Diet Nutrition
Calories Versus Nutrition
Calories are strictly neutral.
Meaning: from an energy viewpoint it doesn't matter whether you eat a
healthy 500 calorie meal (eg. meat, potatoes and vegetables) or two 250-calorie
candy bars. Both offer 500 calories worth of energy.
But energy/calories alone
will not keep you healthy - the calories you eat must contain sufficient
nutrition to maintain your organs and tissue in good health, otherwise
your well-being and energy levels will suffer.
For calorie details of 2500
Foods, see Calories
in Foods
What is Good Nutrition
A nutritious diet is a balanced
combination of foods that includes sufficient quantities of these 6 types
of nutrition. Carbs (including non-digestible fiber), fats, protein, vitamins,
minerals and phytochemicals.
Good Nutrition Means Eating
a Variety of Nutritious Calories
No one food (or food group)
contains more than a small percentage of the necessary nutrition to sustain
good health. Calories from good fats (or good carbs) may contain nutrition,
but not enough. To be sure of getting adequate nutrition you need to take
your calories from a wide variety of different foods. For this reason,
fat-free or carb-free diets are unhealthy and dangerous to health. Even
very-low-fat or very-low-carb diets are a health risk. It's no surprise,
for example, that the late Dr Atkins devoted so much space to vitamin
supplements in the Atkins Diet - after all, carbs are bursting with nutrition.
Nutrition, Vitamins and
Minerals
Few if any vitamins and minerals
work solo. Most need other vitamins and minerals to optimize absorption
and effectiveness. For example, calcium is very important for bones, and
iron is important for the healtyh of our blood. But without adequate vitamin
C, neither is truly effective. For optimum diet nutrition, we need a combination
of vitamins and minerals, and this is best obtained from a nutritious
balanced diet.
When Nutritious Calories
are Especially Important
A nutritious diet containing
calories from nutritious foods is especially important for: new Moms,
senior citizens and anyone suffering from ill-health or stress. Vitamin
supplements may also be beneficial for these population groups, in order
to boost diet nutrition and good health.
More Nutritional Information
About Foods
For more nutritional and
calorie information about foods, please see resources below:
Nutritional and calorie facts provided
for the above food groups include: vitamins, minerals, folate and dietary
fiber, as well as protein and carbs. Understanding diet nutrition as well
as calorie values makes weight loss easier and helps you to follow a healthy
diet.
Source: Diet
Nutrition Advice
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