Nutrition is one of the key pillars that contribute to good health and quality of life, so optimal nutrition should be the goal of every individual and family.
Nutrition science is evolving beyond its historical understanding of adequate nutrition towards an understanding of optimal nutrition, going beyond deficiency indicators to account for functional foods’ impact on our wellbeing.
Optimum Nutrition
Optimal nutrition refers to eating the right amounts and types of food to maximize health and performance. It involves optimizing one’s nutritional intake based on their specific circumstances and conditions, including both quantity and quality of foods consumed.
A balanced diet supplies our bodies with all of the nutrients required for good health and disease prevention. Diets deficient in certain nutrients (rickets, goiter or anemia), while excessive nutrient consumption results in metabolic syndrome – an umbrella term which includes obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol issues as medical issues.
Current nutrition research is seeing a major shift from traditional to “optimal nutrition,” encompassing not only nutrients in food products but also those which promote health improvement such as functional foods. This shift has given rise to Functional Foods (FF).
Nutritional science is a multidisciplinary field that draws knowledge from food science, physiology, biochemistry, medicine, public health epidemiology and the social sciences. Nutritionists utilize research results to formulate dietetic guidelines as well as provide personalized nutrition care.
Luke, Registered Dietitian and Sports Nutritionist from UCLA Health provides a brief video overview of optimal nutrition. Luke details five fundamental components for proper hydration including (1) Eating Schedule; (2) Key Nutrients; (3) Food Selection; (4) Portion Sizes and (5) Hydration.
Optimize Your Nutrition Achieing optimal nutrition requires maintaining a regular eating schedule throughout the day, which may involve either three square meals or six smaller meals throughout the day, depending on your lifestyle. What’s most crucial, though, is sticking to that eating plan with consistency.
Key Nutrients
Your nutritional requirements depend on several factors, including age, gender, activity level and other considerations; for instance, women of reproductive age require more iron than postmenopausal women. Nutrient requirement estimates used as guidelines for diet decisions of populations are known as Optimal Nutrient Intakes and established through scientific literature review and expert panel consensus.
Food Selection
In general, the ideal foods to eat are those high in vitamins and minerals but low in fat and sodium content. Furthermore, it is essential that people consume foods from all major food groups including whole grains, fruits and vegetables, lean protein sources such as olive oil or nuts as well as moderate amounts of dairy or meat (though any recommendations must be tailored accordingly for people with special medical/nutritional needs or allergies).
Hydration Drinking enough water throughout the day is vitally important, not only to keeping skin supple but also in terms of helping regulate appetite. Aim to drink 8-12 cups daily!
