The axiom "Junk in, junk out" pertains to the human body as much as to computer programming. While your body does not produce junk, without the proper diet, your body is not going to function to its fullest potential.
Food is simply tasty packaging of nutrients, fiber and energy that the engines in each cell of your body need to perform at their best.
Definition
A proper diet is one that supplies your body with the nutrients and energy it needs for growth and development--in other words--a balanced diet.
Energy for your body is measured in calories; if you are seeking to lose weight, you need to take in less energy or calories than your body requires on a daily basis so your body will look to its fat reserves for the energy it needs.
A proper diet will be a balance of the food groups, but amounts of each food group may vary depending on your health status. The proper diet for someone with kidney failure is much different from one for someone who is gluten intolerant.
Function
A proper diet is not only about eating the right foods, it is also about proportions of carbohydrates, proteins and fats as well as nutrients. Following the recommendations from the U.S. Department of Agriculture on diet content and number of portions will offer a proper, balanced diet to most healthy adults.
Everyone knows that putting sugar in an automobile's gas tank guarantees the engine will fail; putting too much or too little nutrients and energy into your body will produce the same result over time.
Benefits
Eating a proper diet helps ensure all the systems of your body have the required substances to work properly. Such eating isn't a guarantee that you will avoid all disease or conditions, but eating an improper, unbalanced diet over a period of time can negatively affect processes such as healing, memory and hardening of the arteries.
Expert Insight
A proper diet is a healthy diet, meaning that it promotes your optimal health. The American Heart Association released outcomes in 2006 of observational studies of people who ate an overall healthy diet.
Study results determined that those who followed an overall healthy diet had less coronary vascular disease, had fewer risk factors associated with coronary vascular disease, and showed less prevalence of other chronic diseases such as diabetes.
Bottom Line
Most people know they should follow a balanced, proper diet on a regular basis, but the rising obesity rate alone in the United States shows that knowing and doing are two different things. Additionally, the rates of some chronic diseases such as diabetes are on the rise.
Ben Franklin said, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." That statement can't be any truer than beginning to follow a proper diet before the development of health problems.
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