Introduction to Nutrition

Nancy Bennett, M.S., R.D.
Nutritionist

While most of us know that good nutrition is essential in helping us feel our best and reach our optimal health; finding time to eat a balanced diet on a daily basis seems a formidable task in this fast-paced, affluent society. Yet, though your life may be hectic, there are still many good tasting, healthy choices which can help you lose weight and improve your health. This information is designed to be a practical guide in finding those choices whether you are at home, at work, on the road, or at a friend's home. The good news is that by taking charge of your diet, you can improve your health while reducing your risk of "lifestyle" diseases such as heart disease or cancer.

A good place to start is defining what constitutes a "healthy" diet. The "Four Food Group" Plan of yesteryear implied that foods in the Meat, Dairy, Breads and Vegetable Fruit group were equal in their contribution to a healthy diet. Today, researchers show that diets rich in complex carbohydrates and low in saturated fats may reduce our risk of chronic disease. Health professionals designed the "Food Pyramid" guide to translate these recommendations into a food plan for daily living.

Complex Carbohydrates

Complex carbohydrates are present in whole grain breads, cereals, starches and fruits and vegetables. These foods are not only rich in B vitamins and trace minerals, but they also contribute dietary fiber which has been shown to reduce risk for developing certain cancers, lowering cholesterol levels and helping in weight control.

Six to twelve (depending on your height/weight/age/fitness etc) servings of breads, cereals and starches may sound like a lot of food, but when you consider one cup of rice is three servings of cereal, you can see that meeting these guidelines isn't that difficult.

Fruits and Vegetables

Likewise for fruits and vegetables. Most people gag at the thought of eating four to seven servings per day until they discover one medium piece of fruit is two servings. Your typical salad is at least three servings and let's not forget that lettuce and tomato in your deli sandwich, that counts as one also.

Proteins

Proteins are found in the dairy and meat group.

Foods in the dairy group not only provide protein, but they also contribute calcium, Vitamin D and other essential nutrients required for synthesizing healthy bones and teeth. They can be a significant source of saturated fat, so chose two to three servings of the low-fat (1% fat or less) milks, yogurts and/or cheeses.

The meat group includes chicken, fish, nuts and beans or legumes. A deck of cards roughly approximates a three ounce serving and you need at least two servings a day. These foods provide zinc, magnesium and iron which, along with protein, are used by the body in creating haemoglobin and lean body tissue. These foods can also contribute to a elevated intake of saturated fat, so chose lean cuts of meat like flank or round steak, pork tenderloin, ham and leg of lamb. Skip the skin on chicken or turkey and you will miss much of the fat and cholesterol. Better yet, skip animal protein altogether and try minestrone or split pea soup, chilli or bean burritos.

Fats and Sugar

Fats, sugars and alcohol have the least amount of surface area on the pyramid for a reason. They contribute little more than calories to the diet and your body will squeeze them into a fat cell. Worse yet, your body will create another fat cell to harbour them until they are burned,

Many health organizations, like the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society, agree that limiting your fat intake to less than 30% of calories goes a long way to protect you from life threatening diseases. As a gram of fat has nine calories, that isn't much fat. As there is some fat in dairy products and meat, chicken and fish; you are better off to avoid adding fat to your food. Luckily, there are many good tasting low-fat or nonfat salad and sandwich spreads which make the task of avoiding added fat a lot easier.

Yes, certain fats are essential to good nutrition (like linoleic acid), but these are found in ample amounts in whole grain breads, cereals and vegetables. Corn, for example, is where mother nature originally put corn oil. Why not skip the margarine and just eat corn?

Summary

In short, good nutrition means eating a wide variety of foods from each of the five food groups. The Food Pyramid shows us that by eating more complex carbohydrates and less total fat and saturated fat, we can become empowered by the good life and not fall victim to it.

Related Articles

Eating to Lose Weight

Nancy Bennett, M.S., R.D.
Nutritionist

Most people know that being overweight or obese contributes to the development of coronary heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and colon cancer. However, obesity is also a contributing factor to back pain.

Being overweight or obese can significantly contribute to symptoms associated with osteoporosis, osteoarthritis (OA), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), degenerative disc disease (DDD), spinal stenosis, and spondylolisthesis. The suggestions in this article may help you to modify your diet for weight loss success.

—SpineUniverse Editorial Board Commentary

You need to eat to burn body fat. This is a fact: The first nutritional demand of your body is energy. Without adequate energy, your body will convert muscle protein into energy to feed your brain, nervous system and red blood cells.

These particular tissues do not possess the metabolic machinery to burn fat. They only burn carbohydrates. When your intake of carbohydrate falls below these tissues demand, the body begins to convert tissue protein into carbohydrate to meet their need. The net result is a loss of muscle tissue.

Yes, the scale may say you have lost "weight", but you have lost the very tissue that burns fat. Muscle tissue burns 70% of the fat in your body; so losing muscle sacrifices your ability to burn body fat.

In fact, the "weight" you lose on a diet can represent up to 10 to 20% of those pounds in muscle loss. This poor dieter will not only regain this weight, but then some. All because they have compromised their ability to burn body fat.

This is also why people gain weight as they age.

Aging causes muscle loss. So does inactivity. Have you heard of the saying"Use it or lose it"? This is true of your muscle.

Inactivity leads to muscle loss and muscle loss causes a lowered capacity to burn fat, so you wear more of it.

The bottom line is this: At any time, or for whatever reason, you lose your muscle; you lose your capacity to burn fat. Diets, aging and inactivity all lead to a decreased amount of muscle weight and an increased amount of fat tissue.

Never fear. You can, at any time in your life, rebuild your muscle and teach it to burn fat.

Aerobic exercise rebuilds your muscle and teaches it to burn more fat. Eating right gives you the nutrients you need to make that muscle. The food pyramid outlines how to eat to get the nutrients you need, so let us deal more specifically with energy needs and where that energy needs to come from.

In order to burn just the fat and not the other lean tissue in your body, you need to meet your minimal energy requirement.

If you want to maintain your current weight, this level is found by multiplying your weight by 15.

If you want to lose weight, multiply your ideal weight by ten. For example, if your ideal weight is 140 pounds, your minimal energy requirement is 1400 calories.

Next, you need to factor in the calories needed for exercise and activity. Very active people (those who exercise 3 hours or more a week) need to multiply their minimal requirement by 1.5. Moderately active individuals (those who exercise 1 to 3 hours per week) need to multiply their requirement by 1.2.

Slugs need not factor in additional calories.

For those of us who move, let's cite an example: if you take 4 hours of aerobics classes per week and your ideal weight is 140 pounds, you need 2100 calories a day to keep your muscle and burn the fat.

Now, where does that energy need to come from? It makes sense that if you want to burn the fat on your body; you do not want to be eating it in your food.

Let's be perfectly clear about this. There are only two fates of fat in your diet: Fat is either burned by your muscle or it is deposited in your fat cells. If you are wanting to lose body fat, the solution is simple: Eat less and burn more.

Which leads to the debate: "WHAT IS LESS?"

Less is 30% of your calorie intake. To find this amount of fat in grams; multiply your caloric requirement by .3 and divide the calories by nine. For example, 2100 calories times .3 is 630 calories, divided by nine leaves 70 grams of fat.

When you consider a "Double Western Cheeseburger Supreme" has 70 grams of fat, you can appreciate the etiology of obesity in America. In fact, statistics show that one out of every three of us can qualify as overweight, so we have some work cut out for us in terms of the amount of fat in our diets.

Take a look at the foods below and see where you can substitute one food for another to lower your fat intake:

Remember, small substitutions can add up to big losses over a years time. Cutting out 25 grams of fat a day translates into a 25 pound body fat loss in a year. The best part is, you are still eating. Only this time, you won't be "wearing" your groceries!

Tips For Eating to Lose Weight

Those who are successful at losing weight make evolutionary changes with their diets, not revolutionary changes. Start by choosing those changes you can live with on a permanent basis. Then move on to change other habits. One habit at a time, you'll get there!

• Eat slowly. It take twenty minutes for your stomach to tell your brain you are full.
• Pick out foods you need to chew on. Try bagels, apples, french rolls and raw vegetables. These foods will slow your rate of eating.
• Try a warm beverage as or with a snack. This helps to feel full.
• Drink 6 to 8 glasses of water per day. This helps fill you up and keeps you busy with other activities besides swinging on the refrigerator door!
• An eight ounce glass of orange juice is really three oranges! Eating oranges is much more satisfying than drinking juice.
• Eat an afternoon snack before you leave work. This helps overeating while getting dinner ready.
• Here are some healthy snacks: Popcorn, bread sticks, oyster crackers, pretzels, fruit, yogurt, gingersnaps, graham crackers, biscotti cookies, vanilla wafers or amaretto cookies.
• Frozen yogurt, angel food cake and sherbet are all low fat!
• Every time you use your muscles, you are burning fat. Try climbing the stairs instead of taking the elevator.
• Small steps add up in reducing fat. Use jam on toast instead of butter and knock off 30 calories and 5 grams of fat.

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