Your body is an amazing organism that requires certain nutrients and other healthy lifestyle factors to function properly and to maintain a state of health. The World Health Organization defines health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. This definition simply means that the absence of symptoms does not make you healthy and in order to achieve optimum levels of health you must provide your body with the essential nutrition, exercise, mental stimulation and healthy relationships that can complete the optimum state of health.
Significance of Nutrition
Nutrition is one of the most significant factors that you can control to improve your health and well-being. The experts at the Harvard School of Public Health state that the foods that you eat and the foods that you avoid are the most important decisions you can make to influence your level of health. While several organizations produce guidelines, it can get confusing because of how nutrition news and research is reported in the media. As a result, Harvard School of Public Health created a healthy eating pyramid that outlines the healthy foods choices that you should consider making.
Healthy Foods
To achieve optimal health through nutrition you need to follow a healthy eating plan that provides the essential vitamins, minerals and nutrients that your body needs. Food provides the nutrients and supplies the energy that you need to be healthy. The essential nutrients include proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals and water.
The healthy eating pyramid created by the Harvard School of Public Health is based on the latest science and is designed to provide the necessary nutrients. The pyramid has at its foundation an important lifestyle choice, exercise, which is essential to optimal health. From this foundation of physical activity, the pyramid is composed of healthy foods.
What Should You Eat
According to the Harvard School of Public Health, an optimal diet should be based on a large variety of plant foods like fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables contain the essential vitamins and minerals that can help your body function at an optimal level. It recommends you eat at least nine servings of fruits and vegetables each day. Fruits and vegetables are also a good source of healthy carbohydrates that provide fiber and phytonutrients. Other sources of good carbohydrates include whole grains and beans. Examples of bad carbohydrates are sugary drinks, potatoes and refined carbohydrates. The third component of a healthy diet is protein, which should come from fish, poultry and beans. These are considered the best sources of protein because they are low in saturated fat. Fat is another healthy nutrient, but not all types of fat are good for you. You should focus on healthy unsaturated fat from plants and fish. According to the Harvard School of Public Health, the key to a healthy diet is to substitute good fats for bad fats and to avoid trans fats. It recommends you eat fatty fish, walnuts and use healthy oils like olive and canola oil to get the appropriate fats in your diet. Fish like salmon are good sources of fat and provide omega-3 fatty acids, a healthy nutrient.
Supplementation
The bottom line on healthy nutrition is that you should get the majority of your vitamins and minerals from your food. Natural foods like fruits, vegetables, fish and healthy oils will provide the necessary vitamins and minerals your body needs. If you do not eat enough of these types of foods, a multivitamin supplement is can help to fill in the gaps in your nutrition. The experts at the Harvard School of Public Health state that a daily multivitamin is a good insurance policy for your nutrition and suggest that you should take one even if you eat a healthy diet, like that of the healthy eating pyramid.
