Importance of diet to health
Isn’t there a time when diet is of no importance and I can eat whatever I want, whenever I desire?
Answer: Umm NO
Diet is important to health at all stages of life. To maintain a healthy lifestyle, it is imperative that we maintain a healthy diet.
A healthy diet brings about a longer and healthier life.
This is just one law of nature that we cannot escape. It may have gone un-noticed to many of us, but if individuals would only take precaution in selecting the foods they eat, the lives of so many would have been prolonged and probably still in existence up to this present day. Just as the law of gravity causes things to fall downward and keeps us from ascending to the sky, the laws of health remind us that if we don’t practice a healthy lifestyle by eating correctly, we will die. And most probably this immature death will result from a chronic disease, which could have been easily avoided.
Here is a simple mathematical equation for this truth.
Equation 1
Individual + unhealthy diet = immature death (most probably from chronic disease)
Equation 2
Individual + carefully selected healthy diet= prolonged life (most probably will enjoy a healthy and happy life)
Make your pick.
Which road are you willing to travel?
Causes of deaths in the USA (2003)
According to the Center for Disease Control (National Center for Health Statistics), here are the ten leading causes of death in the United States for the year 2003.
Disease |
Number of deaths |
|
|
Heart disease |
685,089 |
556,902 |
|
Stroke |
157,689 |
Chronic Lower Respiratory Diseases |
126,382 |
Accidents (unintentional injuries) |
108,694 |
Diabetes |
72,815 |
Alzheimer's disease |
65,829 |
Influenza and Pneumonia |
61,472 |
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis |
42,762 |
Septicemia
|
34,069 |
Source: National Center for Health Statistics. Deaths-Leading Causes from Deaths: Preliminary Data for 2004, table 7.
Let’s review these deaths and their causes.
- Heart disease and Cancer accounts for almost two thirds of all deaths in the United States.
- Diet, smoking and lack of physical activity play a major role in the development of these diseases.
- Diet can also be described as a main cause of stroke and type 2 diabetes.
I’m sure you can think of a friend or family member who is or may have been a victim of any of these diseases. Consider how many of these diseases and deaths, could have been avoided by the use of a healthy diet.
Take some time now to contemplate on this information presented to you. You too, can be among these deaths if you do not take an active role in choosing the foods that you allow into your body. Be careful when it comes to your diet, your health and consequently your life may depend on it.
Genetics and diet
There are many genetic, environmental, behavioral, and cultural factors, which can affect our health. We need to learn and understand family history of disease or risk factor, example body weight and fat distribution, blood pressure, and blood cholesterol. Understanding these factors can help us make better decisions in choosing diets that can improve our health.
Someone belonging to a family with a history of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, stroke, obesity, high blood pressure or high blood cholesterol or any other disease for that matter, should have a diet, which help fights and overcome these ilnesses. There are certain foods, which help fight diseases and make an individual an overall healthier person despite the family history of disease. A good diet can dramatically reduce a person’s probability of being affected by these diseases. Click here for more infomation.
The only time when diet will be of no importance and you may eat whatever you want, whenever you desire, is when you’re six feet under, resting peacefully in a cold hard grave.
And even then you still cannot eat what you desire because you’re dead, and we all know that dead men don’t eat.
Source:
Dudek, Susan. Nutrition Essentials for Nursing Practice. Hagerstwon: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2007.
Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Fourth Edition, 1995