Nutrition as it applies to our daily
lives means that we take in what we need to maintain our body’s
healthy state. Nutrition has become an important word thanks to
the involvement of the USDA in our daily food requirements, and
the FDA’s involvement in determining what is and is not dangerous
for us to consume.
But what is our responsibility in
the nutrition game? Do we understand what our nutritional requirements
are, how to fulfill those requirements, and how to look for real
nutritional value in our foods? I’m not sure that nutrition
has been successfully addressed in its own right. We hear nutrition
in relation to our vitamin intake, our fortified cereals and milk,
and in the context that we need “nutritional value”
from our food choices. But what really is nutrition when applied
to our daily bodily functions?
Nutrition refers to the nurturing
of our body, in our ability to keep it healthy and functioning as
it is supposed to do. Our ability to provide the body with all the
necessary food, vitamins, and minerals so that we continue to thrive
in our daily life processes.
How do we determine that we are
providing the essential nutritional needs? That knowledge comes
by educating ourselves about what our individual needs are, the
needs of our family, and then taking that knowledge and applying
it to the foods we buy, that we prepare, and that our families consume.
Quite often, our vitamin and mineral
needs outweigh our caloric needs. In those instances, we turn to
manufactured vitamins and minerals to fill the gap. This is a part
of our nutritional needs, also.
Complete knowledge of the nutrition
spectrum takes some time to absorb. The body contains so many different
elements, some in large quantity, and some in only trace amounts.
How do you know what you, much less everyone else you might be responsible
for, needs? As of today, there is no good way to determine each
individual’s specific needs. What we have is an average consumption
based on your gender, your age, and weight. This is like saying,
ok, one size fits all.
Nutrition is one of the most complex
areas to gain useful knowledge about, because there are so many
components, and because each person has their own individual needs.
Women needs differ from those of men, and older women’s needs
differ from those of a young girl. As we age, our needs constantly
change; therefore continual education about nutrition is a fact
of life.
The nutritional needs of a cardiac
patient are different than those of a healthy, middle-aged hiker.
Can you see the complexity of the situation now? What we really
need is to develop a scale that determines the nutritional needs
of our bodies on a cellular level, so that as we age, as our physical
condition changes, or our health changes, we can recalculate our
needs, based on cellular changes and content in our body. Individuality
is the key to understanding each person’s nutritional needs,
and then working to educate ourselves is the key to fulfilling those
nutritional needs.
Nutrition: The Bottom Line:
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