Martial Fury

Diet, Nutrition, and Health

Diet and Nutrition for Improving Health and Fitness

I'm sure you've heard the saying before, "You are what you eat?" It's 100% true, and many people don't think about the damage they are doing to their bodies by maintaining poor eating habits.

Whether you are looking to shed some weight, gain strength, improve your fitness, reduce stress, or generally improve your overall health, diet and nutrition will play a major role in fulfilling your personal health objectives.

We are all aware of the disruptive effects junk food etc. can have on children, but we too often forget that food affects our moods too. For atheletes a diet has to be carefully balanced to ensure they receive all the nutrients, proteins and carboydrates that require to improve performance, fitness and strength, without eating too much of any one food group, as this can hinder development and reduce performance.

Although our genetics provide a blue print of how we may develop, it is the food we eat which ultimately determines our strength, size, short and long term health. It could be argued that every meal you eat affects you in either a positive or negative way, and every meal has the potential to either make you a stronger person, or to weaken you.

Nutrition is a science that studies the relationship between diet and health. Dieticians are health professionals who specialize in this area of study, and are highly trained to provide safe, evidence-based dietary advice and interventions.

Deficiencies, excesses and imbalances in diet can produce negative impacts on health, which may lead to diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, scurvy, obesity or osteoporosis, as well as psychological and behavioral problems. Moreover, excessive ingestion of elements that have no apparent role in health, (e.g. lead, mercury, PCBs, dioxins), may incur toxic and potentially lethal effects, depending on the dose.

Many common diseases and their symptoms can often be prevented or alleviated with better nutrition. The science of nutrition attempts to understand how and why specific dietary aspects influence health.

Nutrition and Health

There are six main classes of nutrients that the body needs: carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals, and water. It is important to consume these six nutrients on a daily basis to build and maintain healthy bodily function.

Essential and non-essential amino acids

The body requires amino acids to produce new body protein (protein retention) and to replace damaged proteins (maintenance) that are lost in the urine. In animals amino acid requirements are classified in terms of essential (an animal cannot produce them) and non-essential (the animal can produce them from other nitrogen containing compounds) amino acids. Consuming a diet that contains adequate amounts of essential (but also non-essential) amino acids is particularly important for growing animals, who have a particularly high requirement.

Vitamins

Mineral and/or vitamin deficiency or excess may yield symptoms of diminishing health such as goitre, scurvy, osteoporosis, weak immune system, disorders of cell metabolism, certain forms of cancer, symptoms of premature aging, and poor psychological health (including eating disorders), among many others.

Fatty acids

In addition to sufficient intake, an appropriate balance of essential fatty acids - omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids - has been discovered to be crucial for maintaining health. Both of these unique "omega" long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids are substrates for a class of eicosanoids known as prostaglandins which function as hormones.

Sugars

Several lines of evidence indicate lifestyle-induced hyperinsulinemia and reduced insulin function (i.e. insulin resistance) as a decisive factor in many disease states. For example, hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance are strongly linked to chronic inflammation, which in turn is strongly linked to a variety of adverse developments such as arterial microinjuries and clot formation (i.e. heart disease) and exaggerated cell division (i.e. cancer). Hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance (the so-called metabolic syndrome) are characterized by a combination of abdominal obesity, elevated blood sugar, elevated blood pressure, elevated blood triglycerides, and reduced HDL cholesterol. The negative impact of hyperinsulinemia on prostaglandin PGE1/PGE2 balance may be significant.

Intestinal bacterial flora

It is now also known that the human digestion system contains a population of a range of bacteria and yeast such as Bacteroides, L. acidophilus and E. coli which are essential to digestion, and which are also affected by the food we eat. Bacteria in the gut fulfill a host of important functions for humans, including breaking down and aiding in the absorption of otherwise indigestible food; stimulating cell growth; repressing the growth of harmful bacteria, training the immune system to respond only to pathogens; and defending against some diseases

Phytochemicals

A growing area of interest is the effect upon human health of trace chemicals, collectively called phytochemicals, nutrients typically found in edible plants, especially colorful fruits and vegetables (see Whole Foods Diet, below). Unlike the anecdotal and sometimes specious nutritional claims of medicinal herbs and compounds, the effects of phytochemicals increasingly survive rigorous testing by prominent health organizations. One of the principal classes of phytochemicals are polyphenol antioxidants, chemicals which are known to provide certain health benefits to the cardiovascular system and immune system. These chemicals are known to down-regulate the formation of reactive oxygen species, key chemicals in cardiovascular disease.

Protein

The protein requirements of athletes, once the source of great controversy, has settled into a current consensus. Sedentary people and recreational athletes^[11] have similar protein requirements, about .8 to 1 gram of protein per kilogram of body mass. These needs are easily met by a balanced diet containing about 56 grams of protein for a 70 kg (150 pound) man or 46 grams of protein for a 60 kg (130 pound )woman.

People who exercise at greater intensity, and especially those whose activity grows muscle bulk, have significantly higher protein requirements. According to Clinical Sports Nutrition (see footnote above), active athletes playing power sports (such as football), those engaged in muscle-development training, and elite endurance athletes, all require approximately 1.6 grams of protein per day per kilogram of body weight, roughly double that of a sedentary persons. Older athletes seeking primarily to maintain developed muscle mass require 1 to 1.2 g/day/kg.

Protein intake in excess of that required to build muscle (and other) tissue is broken-down by gluconeogenesis to be used as energy or stored as fat.

Water and Salts

Maintaining hydration during periods of physical exertion is key to good performance. While drinking too much water during activities can lead to physical discomfort, dehydration in excess of 2% of body mass (by weight) markedly hinders athletic performance. It is recommended that an athlete drink about 400-600 mL 2-3 hours before activity, during exercise he or she should drink 150-350mL every 15 to 20 minutes and after exercise that he or she replace sweat loss by drinking 450-675 mL for every 0.5 kg body weight loss during activity.

Carbohydrates

The main fuel used by the body during exercise is carbohydrates, which is stored in muscle as glycogen- a form of sugar. During exercise, muscle glycogen reserves can be used up, especially when activities last longer than 90 min.When glycogen is not present in muscles, the muscle cells perform anaerobic respiration producing lactic acid, which is responsible for fatigue and burning sensation, and post exercise stiffness in muscles.Because the amount of glycogen stored in the body is limited, it is important for athletes to replace glycogen by consuming a diet high in carbohydrates. Meeting energy needs can help improve performance during the sport, as well as improve overall strength and endurance.

Calorie restriction

Lifespan may be somehow related to the amount of food energy consumed.^[16] A pursuit of this principle of caloric restriction followed, involving research into longevity of those who reduced their food energy intake while attempting to optimize their micronutrient intake. Perhaps not surprisingly, some people found that cutting down on food reduced their quality of life so considerably as to negate any possible advantages of lengthening their lives. However, a small set of individuals persist in the lifestyle, going so far as to monitor blood lipid levels and glucose response every few months.

Whole Plant Food Diet

Heart disease, cancer, obesity, and diabetes are commonly called "Western" diseases because these maladies were once rarely seen in developing countries. One study in China found some regions had essentially no cancer or heart disease, while in other areas they reflected “up to a 100-fold increase” coincident with diets that were found to be entirely plant-based to heavily animal-based, respectively.^[19] In contrast, diseases of affluence like cancer and heart disease are common throughout the United States. Most Americans eat an animal protein based diet, with relatively few calories coming from plant foods. (This is clearly not correct, most calories in western diets come from plant originated carbohydrates and oils). Adjusted for age and exercise, large regional clusters of people in China rarely suffered from these “Western” diseases because their diets are rich in vegetables, fruits and whole grains