diet

Youth, it is said, is wasted on the young. Young people are so busy figuring out their lives that they hardly take the time to enjoy them. Fortunately, with medical research and scientific progress, lifespans have doubled over the last century. We can now start life at fifty and have another go at youth. Health consciousness, appropriate diet and exercise can make the later years of life a pleasant experience. Dietary principles play an especially important role in this regard. Compensating for the physiological changes of aging, they can give us better odds at achieving our genetically determined lifespans.

There are always various myths that surround nutrients and diets, some that have been quickly laid to rest and some that have been a little harder to shake. There are countless studies that are done each with different theories and different models of research. There are countless ways to perform a research study and countless ways to interpret the research findings. You can even skew numbers to fall your way if you so desire, so it is always very important to keep that in mind. Why would research be done to get a particular result? There are many reasons:

Huntington’s disease is a rare, hereditary disorder which results in progressive degeneration of the brain. While it can strike at any age at all, the typical age for onset is between 30 and 50. It is estimated that there are around 30,000 cases in the United States and as many as 150,000 other people may be at a 50% risk of developing the disease. (Source: Sarason and Sarason 2005).

Many people think that when they go on a diet of any kind, they will have to give up food that tastes good. Actually, there are all kinds of delicious foods that can be enjoyed by dieters. This is also true for people who are on high protein diets.

In a study released by the Vegetarian Times, approximately 3.2 percent of the people in the United States, or roughly 7.3 million people, follow a vegetarian diet. Of those people, approximately 1 million follow a vegan diet, where they consume no animal products whatsoever (Source: Vegetarian Times). For persons choosing to follow a vegetarian diet, it is a lifestyle choice where they abstain from all meat, but can still consume animal products such as milk, cheeses, and butter.

Osteoporosis is a general decrease in peak bone mass which may be a part of normal aging in most cases, however, the actual bone loss can lead to fragile and easily broken bones especially in the wrists and hips. It affects women more often than men with about of American women suffering from some level of osteoporosis to some degree. It only affects 1/8 of men.

There is often great debate over whether or not vegetarians and vegans get enough protein. There are different types of vegetarians, just as there are different types of proteins. For instance, a flexi-tarian is a vegetarian who may occasionally eat meat, typically fish. An ovo-lacto vegetarian is one that does not eat meat of any kind, at any time, but does eat dairy foods and eggs because they do not require killing the animal. A vegan is a person that does not eat or use any product made from or by any kind of animal. Many parents are bewildered when their teens come home and announce that they are going to become vegetarians and may worry that they are not getting enough nutrition with their newfound diet. As long as they are getting enough variety in the foods that they eat, their protein, calcium and other nutrient intakes are surprisingly healthy.

The body relies on three macronutrients: protein, carbohydrates and fat, as well as many micronutrients. Unlike carbohydrates and fats, protein is not easily stored in the body, however, it will store protein just like the nutrients if there are too many calories consumed. Fat is the easiest to digest for the body. The body digests carbs based on what kind they are. Simple carbs are fast and easy to digest and lead to sugar spikes that can cause weight gain. Complex carbs, on the other hand, take longer for the body to digest and do not contribute to the sugar spike, insulin surge cycle.