The food and drink you consume can have a large impact on your lifestyle. Therefore if someone consumes healthier food and drink they are more likely to have a better lifestyle. In fact, the food we eat has a direct impact on our physical, mental and emotional health. There are a number of factors a person should take into account when eating and considering their diet. A balanced diet is sometimes assumed to be no sugary or fatty foods whatsoever, this common misconception is untrue as we need the calories and energy levels these foods provide to go about our daily routine.
A balanced diet needs to consist of every food group in order for the body to get what it requires. Healthy eating basically means balancing a diet so the body gets the required nutrients. What is a balanced diet made up of? Healthy Eating is vital for the body to function properly because in fact the body needs 40 different nutrients in order to work correctly. Water is very important for the body since it makes up on average 50 to 70 % of the body’s weight.
Water gives cells energy while cleansing and removing waste products from the body, the human body can only last for a short number of days without water before it will die of dehydration. A male should drink around 3 litres of fluid a day while a woman should drink around 2. 2 litres of fluid daily. Fruit and vegetables should be consumed daily as they provide the body with required amounts of vitamins and nutrients needed such as vitamin C. Brightly coloured fruit and vegetables are also good to eat because they have a high content of nutrients.
Meat is a vital part of the human diet because it provides us with protein needed to aid muscle repair and growth. When trying to increase muscle size it is vital to eat lots of red meat as this contains lots of protein. Meat must be cooked sufficiently as uncooked meat poses a major health threat if the meat is contaminated. Other foods such as eggs and fish also are good sources of protein especially for those who are vegetarian. A balanced diet should also consist of small amounts of dairy, preferably milk. Dairy products provide the body with important nutrients such as calcium which aids bone growth and repair.
Fibre is a necessary requirement in a diet because it aids digestion and lowers blood cholesterol, fibre can be found in foods such as potatoes or other root vegetables. Carbohydrates provide us with energy to be able to exercise, these are the main energy source of the body, they can be found in foods such as pasta. Fatty foods should only be consumed in small amounts, and even then people should still stay away from very fatty and sugary foods, for example anyone should stay clear of foods very high in saturated fats.
Fats provide the human body with energy but the body only requires a small amount of fat. How this impacts lifestyle The diet and eating pattern someone follows has more of an effect on our lifestyle than we realise. It only becomes clear how it can affect a person when we see a seriously obese person or a person who is overly skinny. In fact having an unhealthy eating pattern can have very subtle yet still important effects on a person’s lifestyle. For example a bad diet will inevitably lead to malnutrition which will make a person ill, affecting their lifestyle.
in fact eating patterns can even have an effect on how good a person sleeps, although sleeping problems are not solely based on eating patterns, they are also based on problems such as stress. People who eat large quantities of sugar based products generally have very swift mood swings as they get an initial ‘sugar rush’ after eating then once this has worn off they feel down. People who have a high caffeine intake every day are also suffering because caffeine is a stimulant which can have a similar effect as a sugar rush, but since caffeine can become addictive this can lead to problems.
Caffeine also has an effect on sleep if consumed at night since it is a stimulant. A little known fact is that an apple is in fact better for waking a person up in the morning than an average cup of coffee! Those with a healthy diet are generally fitter than those who eat unhealthily since they have the required amount of carbohydrates for the body and also the body is working efficiently therefore they can exercise for longer before tiring.
However a healthy diet is only one component of leading a fully healthy lifestyle, it will at best aid your lifestyle not make you completely healthy, since the definition of health is “a state of complete social, physical and mental well being” and a healthy diet only helps someone keep in good shape physically. A healthy lifestyle means a person should have a good balance of work and social life, should not be stressed out, and should limit things such as alcohol consumption down to a minimum.
A person should not smoke at all if they want to lead a healthy lifestyle since this simply leads to many different health problems later in life. To summarise my report, every person’s healthy diet will be specific to the lifestyle they lead, for example if a person leads a lifestyle which involves a lot of weightlifting and bodybuilding, they should consume more protein to aid muscle growth however they must not neglect the other food groups, or a person who does little exercise should consume less carbohydrates as they will not burn off the calories they are putting on, leading to an increased weight.
The thing I feel most people should cut down on is the amount of salt people consume. The sodium in salt is important for controlling the water levels in the body however over consumption of salt has been strongly linked to high blood pressure and even heart disease. The salt content in home cooked meals are a lot lower than in ready meals therefore simply eating more home cooked meals such as pasta and roast beef would lower the salt intake of a person who ate a lot of ready meals significantly.