optimal nutrition is at the foundation of good health and can play an essential part in supporting growth. Furthermore, it boosts immunity and lowers your risk of chronic diseases.
Nutrition plays an essential role in providing energy to every system within your body, from complex carbs, lean proteins, healthy fats and minerals like Vitamin C. This fuels every system from your head down.
Strengthens Bones and Muscles
Your body relies on nutrients for proper functioning. Achieing optimal nutrition involves eating foods rich in the right vitamins and minerals that give your cells energy they need for efficient function, while at the same time helping maintain a healthy weight to reduce chronic health conditions and disease risks.
Your bone and muscle health rely on adequate intake of certain essential nutrients such as calcium, vitamin D and protein. These substances help build strong bones while supporting strong muscles all throughout your body; in turn preventing osteoporosis or fragility fractures later on.
An eating regimen rich in essential vitamins and minerals can promote optimal bone and muscle health at any age. Your orthopedist can assess your nutrition profile to see if anything needs to be added or subtracted from it; perhaps vitamin D supplements might be suggested, which boost immunity, promote wound healing, as well as helping your body absorb calcium more easily.
Boosts Immune System
Immunity is critical to protecting ourselves against infections and diseases, so optimal nutrition – specifically diets high in vitamin C, zinc, selenium, iron and protein – can support its function and growth of immune cells.
As part of a COVID-19 pandemic, it’s crucial to stockpile nutritious food. While no diet or supplement can fully protect against infection with the virus, eating foods rich in immune-enhancing nutrients could strengthen natural defenses against it and help protect you against future attacks.
Foods rich in beta-carotene are great sources of vitamin A. Our bodies convert beta-carotene into this fat-soluble nutrient to support white blood cell activity against infection. Diets rich in vegetables and fruits also contain water-soluble vitamin C which has been shown to strengthen immunity; citrus fruits, strawberries, kiwis and red bell peppers all contain an abundance of this water-soluble nutrient which supports immune cells as well as white blood cells (phagocytes). (14)
Enhances Digestive System
Reaching optimal nutrition is an integral component of maintaining a balanced diet that includes lean meats, fruits and vegetables, grains and healthy fats. Achieve optimal nutrition can also help your digestive system operate more efficiently and may prevent conditions like IBS.
Nutrition research has evolved beyond simple nutrient deficiency indicators to include functional markers with greater impact on disease risk. Yet defining optimal nutritional status for any particular nutrient remains challenging.
Eat a balanced diet rich in all of the essential nutrients for optimal health. Combine this approach with regular exercise and other healthy lifestyle habits like quitting smoking or excessive alcohol consumption, and it can help you reach your wellness goals more quickly. When your body has adequate fuel it can heal more quickly from illness or surgery as well as protect itself against chronic health conditions and boost its immunity more efficiently.
Improves Mental Health
Diet is widely recognized to play an essential role in mental wellbeing. Nutritional psychiatry explores food and supplements as possible solutions for treating mental disorders.
Diets containing lean proteins, whole grains, leafy vegetables, fruit, healthy fats (olive oil and nuts are ideal) and probiotics have been proven to increase mood and decrease depression risk. Diets high in refined sugars, excess sodium or lack of fresh produce may have detrimental effects on both physical and mental wellbeing.
Mental illness often depletes essential B vitamin levels, as the brain needs these building blocks for producing serotonin-regulating neurotransmitters that regulate mood. Vitamin B6 and B12 deficiencies are especially susceptible; thus ensuring you consume whole foods while cutting out processed sugars is the best way to foster mental wellness.
