MY BROTHERS KEEPER HEALTH CHALLENGE

•  What is Nutrition and Why Does It Matter?

Nutrition, aliment, or nourishment is the supply of materials – food – required by organisms to stay alive. Our food choices affect our health and this is why they say — we are what we eat.

Good nutrition forms an important part of a healthy lifestyle. Combined with physical activities, our diet can help maintain a healthy weight, reducing the risk of developing chronic diseases and promoting our overall health.

• What is the Impact of Nutrition on Your Health?

Millions of people are suffering from different forms of malnutrition. According to WHO, currently, in India, 1.9 billion adults are overweight or obese while 462 million are underweight. Among children, 52 million under-fives are suffering from wasting, where they have a low weight for height.

As mentioned earlier, nutrition is a critical part of our health and development. Malnutrition, in any form, poses threats to human health. Today the world faces a double burden of malnutrition that includes both undernutrition and overweight, especially in low- and middle-income countries.

Better nutrition is directly related to improved maternal, infant, and child health, better immune systems, safer pregnancy and childbirth, reduced risks of non-communicable diseases (like diabetes and cardiovascular diseases), and enhanced longevity. Healthier children learn better. Individuals who get adequate nutrition are usually more productive.

Thus, the link between good nutrition and healthy weight, lowered risk of chronic diseases, and overall health is too important to ignore. By taking steps to eat healthy, you’ll be ensuring that you have access the nutrients your body needs to stay active, healthy, and strong. As with physical activities, making small changes in your diet can go a long way, and it is easier than you think!

• How Can I Eat a Healthy Diet?

The easiest way to follow a healthy diet is to eat a balanced diet that fulfils all of a person’s nutritional needs. Humans require a certain amount of nutrients and calories to stay healthy. A balanced diet provides the nutrients an individual requires without crossing the recommended daily calorie count. According to WHO, the following are the keys to a healthy diet:

• Eat a variety of foods

Eating a variety of whole, unprocessed, and fresh food every day helps both children and adults to obtain the right amounts of essential nutrients. It also helps them avoid a diet that is high in sugars, fats, and salt that can lead to unhealthy weight gain (i.e. overweight and obesity) and acquiring non-communicable diseases.

• Eat a combination of different foods, including staple foods like cereals, such as barley, wheat, rye, or rice, or starchy tubers and roots such as potato, legumes like beans and lentils, vegetables, fruits, and food from animal sources like egg, meat, fish, and milk.