Nutrition, as defined by the National Institutes of Health, is the “process of consuming, absorbing, and using nutrients from food that are necessary for growth, development, and maintenance of life.”
Doctors and nutritionists consider what we eat as an environmental factor that influences our health in both positive and negative ways. Healthy diets contain an optimal balance of nutrients that allow you to accomplish physical activities and mental processes. Unhealthy diets lead to disease. Within your diet, you may have a deficiency or excess of certain nutrients, which can adversely affect your health.
“Diet” refers to foods and beverages consumed in all settings over time. It’s also come to mean a specific nutritional plan or eating pattern.
Primary care and family physician Dr. Richard Pedroza at AGP Family Health Clinic recognizes that a nutritious diet is a keystone of preventive medicine, health care that aims to prevent problems from occurring rather than simply dealing with their consequences. As a result, he tries to ensure that all his patients have a nutritious and beneficial diet to support their physical and mental health. Keep reading to learn more about the role nutrition plays in preventive medicine.
Types of nutrients
Nutrients provide your body with the raw materials to create and use energy and carry out all your bodily functions. They’re usually classified into two major groups:
1. Macronutrients
These nutrients can take the form of protein, carbohydrate, or fat, and their primary duty is to provide energy to your body. The different macronutrients work with different energy pathways and functions in the body. The energy obtained from macronutrients is measured in calories.
2. Micronutrients
Micronutrients are vitamins and minerals, each of which the body requires in minute amounts. They protect and promote various bodily functions, including helping to process energy from macronutrients. They’re critical to health, but they don’t supply any energy themselves.
The federal Dietary Guidelines for Americans are based on scientific evidence indicating that healthy eating patterns can help people achieve and maintain well-being while reducing their chance of developing a number of chronic diseases.
The guidelines are jointly developed and released by the US Department of Agriculture and the US Department of Health and Human Services. They’re updated every five years to take new research into account, and they serve as the cornerstone for many federal nutrition programs and policies.
By translating the science into short but clear food-based recommendations, the guidelines are designed to help Americans choose a better diet and live a healthier life.
Nutrition and preventive medicine
The numbers are staggering – over half of US adults, or about 129 million people – have one or more preventable chronic diseases. These include cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and some cancers. All of these can be traced, to some degree, to diet and physical inactivity. Improving your diet, therefore, can help prevent these diseases, or at least manage them effectively if you have them.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a healthy diet helps children grow and develop properly and reduces their risk of developing chronic diseases. Adults who adopt a healthy diet have a lower risk of obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and some cancers — and, overall, they live longer.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans stress an eating plan that:
- Emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat or non-fat dairy
- Includes a variety of lean proteins, including seafood, poultry, eggs, legumes (beans and peas), soy products, nuts, and seeds.
- Is low in added salt, sugar, saturated and trans fats, and cholesterol.
- Stays within your daily calorie needs
Unfortunately, healthy options aren’t always available. In such cases, people may reach for easily obtainable foods that are higher in calories and lower in nutrition. Low-income communities and some racial and ethnic groups struggle the most, often lacking access to convenient places that offer affordable, healthier foods. It falls to researchers to build an evidence-based foundation of nutrition’s importance for public policy, the national health system, and environmental improvement strategies to correct the situation.
Want to learn more about how your nutrition affects your health? AGP Family Clinic in Tomball, Texas, can help. Call the office at 832-861-0393 to schedule a consultation with Dr. Pedroza, or book online with us today.