People these days eat more than they need to, thus it contributes to the increase rates of obesity. To be more specific, people are consuming more calories than they need a day, and those excess calories will be stored as fat in our body which leads us to gain weight. (Teens Health, 2011)
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| Still eating food that harms body because it's cheap |
But why do we keep on consuming high caloric food when we know that we will gain weight?
Many people nowadays know that nutrition is very important in our lives, so let me tell you something about nutrition.
Nutrition contains these basic things:
- Proteins that promotes growth and repairmen of muscle and body tissues
- Fats that is an energy source which absorbs vitamins, protect our organs, and regulate our body temperature, essential for growth and development
- Carbohydrates is our core source of energy
- Minerals help us build up our body structure and functioning of the body
- Vitamins help with the chemical processes in our body to function
- Water is what makes up our body to carry nutrients and to help the body function(Glycemic Index, 2009)
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| Cannot decide what to get because it's either you buy something affordable or trying to stay healthy |
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| This only tells you the nutrition facts about 2 serving sizes |
All the Canadian food products will have nutrition label that tells you about the nutrition facts about the food product. However when you are reading these label you need to be careful about the serving sizes because they only tell you facts about a certain amount of grams, and not necessary how much you CAN consume. (Health Canada, 2007)
On the Canada’s food guide table, it shows how many servings of the different types of food you should consume in order to stay healthy. This chart is for you to consider what to consume in order to maintain a balanced diet. However to maintain a healthy body it is best to consume more vegetables and fruits. (Health Canada, 2007)
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| A reference guide as to how much food you should consume a day |
How does calories work?
To gain a pound of fat, we must consume 3500 calories a day and to lose a pound of fat you need to burn more than 3500 calories a day to reach a state called “caloric deficit”. Caloric deficit means that your body contains a negative number of calories for that day. Most importantly, you need to focus on “caloric deficit” rather than restricting the calories you intake because when you restrict your caloric intake, you may lose weight, but it also decreases your body’s ability to function on a regular basis. To simply put an understanding to nutrition, there is no perfect number of calories you should intake or what types of food you should consume more because it depends on your body’s needs. (Hussman Fitness, 2005) To give you an idea of around how much calories you need to intake, Health Canada has provided us a chart:
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| This is how much calorie intake you should have each day for males (Health Canada, 2007) |
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| Daily calorie intake for women (Health Canada, 2007) |
Why is nutrition important for obesity people?
- Reduce the risks of CVD, high blood pressure, diabetes, and coronary heart disease
- You will not be overweight or obese
- You have the energy to function on a daily basis
- You will have a healthy lifestyle
(Centers for Science Public and Interest, 2011)
What do you do if you want to eat healthy?
- Avoid saturated fats, because it raises your cholesterol levels which clots up the arteries and lead to a heart disease
- Consume lots of fibre as it prevents you from heart diseases and maintains your weight
- Do not consume too much sugar; if sugar is not used up during exercise, it get stored as fat in your body causing a weight gain
- Drink around 8-12 cups of water a day because over 50% of your body functions on water
(Health Canada, 2007)
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| Try to choose the right foods for your own health. |
If you follow a healthy nutrition diet, then your body should be at a healthy state which helps reduces the chances of you being obese.
Reference List:
Center for Science in Public Interest. (2011). Why good nutrition is important. Retrieved from http://www.cspinet.org/nutritionpolicy/nutrition_policy.html#obese
Glycemic Index. (2009). Why is nutrition important. Retrieved from http://www.glycemic-index.org/why-is-nutrition-important.html
Health Canada. (2007, May 2). Food and nutrition: how much food you need everyday. Retrieved from http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/food-guide-aliment/basics-base/quantit-eng.php
Hussman Fitness. (2005). How calories work. Retrieved from http://www.hussmanfitness.org/html/TFCalories.html
Teens Health. (2011). How much food should I eat? Retrieved from http://kidshealth.org/teen/food_fitness/dieting/portion_size.html
