucial for health, but they are required in different amounts.
Each person’s body is unique, so while there is a suggested standard amount of each nutrient
Vitamin vs Mineral vs Nutrient
First of all, you might want to know what the definitions for these words are! It can be confusing, especially if you’re unfamiliar with nutrition.
Nutrients are split into two different groups: Macronutrients and Micronutrients. Micronutrients are these vitamins and minerals we’ve been talking about, in addition to essential fatty acids and essential amino acids.
Macronutrients are fiber, protein, fat, and carbohydrates.
A vitamin is an essential substance that must be ingested because the body cannot produce it itself.
A mineral is a chemical element, like copper, iron, potassium, and magnesium. They also need to be ingested because the body cannot make them.
So, everything the body needs is categorized as a nutrient. Then, the category of “nutrient” is split into “macro” and “micro.” The “micronutrient” category is then split again into “Vitamins,” “Major minerals,” “Trace elements,” Essential Fatty Acids,” and “Essential Amino Acids.”
Vital Minerals
Calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, and magnesium are the minerals the human body needs more of. These are the major minerals.
Trace elements are the minerals the body needs less of, and these are iron, chlorine, cobalt, copper, zinc, manganese, molybdenum, iodine, and selenium.
All of these minerals are needed for the body to function properly.
Crucial Vitamins
All of the vitamins we know of that are in humans are required for a fully functioning body. They are:
- Vitamin A
- Vitamin B1 (thiamine)
- Vitamin B2 (riboflavin)
- Vitamin B3 (niacin)
- Vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid)
- Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine)
- Vitamin B7 (biotin)
- Vitamin B9 (folic acid and folates)
- Vitamin B12 (cobalamins)
- Vitamin C (ascorbic acid and ascorbates)
- Vitamin D (calciferols)
- Vitamin E (tocopherols and tocotrienols)
- Vitamin K (phylloquinones, menaquinones, and menadiones)
- Some scientists believe that Choline is also an important vitamin
Essential Fatty Acids
Essential fatty acids must be ingested because the human body cannot synthesize them.
They are: alpha-linolenic acid (an omega-3 fatty acid) and linoleic acid (an omega-6 fatty acid).
Essential Amino Acids
Once again, these amino acids are essential because the body cannot synthesize them, so they must be ingested.
They are: valine, isoleucine, leucine, methionine, phenylalanine, tryptophan, threonine, histidine, and lysine
A healthy, varied diet is almost guaranteed to provide every single one of these nutrients to you for primal health!
The one exception is vitamin B12, which is only made by bacteria in soil. You can eat foods fortified with the vitamin or take a supplement. Note that animal products tend to have vitamin B12 in them because the animal was receiving a B12 supplement.
Learn about the vitamins and minerals you need to keep your body healthy with a Superprof nutritionist in Bangalore or your city.
Tips for a Healthy Lifestyle
How can you support your healthy choices in your life?
Many people struggle to maintain a healthy lifestyle because they don’t prepare their lives for the necessary changes.
Here is how you can help healthy habits fit seamlessly into your life.
Meal Plan
Plan out what you will be eating for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks in advance. This way, you won’t need to come up with an idea after a long day or when you don’t have the mental energy to decide what to eat.
Shopping List
Make sure that you make a list of everything you need in order to make all the meals on your meal plan. Many people will plan meals for one week, and buy all the ingredients once per week. Adjust the amount of days you plan for and shop for according to your schedule.
Meal Prep
Whenever possible, prep your food in advance. Freshly cooked food of course tastes better and is energetically better, but if you know that you will be coming home late one day and won’t have time to cook, it’s okay to make your meal in advance. I personally like to cook 2-3 days’ worth of food at once.
Change Your Mindset
Another pitfall people get themselves into is thinking “I have to eat healthy, even though I don’t want to.” While that is actually many of our outlooks (at least at first), it means that every time you eat a healthy meal, you’re thinking wistfully about how you’d rather be eating something else. It takes time, but work on changing your thoughts to be “I get to eat healthy and it makes me feel great!” Your food will taste much better, trust me!
Appreciate Your Body
Notice how you feel after you start to make healthy changes. Many people get a boost of energy, their mental health improves, their hair and skin look and feel better, and they are generally happier overall. But, if you don’t take the time to acknowledge and appreciate these changes, you might not really notice them happening! This can tempt you to go back to your old ways. Mindfulness is key!
Drink Water!
Most of us are chronically dehydrated. Whether you drink water, coconut water, or another refreshing beverage, make sure you’re getting enough every day. Avoid too much juice as it tends to be packed with sugar.
The key to a life you love to live starts with your personal health. Personal health starts with good nutrition! Eating well ensures that your entire body feels as best as it possibly can, so you can enjoy all the things life has to offer.
You can learn more about how to build a healthy lifestyle with a nutritionist or dietitian.
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Thanks for sharing this information it’s very useful to me and I hope you have been sharing more information sharing in future
This is a very nice article you have posted. it is an informative blog. i learnt something here. thanks for sharing with us.
But personally I believe that Supplements I believe are now an important part of our lives, because of hectic and busy schedules the nutrition cannot be fulfilled, and supplements are the only option left to fulfill that nutritional requirement.