Why do we need Nutrition?

If there were only three pieces of advice I would offer for improving your nutritional intake it would be these:

1. Eat a rainbow of vegetables every day.
2. Fill your plate with one half vegetables, a quarter protein and a quarter carbohydrates.
3. Drink at least 2L of fresh filtered water every day.

 
Since the time of Hippocrates (400BC), who was purported to say ‘Let thy food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food’, the importance of nutrition and its role in health has been recognised. Nutrition plays a role in traditional forms of medicine and is increasingly being recognised for its function in modern day disease management. 
 
Nutrition is now recognised to be an essential determinant of health and well-being. Optimal nutrition is important for the prevention and treatment of chronic and acute disease and can improve quality of life, reduce mortality and morbidity, decrease periods of hospitalisation and decrease the financial burden on health-care.
 
Nutrition refers to nourishment and the way food nourishes the body. The science of nutrition defines the nutritional requirements for optimal growth, function and reproduction.

​Nutrition employs two modes of science. Firstly, life sciences such as biochemistry and physiology relate to physical health and function, and secondly, the behavioural aspect of nutrition addresses psychosocial determinants of health.
 
The world declaration and plan of action for nutrition (World Health Organisation, 1992), recognised that the “nutritional well-being of all people is a condition for the development of societies and that it should be a key objective of progress in human development”. 
 
Traditional systems of nutritional medicine have existed for centuries. Indian Ayurveda promotes longevity and healing through diet and nutrition. Nutrition is fundamental to Traditional Chinese Medicine, which uses food and plants to promote physical balance and harmony. In the 17th Century the concept of digestion and metabolism was introduced by the French chemist, Lavoisier. Treatment of diseases such as rickets, scurvy and wartime malnutrition have helped develop nutritional medicine into the essential contemporary science we know today.

To learn how to improve your nutritional status and achieve optimal health, book a Naturopathic Consult today.