Nutrition is a science that studies nutrients and other substances in foods and in the body and the way those nutrients relate to health an disease. Nutrition also explores why you choose the foods you do and the type of diet you eat. Nutrients are nourishing substances in food. They provide energy and promotion of the growth and maintenance of the body. Six classes of nutrients are carbohydrates, fats (sometimes called lipids), protein, vitamins, minerals, and water.
A nutritious diet has four characteristics:
- Adequate
- Balanced
- Moderate
- Varied
An adequate diet provides enough kcalories, essential nutrients, and fiber to keep you healthy. A moderate diet avoids taking in excessive amounts of kcalories or eating more of one food or food group than recommended. For example, if you consume too many kcalories it will lead to obesity. The concept of moderation allows you to choose appropriate portion sizes of any food as well as to indulge occasionally in high-kcalorie, high fat foods like french fries or ice cream. This may sound simple (eat enough but not too much of the necessary nutrients), but surveys show that most adult Americans find it hard to do.
The best way to overcome this problem is to select nutrient dense foods. Nutrient dense foods contain many nutrients for the kcalories they provide. You also need a balanced diet. Eating a balanced diet means eating more servings of nutrient dense foods like whole grains, fruits, and vegetables and fewer servings of foods such as cakes, cookies, icecream, and chips, which supply few nutrients. For example, lets say you drink a lot of soft drinks, you will be getting too much sugar and most likely not enough calcium, a mineral found in milk. This problem is pretty much a concern for children, their bones are growing and need calcium. The typical American diet is unbalanced.
Lastly, you need a varied diet. A varied diet basically means you need to eat a wide selection of foods to get the necessary nutrients. Imagine everything you eat for a week piled in a grocery cart, how much variety is in that cart. A varied diet is important because it makes it more likely that you will get the essential nutrients in the right amount.
Before the body can use the nutrients in food, the food must be digested and the nutrients absorbed through the walls of the stomach or intestine into the blood system. People need to choose meals and snacks that are high in nutrients but low to moderate in energy content. Doing so offers important benefits like normal growth and development of children, health promotion for people of all ages, and less risk of chronic diseases.
The intake levels of the following nutrients might be of concern for these groups of people:
- Adults: calcium, potassium, fiber, magnesium, and vitamins A, C, and E.
- Children and Adolescents: calcium, potassium, fiber, magnesium, and vitamin E.
Here is a helpful list of some healthy nutritious foods you can snack on.
- Toasted Oats Snacks. Try taking a handful of oats to a frying pan and toast them slightly. If you like, you can top off the oats with yogurt, or a fruit spread.
- Whole Grain Cereals, like toasted oats.
- Whole Grain or Oatmeal cookies.
- Whole grain popcorn can be a healthy snack with little or no added salt or butter.
- Whole grain snack chips, like baked tortilla chips.
- Snack on ready to eat, whole grain cereals like toasted oat cereal.
- Oatmeal cookies.
- Applesauce.
- Granola bars.
- Toasted nuts.
- Whole grain breads.
- Whole grain crackers.
- Cut up fruit makes a great healthy and nutritious snack. You can either cut them up yourself or buy precut packages of fruit pieces like pineapples or melons.
- Whole fresh berries or grapes.
- Dried fruits also make a great healthy and nutritious snack. They are easy to carry and store well. Some fruits available dried include apricots, apples, pineapples, bananas, cherries, figs, dates, cranberries, blueberries, prunes (dried plums), and raisins (dried grapes).
- Also as a snack, spread peanut butter on apple slices .
- Top frozen yogurt off with berries or slices of kiwi fruit.
- Frozen juice bars (100% juice) make healthy alternatives to high fat snacks.