What Does Food Nutrition Mean?
I chatted with a friend last week and had an epiphany … this regularly happens to me. I put two and two together and get four. I often wonder how many other people get four and question where my head has been for the past thirty something years.
When I work with weight loss clients, we speak about eating mindfully. When you make the move to eat something take a moment to consider why that choice? Do you choose that food because it brings something of nutritional value to your body? Do you choose it because you feel hungry and simply want to ease that feeling? Does it ease a negative emotion or bring a more positive one?
Generally, I do not like to focus on calories. If you eat foods that bring you nutritional value and eat when you are hungry, calorie counting and “watching what you eat” should not be necessary. What happens though when the food is nutritionally beneficial and high in calorific value. I am a big fan of nuts, in particular pistachio nuts. Apparently, pistachios are full of fibre, minerals, and unsaturated fat that help your blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol remain in balance. However, pistachios, like all nuts, have a high calorie count.
A 100g of pistachios contains 562 calories. As someone who exercises moderately five times a week, I need approximately 1,900 calories per day to maintain my weight. I am also someone that will easily munch through a few hundred grams of pistachios as a snack throughout the day. Referring to my epiphany, I suddenly acknowledged that if I want to maintain a healthy weight, I do need to look at calories in addition to nutrition. However more important to me is maintaining my health, especially during a pandemic.
What is Nutrition?
This is probably the most important question, what is nutrition? The definition of nutrition is the process of providing or obtaining the food necessary for health and growth. My research tells me that the typical human needs.
- 75g of protein for each kilo of body weight
- 25g – 30g of dietary fibre per day
- 225 – 325 grams of natural carbohydrates
- 44g – 77g of healthy fats
- a variety of vitamins and minerals (A, D, E, K, C, B, folic acid, calcium, iron and more)
Alongside this the recommendation is to drink 2.7 – 3.7 litres of water a day. It is important to me to remind you that a nutritional therapist has the qualifications to personalise this, the information above is a guideline only and not specific to you. When you provide your body with the foods necessary for health and growth your body will function optimally.
What is food nutrition?
A nutritionist studies the nutrients in food, how the body uses the nutrients and the effect of diet on the body. Everybody can use food to reduce the risk of ill health and remedy some ailments. You can use food as prevention and remediation.
A typical western diet that contains a high sugar content with vegetable oils and processed foods increases the permeability of the intestines. If your body reacts to this it will release pro-inflammatory cytokines which may lead to depression. When your body does not get the nutrients it requires you lack the requirements for positive mood and necessary sleep. Living within you are trillions of microorganisms, such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi. These are known as microbiome. The microbiome in the gut plays a part in mood. Research suggests that there is a connection between an unhealthy microbiome, anxiety, and depression. There are so many reasons to
What does the word nutrition mean?
Or more specifically what does the word nutrition mean to you? Nutrition provides nourishment. As expected, the definition for nourishment is like that of nutrition. However, there is an additional definition, “the action of nourishing someone or something”. Some foods sooth an emotion and create a feeling of nourishment. As though you are by the cosiest fire wrapped in a soft, warm blanket. The cause of this is personal to you and not always helpful when your aim is to remain healthy and enable your body to function in the best way possible. Nutrients provide real nourishment; what can you change to ensure the foods you take into your body truly nourish you?
Easier said than done
For so many people healthy eating is easier said than done. When you work with me I will personalise the sessions to you. Those involved in trauma work believe trauma to be at the root of addiction. If your addiction is food, we will work with that. If you simply do not know what is going wrong for you, we will have exploration sessions. I will help you live more mindfully using mindfulness techniques so you can spend time considering, take control and make choices about what you put into your body. In hypnosis I will use aversion techniques to help you turn away from certain foods should you desire. There are many different ways of working together and during your free initial consultation I will ask questions that give me an insight into the techniques that will help you.
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If you enjoyed this article you might like to read my blog post I Like the Feeling of Drowsiness after Eating Too Much