Nutrition:
Healthy eating is associated with reduced risk for many diseases, including the three leading causes of death: heart disease, cancer, and stroke. Healthy eating in childhood and adolescence is important for proper growth and development and can prevent health problems such as obesity, dental caries, and iron deficiency anemia. Most young people are not following the recommendations set forth in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans: of U.S. youth aged 6-19, 67% exceed dietary guidelines recommendations for fat intake, 72% exceed recommendations for saturated fat intake.2 In 2007, only 21.4% of high school students reported eating fruits and vegetables five or more times daily (when fried potatoes and potato chips are excluded) during the past 7 days.
Four major nutrients required by your body are:
- Carbohydrates
- Fats
- Protein and
- Water
Carbohydrates:
The main form of energy you intake for your body is carbohydrates. Your body has the easiest time digesting carbohydrates like starch and sugar. Carbohydrates are broken down into individual fructose, glucose units and so they are easy to digest.
Fats:
Fats are essential for body to perform many corporal functions. Even saturated fats are indispensable because they help in strengthening your immune system. And they are also good for liver and lungs and help calcium absorption.
Proteins:
Proteins are the building block your body uses to create new muscles tissues and repair any injured tissues. If you want to bulk up with muscles, then this is your food.
Water:
Water helps in washing out the dangerous toxins that your body takes in, from the air you breathe, the food you eat and the chemicals used in the various products you use on your skin and hair. Water also cushions the joints of your body. Water also carries oxygen and nutrients into all your cells and also helps in regulating the temperature of your body.
Fruits and Vegetables for Maximum Nutrition
Different colored fruits and vegetables signify different nutrients. So, it is always advised to go for different colored fruits and vegetables to have all the required nutrients. Yellow and orange items typically are high in beta carotene and dark leafy vegetables are high in Vitamin C. Cooking vegetables in oil also drains the nutrients present in vegetables. So, it's always better to go for a quick steam with just a slight bit of water rather than boiling. Remember that it hardly matters how healthy your items are, if you drown them in oil.
Benefits of Healthy Eating
- Healthy eating contributes to overall healthy growth and development, including healthy bones, skin, and energy levels; and a lowered risk of dental caries, eating disorders, constipation, malnutrition, and iron deficiency anemia.
Diet and Disease
- Early indicators of atherosclerosis, the most common cause of heart disease, begin as early as childhood and adolescence. Atherosclerosis is related to high blood cholesterol levels, which are associated with poor dietary habits.
- Osteoporosis, a disease where bones become fragile and can break easily, is associated with inadequate intake of calcium.
- Type 2 diabetes, formerly known as adult onset diabetes, has become increasingly prevalent among children and adolescents as rates of overweight and obesity rise. A CDC study estimated that one in three American children born in 2000 will develop diabetes in their lifetime.
- Overweight and obesity, influenced by poor diet and inactivity, are significantly associated with an increased risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, asthma, joint problems, and poor health status.
 
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Healthy eating prevents disease
