Nutrition and Disease

Nutrition and Disease

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“You are what you eat,” we hear this saying all the time. This is saying relates how you eat to how you look and feel. If you eat badly, your face make break out, you will feel sluggish, possibly have gastrointestinal problems, increase your risk for cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, diabetes, and more. When you eat healthy, you have more energy, you tend to be at a healthier body weight or at least working towards one, and you’re able to function throughout the day.  How we eat also affects how our body uses what we eat for energy.

Your body is just like a vehicle. If you don’t put enough fuel or the right fuel, you’re in for a lot of trouble down the road. Your body uses everything you consume for good and bad. For example,

The chronic diseases—heart disease, diabetes, some kinds of cancer, dental disease, and adult bone loss—all have a connection to poor diet. (Sizer and Whitney, 2017, pg. 3)

Let’s examine some of these chronic diseases a little further.  

  

Heart Disease

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Let me first start off by saying not all fats are created equally. We have what we call “good fats” and “bad fats.” Your good fats are unsaturated fats. These fats include monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fatty acids. These fats when eaten in moderation can lower cholesterol levels which can reduce your risk of heart disease. When there are high amounts of cholesterol in the blood, it can create plaque buildup in the blood vessels which can restrict blood flow or create a blockage. This can cause your blood pressure to increase or even a heart attack. Good fats can be found in avocados, vegetable oil, fatty fish such as salmon, olive oil and nuts.

 On the other hand, the “bad fats” – saturated fats and trans fats should be eaten sparingly to not at all. Saturated fats can be found in animals such as the chicken skin, dairy products that are high in fats and eggs. “"There is evidence that saturated fats have an effect on increasing colon and prostate cancer risk, so we recommend whenever possible to choose healthy unsaturated fats -- and always strive to be at a healthy weight," Doyle explains.” (Zelman, 2017) Trans fats, especially the artificial kind should be completely avoided. How do know if something has trans fats? Look at the label, do you see the words, “partially hydrogenated”?  If it does, avoid it like the plague. This “fake fat” can increase the bad cholesterol, LDL and decrease the good cholesterol, HDL.  Eating good fats reduce your risk for heart disease.

Type 2 Diabetes

There are two types of diabetes, Type 1 Diabetes, and Type 2 Diabetes. For now, we’re going to focus on Type 2 Diabetes because it has been proven that this type can be prevented and

even reversed through a proper diet and exercise. Type 2 Diabetes usually occurs in sedentary, overweight/obese individuals. “The extra weight sometimes causes insulin resistance and is common in people with type 2 diabetes.” (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2017).  Let me break this down, when you eat food your body breaks down the food into glucose which is what fuels the body. Glucose is a sugar. Now insulin is a hormone that is produced by the body to help your body use the glucose from carbohydrates as whether fuel or stored energy. Insulin also regulates your blood sugar. In Type 2 diabetes, your body becomes insulin resistant. This in turn has a negative effect on the body because now there is nothing controlling the blood sugar. Eating unhealthy, maintaining an unhealthy weight especially with a large waist circumference increase your risk for Type 2 Diabetes.

Malnutrition

Let’s switch the focus. We talked a lot about what you shouldn’t eat but now how much you should be eating. Unfortunately, on the other end of the scale, people are not eating enough nutrients in order for their body to function properly. People who suffer from malnutrition typically are low income, poor diet, mental health problems that can cause the person to become anorexic or bulimic, mobility problems which prevent the person from not being able to buy the right foods or prepare them, and digestive disorders or stomach conditions. Some people with weight loss surgeries like gastric bypass can cause malnutrition as well which is why it is important for them to take their vitamins and watch they eat.

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Being malnourished can cause problems with fertility, atrophy, longer recovery from wounds, infections, and illnesses, weakened immune system and fatigue.  (Nordqvist, 2016). It is important that what you consume is for your well-being, not your destruction. 

References

Nordqvist, C. (2016). Malnutrition: Causes, Symptoms and Treatments. Medical News Today. Retrieved 17 July 2017, from http//www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/179316.php

Sizer, F. & Whitney, E. (2017). Nutrition: Concepts and controversies (14th ed.). Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2017). Symptoms & Causes of Diabetes | NIDDK. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Retrieved 17 July 2017, from https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/diabetes/overview/symptoms-causes
Zelman, K. (2017). Good Fats vs. Bad Fats: Get the Skinny on Fat. WebMD. Retrieved 17 July 2017, from http://www.webmd.com/diet/obesity/features/skinny-fat-good-fats-bad-fats#1