There is no one cause of obesity; however, if you want to understand the causes so you can find the solutions to obesity it is important to stick to the basics. There are three over-arching factors that people can control that have a tremendous influence on how people become obese and what they can do about it. The factors are all found in each individual. Every one struggling with controlling their weight must understand they are at cause, meaning they cannot solve the problem by passing the reason for the obesity to someone or something else. They must become educated on the issue and most importantly they must take action!
The three principle factors causing obesity involve your diet, exercise, and psychological factors. If you want to lose weight you really need to address all three. In this article we will focus on the first of the three key factors, diet.
Nutrition, diet, and obesity
Americans have become obsessed with diets and dieting. Americans spend roughly 50 billion dollars annually on diet plans, products, nutritional supplements, herbal remedies, vegetarian products, and other health foods. To lose weight the simple answer is to consume fewer calories than you burn in a given day and to do that over time. To maintain your weight you need to consume the same amount of calories as you burn. If our goal is to be healthy how much you eat as well as what and when you eat does matter. The principles for having a good, healthy diet include maintaining or developing self-discipline to change behavior.
Wrong Goals for Diet Researchers
The author of Maximum Life Span, Dr. Roy L. Walford, believes that part of the problem of our nutrition education research has come from an inappropriate focus from members of the American Dietary Association, Food and Drug Administration, Department of Agriculture, and American Society of Nutrition to name a few. Dr. Walford claims that these scientists have focused on optimizing both maximum growth rate and ultimate body size, both of which reduce life span potential and increase the frequency and number of diseases. Isn’t it reasonable to conclude that Dr. Walford may be correct when we observe obesity and other weight problems in our general population? Research that focuses on increasing body mass has unintentionally led to weight problems and has done an injustice to a couple of generations.
Research from all over the globe shows that under-nutrition versus malnutrition is the only way to increase life span and improve health. There are many approaches to achieving this goal and among all of the approaches there are common principles that need to be adhered to.
Basic Nutritional Principles
If you dissect the information in nutrition education you can discover foundational principles. Regardless if you are looking at Natural Hygiene, Ayurvedic, Atkins diet, or a host of other diet information you will find a set of principles you can apply on your own to achieve improved health and longevity.
Your ultimate objective is to adopt a practical nutritional approach that will enable you to maximize your over-all well-being. Nutrition education will be crucial for you to achieve that objective. It needs to provide you with the knowledge to make good decisions that will lead to your ability to maintain a healthy weight while enabling your body to fight diseases. When you can eliminate disease you will increase both your life expectancy and quality of life. Your eating habits will have a significant impact in your ability to reach that goal.
Nutritional Principles
The diet programs we have researched have four foundational principles. The four nutrition education principles are: 1) what you consume 2) food combinations 3) time you eat 4) and moderation. They are all important to be in control of. When you understand the foundation and then become knowledgeable about specific nutritional details you will be in position to adopt a practical, life-changing, approach to your diet.
What you eat is important!
The human body is made up of minerals. To maintain health everyone needs to have vitamins and minerals in their diet. Nutrients that will fight free radicals are another necessity. Many people believe that the Western world’s current lifestyle and industrialization have caused an increase of free radicals in our bodies. While free radicals have increased, natural free radical destroying antioxidants have become more scarce in our diets and preventative medical care. Improving your personal nutrition education is one important factor to battling this particular health issue. Symptoms of aging like wrinkling skin, graying hair, hearing loss, eyesight degeneration, have all been connected to the presence of free radicals and or mineral deficiencies in your body. These same deficiencies in our diet have been connected to killers like heart disease and cancer. You need to consume over 90 nutrients to maintain you ideal health. These minerals, vitamins, amino acids, and fatty acids we need have traditionally come from plant sources.
We want to get these 90 nutrients as well as antioxidants into our system when we eat. If we aren’t getting those through our regular diet than we should take supplements to get them. You will find lots of information about “super” foods high in antioxidants. Antioxidants fight free radicals, which cause damage to our cells, so you will need antioxidants in your diet. You will need to become educated about what you eat and how you can get these nutrients.
While it is important to get antioxidants into your diet current research has shown that without redox signaling molecules the antioxidants do not function. These molecules are naturally produced by our cells but because our cells are often under stress the production of these molecules can be hindered. It is possible to supplement your natural production of these molecules. Your diet then will want to contain all of those components. To get all these nutrients you should eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. A good goal is to have 2/3 of your diet fruits and vegetables.
By having your diet about 2/3 fruits and vegetables you will be eating foods that are high in nutrient rich water. We need water; our bodies are about 2/3 water and we benefit by having plenty of water in the very foods we eat. It would be best if the fruits and vegetables were organically grown and eaten raw or lightly steamed. When we cook vegetables many important enzymes are destroyed. It is best to lightly steam them to maintain the best nutritional value.
We really do not know how the nutrient rich water we get from fruits and vegetables will benefit us. We discover new things regularly. We do know that when we eat plants in their natural form we are maximizing the benefits God intended for us. We also know that cultures with diets that consist largely of fruits and vegetables do not have obesity problems as a culture. That alone should tell us something.
Good nutrition education will educate you on the value of eating whole grains. Bread has been a staple of healthy eating in every culture throughout history. Jesus made numerous references relating the word of God to the bread for the soul. Ancient breads were made from whole grains. When buying bread buy whole grain bread or learn to make it yourself. Eating bread does come with a warning however. Many, if not most, commercially made breads, even whole wheat bread, is converted into sugar in our bodies. Sugar is not something we want lots of in our bodies. There are breads that are better than others. Learning which ones is important. Also, if you follow principle number 4 you will be in good shape.
Food Combinations Can Make a Difference
Natural Hygiene and Ayurvedic traditions discusses the importance of Proper food combining although they do it differently. Food combining is a nutritional principle that is not without controversy. The general idea from natural hygiene is based on the fact that our digestive system uses either acids or bases to digest food. Acids are secreted to digest protein while bases are secreted for starches. When we eat foods heavy in both starches and proteins both acids and bases cannot work together to digest the food so digestion takes longer. The food not being digested first will begin to decay in the stomach causing gas and other stomach ailments. Is it any wonder antacids are one of the highest selling pharmaceutical products in this country? If people who have these stomach ailments would simply begin to pay attention to the foods they are combining the need for these remedies would be drastically reduced.
There is more and more research linking poor digestion to onset of disease. One way we can improve digestion is to avoid meals consisting of starches and proteins – meat and potato. It is true that some people are affected to a greater extent than others. Ayurevedic tradition refers to three basic body types with one of the descriptors for each type dealing with the ability to digest food. People who have strong digestive systems presumably would be less impacted by eating protein and starch meals while those with weaker digestion would have more problems associated with improper food combining.
Ayurevedic traditions teach properly combining tastes. There are four basic tastes: sweet, sour, bitter, and salt. According to their tradition each of these need to be balanced. If we are not properly balancing and combining foods with these tastes diseases or health problems arise. Proper food combining then should include being aware of what happens to your body when eating starches and proteins together as well as thinking about how you include balancing tastes amongst these food categories.
Properly combining fruit is another component of proper food combining. Fruit is one of God’s great nutritional gifts. It is the food with the highest water content and is loaded with vital nutrients and antioxidants. Fruit for many people causes gas and indigestion. Far too often it is because they are consuming the fruit after or during a meal. Fruit tends to break down quickly and pass through to the intestines. When there is other food in the stomach the fruit tends to rot in the stomach instead of quickly passing through to the intestines. Over time this rotting food in a person’s digestive system creates an environment for diseases to develop. Fruit should be eaten throughout the morning hours or as snack food and generally avoided as an appetizer or dessert.
Research is showing that it is better for us to eat more often with protein every meal. Research has also indicated that carbohydrates are best consumed after physical activity not before. Now, if we are to consider properly combined foods and still have protein, fruits, and or vegetables with every meal we can use some common sense.
Pay attention to what happens in your body when you combe carbohydrates and lean proteins. If you find it causes gas and indigestion do not eat protein with that meal. Instead get it later or possibly in a different form. We would also suggest you be sure you eat fruit on an empty stomach and in about 15 minutes have a more substantial meal. Pay attention to what your eating habits are and how you feel after eating. Experiment. Traditional nutrition education doesn’t teach this.
When to eat
Another principle concerns when to eat. There are two thoughts here that some may say are incongruent. One is the thought that we should be eating about five meals per day even if that includes eating around bed time. The other idea involves the understanding that our bodies go through cycles that includes digestion and eliminating the waste. The theory with that idea is if we eat during the elimination cycle our bodies cannot function optimally and we do not properly eliminate our wastes. If we analyze these schools of thought we can find middle ground by generally not eating after 8 p.m. or before 8 a.m., unless it is fresh fruit.
As you continue on your life-long learning path any one of the recommended courses at Physical Education Institute will be of great value. As an educated individual it is important to remember these ideas presented here are general principles not nutritional laws. You should try to keep from breaking these principles no more than 10% of the time, but many of you will probably be around 20%. You should keep striving to follow them as much as possible and set the bar high for yourself. If you do break the “rules” 20% of the time you will still have improved your health. This nutrition education curriculum with all its details should be taught to our children.
Moderation
One of the important principles in life is the principle of moderation. It certainly applies to our dietary habits. It cannot be overemphasized that it is very important to not over eat. For many people food can be so enjoyable it can be difficult to eat in moderation. If you can simply apply this one principle the results managing weight would be dramatic for many people. Moderation does mean watching both what you eat and how much you eat. You can get away with eating “junk” foods in moderation. You also need to watch the amount you eat, particularly as you begin to eat more often. The number of calories you consume will impact your weight so you do need to become aware of your caloric intake. That does not mean you must weigh out all the foods you eat and count your calories. You should become aware of the calories you consume to have a better idea of what you may need to do to control your weight.
The above principles have been gleaned from many different diet and nutrition related books. They are not hard and fast rules. If you follow these principles and further educate yourself that will ensure you are doing what is right to care for your own health. Think like a scientist and pay attention to what happens with your body as you apply these principles. Then you can make appropriate adjustments to maintain your well-being!
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