Ask five different people to define the word “diet” and a few definitions are bound to be wrong. Try it! What is a diet? Think about the diet definition and write it down. A diet in simple terms is what regularly is eaten by whomever. Every animal has a diet - dogs, cats, birds, worms, pandas, koalas. So, whether the ingested material is eucalyptus leaves, bamboo shoots, dead leaves, humus, or filet mignon with potatoes and lettuce that is a diet-- what keeps the eater alive.
Food Defined and How It Relates to Diet, Seven Simple Thoughts
- Food is what is needed by plants or animals to sustain and maintain life.
- Food is necessary for survival.
- Food and water together are the complete basic needs for any organism's life and survival, whether they be plants or animals.
- Sixty-five to seventy percent of the total weight of most organisms is water—an absolute essential for life.
- Enzymes, outside and within cells, break down food and convert it to smaller compounds. The smaller molecules can be further processed to yield energy, or these compounds may be reassembled into substances needed to build new cells and tissues.
- Food is used to supply energy and contributes to the maintenance and building of cellular and tissue substance.
- Think of food as similar to feeding logs into a fire within a stove. Ingested food serves as fuel for the body's stove. It is that simple. There is one more thought here—the logs of fuel food "overfed" or "oversupplied" into the human fire are not all burned, only what is needed is used, the rest is stored, and guess what?—that human stove actually grows bigger from those logs of fuel that were in excess!
Characteristics of Good and Healthy Diets
Dieticians and medical doctors have learned a lot about what makes for a good diet; here is a useful checklist:
- Balanced with the right proportions of proteins, carbohydrates and lipids.
- Nutritious, supplying sufficient vitamins and minerals.
- Digestible, able to broken down into simple units that the body can use for energy and building.
- Providing adequate, but not excessive, calories for health and maintenance.
- Containing sufficient fiber to promote excellent peristalsis, bowel movements and, thus, prevent intestinal toxicity and disease. Fiber abounds in brans, whole grains, fruits and vegetables.
Choosing the Right and Best Diet
Is one diet good for everyone, or are multiple diets fitting for everyone? Choosing a diet that works and is healthy is important and the following final thoughts should be kept in mind:
- carbohydrates, fats and proteins plus minerals and vitamins are all needed in a good diet. Balanced diets always are needed since too much fat or carbohydrate causes metabolism imbalances.
- approved, certified diets are important to use because other diets may be deficient and cause illness.
- some diets are inappropriate for some people due to lactose-intolerance. Milk and ice cream must be excluded from the diet for those individuals.
- diets such as a Mediterranean diet are proven to be heart healthy, protective against chronic disease and effective with a large study population. A Mediterranean type diet should be considered as one proven basic diet for all to know
Read more: http://scientificinquiry.suite101.com/article.cfm/basic_ideas_and_principles_of_diets_and_dieting#ixzz0WG5JvYif
