Food and nutrition.pdf

Chapter 1Diet and HealthINTRODUCTIONThe importance of diet to health, especially in the prevention and cureof illness, is slowly becoming apparent. I endeavour to provide you withmore than the basic, and usually inaccurate information on diet andnutrition. So whether you are a registered dietitian and want to brush upon the immense amount of information, or whether you just want to findout, for the first time what you should be eating, then this site is for you.First I would like to talk about a very contentious word - diet. Manypeople don't like using this word, when referring to their eating habits,because they feel that it is humiliating to be on a diet. I am the opposite,as I am always on diet. Whether underweight, overweight, sick or fit, diet,by its Greek definition means the food eaten by an animal to maintain itsstate of health. So, when I talk about a diet I don't mean that you mustnecessarily lose weight, what I am referring to is the food that you shouldgenerally be eating, be it to build muscles, put on weight, lose weight orget rid of a cold.This topic is as arguable as religion, politics and sex. There are alwaysmany different 'Opinions relating to diet and nutrition. I am only going topresent facts on the subject of nutrition as affirmed by the mainstreamdiet and nutrition world. The fallacies of the fringe will not be proposed,although they have been investigated by myself, so I know what thequacks are telling "Joe Public".It has become apparent that the overconsumption of certain dietarycomponents is now a major concern to people in the Western World.Foremost among them is the disproportionate consumption of fats,sodium, and sugars, at the expense of foods that may be more conduciveto good health, such as foods high in complex carbohydrates and fibre(vegetables, fruit, and whole grain products).The usual approach of the orthodox medical circles, when dealingwith a disease, is to treat the symptoms with a remedy rather thanremoving the cause. Yet, by following the dietary guidelines of the