A: Understand concepts of nutritional health and characteristics of essential
nutrients
A.P1 Explain how the concepts of nutritional health contribute to health and
wellbeing
What it means to eat healthily is to follow a healthy eating pattern that includes a
variety of nutrient-rich meals and beverages. It also involves eating the right number
of calories for the person's lifestyle.
A balanced diet is necessary for both good nutrition and health. Many degenerative
noncommunicable diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, and heart disease are not
something you need to worry about. For good health, a balanced diet with low
amounts of salt, sugar, saturated fats, and trans fats from industrial manufacture is
essential. A balanced diet and healthy eating are the cornerstones of nutritional
health; various foods and beverages can give you the energy and various nutrients
you require for good health. Children's growth and development are influenced by
nutrition, and adults' health is important since it would help lower their risk of
developing conditions including heart disease, stroke, some cancers, and many other
illnesses. A healthy diet can help you feel better and fight off illnesses by reducing
your cholesterol, blood pressure, and high blood pressure. n.d. (The Patients
Association)
Fruit and vegetables, potatoes, bread, rice, pasta, and other starchy carbohydrates,
beans, pulses, fish, eggs, meat, and other proteins, dairy and alternatives, and oils
and spreads are the five main food and beverage categories listed by the Eatwell
Guide.
Malnutrition can occur if your diet lacks the necessary nutrients.
,Undernutrition, which happens when the body does not get enough nutrients, and
overnutrition, which happens when the body receives too many nutrients, are two
types of malnutrition. Obese is an individual who is significantly overweight and has a
lot of body fat.
Malnutrition comes in two forms: undernutrition, which occurs when the body does
not receive enough nutrients, and overnutrition, which occurs when the body
receives too many nutrients. A person who is obese is one who is visibly overweight
and has a lot of body fat.
Processed foods, also referred to as convenience or prepared foods, are believed to
be a contributing factor to the rise in obesity and the incidence of chronic diseases
including diabetes and heart disease. In order to process and preserve food, it may
lose some of its essential nutrients. Food that is processed may be heated or dried to
remove moisture to increase life span.
Because of its simplicity and ease of storage, processed foods are often the first
choice for people who need a quick lunch. However, because they typically contain
little to no nutrients for the consumer, these foods contribute to obesity and bad
lifestyles. Almost often, during the cooking process, food loses some of its nutritional
value. The processes that expose food to high levels of heat, light, and/or oxygen
, cause the greatest loss of nutrients. Additionally, cooking liquid additions may cause
dietary nutrients to be wasted.
A diet high in salt or sodium can cause high blood pressure, increasing your risk of
heart disease and stroke. Because high blood pressure typically has no symptoms, a
lot of people with hypertension are unaware of it. Regular and excessive salt
consumption can also lead to calcium loss from the bones, making the bones more
brittle. Consuming too much sugar can lead to consuming too many calories, which
can lead to weight gain.
Food labelling is Nutrition information labels that can help you choose between foods
and keep a record of the amount of fat, salt, and added sugars you consume. There
are standards to help you figure out whether a food is high in fat, saturated fat, salt,
or sugar. Many stores and food manufacturers now list the energy, fat, saturated fat,
sugars, and salt levels on the front of the package, along with the suggested daily
intake for each.
The disadvantages could be that it may mislead people and people may not be able
to read food labels properly. Food labels only give basic information. Another
disadvantage could be that the caloric intake depends on an individual's
circumstances.
The term "organic" refers to the methods used to grow and process agricultural
products. While standards vary by country, organic crops in the U.s must be produced
without the use of synthetic herbicides, pesticides, or fertilisers, as well as
bioengineered genes.Organic poultry raised for meat, eggs, and dairy products must
be raised in living conditions that allow for their natural behaviours (such as pasture
grazing) and fed organic feed and forage. They are not allowed to be given antibiotics,
growth hormones, or animal by-products.
The cost of organic food is a common source of concern. Organic foods are frequently
more expensive than comparable foods farmed using traditional (conventional)
methods. Higher pricing is caused, in part, by more expensive farming methods.
Genetically modified foods are organisms (plants or animals) whose genetic material
(DNA) has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally through mating and/or
natural recombination. A single gene, or a small number of genes, can be put into a
plant or animal by genetic alteration. This allows them to be used in new and