How to Eat Well?

Eat this not that food. It is also a social act, sensual, emotional and vital in the strictest sense. We eat often because we are hungry; sometimes to fill a gap or emotional to please its guests ...

We would all "eating well", if only because of the impact, now scientifically proven the power of health. "A healthy diet is the foundation of good health and a key element in the development of human health," said Health Canada clearly. 1

But what to eat ? Many different things, and sometimes contradictory, depending on your point of view one takes, in our culture, our way of life, our beliefs, our values ​​... Not easy to navigate, particularly theories food abound, and are also often contradictory.

In this form, you will not find definitive solutions or recipes. We will attempt to locate the food in a global context, to see how the science of nutrition has evolved over the last fifty years and present the main recommendations it offers today. We will particularly focus on nutrition as a specific approach to health: "Let your food be your medicine" said Hippocrates.

Eating is living
We are much more attached to our eating habits , good or bad, that we can imagine. Changing these habits can be a challenge! Most immigrants, for example, adopt the clothing, language, customs of their adopted country, but keep very long their culinary traditions. Requires strong reasons to change.

Top of the scale incentives are the weight loss and resolution of a health problem . If eating less animal fat or more fruits and vegetables, helps to cure a specific disease, it may be sufficient motivation. But eliminating junk food ( junk food ) or prepare meals more balanced to prevent a hypothetical disease or to be in better shape, is much more difficult.

Experience has shown that it is better to change your eating habits very gradually incorporating one or two changes at a time. These changes can affect both food themselves (less chips, more fruits) that our relationship with them (compensation, gluttony, habits) or the way we eat (chew slowly, sit down to eat).

Basic needs

The food is closely related to the image we have of ourselves and our values. Some would even say that the way we eat has dimensions karmic energy. In Chinese diet , for example, foods are considered as the energy characteristics within philosophical and symbolic but also very pragmatic, based on an observation millennium.

In the dominant Western scientific perspective, by cons, the approach is the same biochemical and mathematical considering that these are the various chemical compounds in foods that combine to provide what the body needs.

Anyway, we can agree that food reflects essentially four basic needs:

- Provide daily resources needed to create the energy and remain active (which allows you to compare the role of food in the fuel for a vehicle).
- Maintain the health of the body , as nutrients ensure optimal growth and function of cells, tissues, organs, etc..
Cure or help to cure various diseases.
- Procure pleasure and well-being through certain qualities of food (taste, smell, color, etc..) and satiety.

The science of nutrition
The nutrition specifically addresses the field of study that applies to "the process by which living things absorb, metabolize, and eliminate the use of food." This science is still young and tackles a terribly complex domain.

It must be remembered that the systematic identification of key nutrients and their roles did not begin until the early XX th century. From the 1950s, the science of nutrition is increasingly concerned with diseases chronic, degenerative or overweight ( diabetes , cardiovascular disease , cancer , obesity , allergies ) that have genetic origins, but also external ( diet, lifestyle, pollution, etc.)..

Since then, the concept of balanced diet has appeared and the potential harms of the modern diet, too refined for industrial technologies were highlighted. More recently, we began to understand the role and synergy of vitamins , the minerals , trace elements, antioxidants ( flavonoids , carotenoids ) and amino acids.

Food assimilation
The digestion begins in the mouth and is not even completed two days later. During this process takes place countless chemical transformations which together various enzymes and several organs. In addition, many personal characteristics influence how our body absorbs nutrients: age, state of health, allergies or food intolerances, the amount of adipose tissue reserves of nutrients in the body, the type work, physical activity, quality of sleep, smoking, nervous and emotional state, the time at which it eats, the posture during meals, etc..

The assimilation process is so complex that has always been advocated all sorts of approaches intended to better suit our digestive system : the vegetarian , the choice of foods according to blood group, the acid-base balance , food combinations, the crudivorisme, various schemes (method Montignac , Pritikin , Kousmine ...), not to mention the Chinese diet, ayurvedic food, etc.. In addition, public health agencies in most countries publish guides food officials who constantly evolving. But still, experts do not agree with each other and new hypotheses food appear regularly.

Finally, when it comes to combat specific diseases or conditions, there is a multitude of dietary recommendations and specific regimes, where the types of food and the portions are accurately determined. We found several sheets in our Special Diets and Plans .

We must get to the evidence, the regime ideal does not exist. Although nutritional needs are basic similar for all human beings, optimal nutrition will differ for each person. Given the complexity of actual data in nutrition, it can be useful for most of us to periodically consult a competent person able to determine our needs and guide us in the best nutritional choices.

The nutrition experts who have received a university education and are part of a professional title are reserved nutritionist , dietician or dietitian (the name varies by country). However, other health care providers, such as naturopaths, may also have very good knowledge on the subject. To determine the nutritional needs of a person and discover the food choices that suit them best, we often use a blood test (for iron levels, cholesterol, etc..) And questionnaires that address various aspects of fashion life.