Our Nutritional Needs
For the past couple of months I’ve been learning more about nutrition. Not just the eat 5 fruit and veg a day (you do, don’t you?) but getting at the nuts (get it?) and bolts. The macro-nutrients and the implications for our bodies.
Many factors make up our nutritional needs picture. Our individual biological requirements can vary fourfold between different people, the stressors that we are exposed to i.e. smoking exposure or types of medications taken and the overall health of an individual. When there is a discrepancy between the needs of the body an our input, the body is unable to repair itself sufficiently and inflammation occurs, which can lead to degeneration of any system within the body.
But if you have a healthy diet that shouldn’t matter? Well not necessarily. Did you know that a cauliflower has ½ the vitamin C content and watercress 88% less iron that they contained 50 years ago. Bananas need to ripen on the trees to fully develop their nutritional content but they are picked to be shipped when green. Supermarkets are allowed to cold store apples for 6 months before going on sale. The nutritional value of an apple halves for every month it is stored. So, it turns out that eating a ‘healthy’ diet may still not be as nutritious as we need it to be.
Are you bamboozled? I was at this point. But don’t worry. There are many things that can be done to. Add a more veggies to your plate. Steam rather than boil, to keep as many of the nutrients as possible. Reduce the amount of wheat/gluten, dairy, caffeine, alcohol and sugar in the diet.
Let me know if you want to discuss any of this information further.
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