What Is Nutrition: Poison or Nourishment

What is Nutrition? A Question Worth Asking These Days

What is nutrition? This question may seem trivial to pique your curiosity, but seriously, it’s a very important question to ask these days: “What is nutrition”? In fact, it may be the right time for you to know what is nutrition and what it means in your life. Nutrition, as we generally describe it, is the required supply of food needed by both human and animal cells to stay alive, regardless of the type of food consumed, and the way the food is consumed. As you may know it, there are good and bad nutrition and the way you nourish your body depends on the type of diet you maintain – high-fat, low-carb, fruits and vegetables, etc. Your diet shows in your health.

Being aware of what is nutrition in your everyday life is very important in determining whether you should maintain it or change it completely. Defining your own view of what is nutrition is a primary but essential step in deciding the right nourishment for you. It is a fact that living a healthy lifestyle requires good nutrition and enough physical exercise to keep the body fit and strong. If you aren’t convinced that you are healthy enough, you can always choose to change your lifestyle.

What Is Nutrition These Days?

Surely, you can choose to eat fruits and vegetables, which are the number one sources of essential nutrients. However these days, you cannot always be certain that these foods are safe for eating. Again, what is nutrition for you? If you think that eating a balanced diet is a complete answer, think again!

The 21^st century is not only an era of innovation. It’s also a time when the global economy took a downturn, which has changed the lives of many people across the world. One of the most devastating manifestations of a bad economy is the mass production of food products that are sold cheaply in the market. The worst thing about this is that it increases the use of pesticides on agricultural products to mitigate pests and increase yield.

Studies put the use of pesticides at fault in the increasing eco-disaster that is first noted in the disappearance of bee colonies. According to the special report of WDDTY (What Doctors Won’t Tell You), research shows that, “Pesticides sprayed on crops and plants were causing DNA damage and affecting the bees’ ability to navigate.” However, the horror doesn’t stop there. The meta-analysis of more than one hundred studies shows that, “People who are in regular contact with pesticides and solvents – like gardeners and farmer workers – are far more likely to develop Parkinson’s, the neurological disease. Depending on their level of exposure, some people were 80 per cent more likely to suffer from the disorder.” Over the years, the use of herbicides and insecticides sprayed on farm crops, rose bushes, parks and verges were proven to cause cancer like prostrate, brain tumour, and leukaemia among children as well as arterial damages and birth defects.

Clearly, eating foods that have been sprayed on with pesticides is dangerous to your health. So what is nutrition? Poison or nourishment? The good news though is that you have a healthy and safer option to this and that is organic foods. However, the power to totally protect you and your family against these threats depends on your will to act on it.

The Dangerous Effects of Pesticides on Human Health

Children are most vulnerable to the effects of these pesticides. For one, their internal organs are still in the developmental stage and their metabolic, enzymatic, and immune systems provide less protection against harmful chemicals at this stage. Many pesticides are endocrine disruptors; hence they interfere with the normal production of hormones, causing a range of chronic conditions to ensue, especially in developing foetuses. But aside from birth defects and arterial damages, exposure to these toxins may cause children to suffer from:

•  Leukaemia
• Brain Cancers
• Autism
• Cognitive Impairment
• Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD).

Aside from the above-mentioned diseases, adults may also suffer from:

• Alzheimer’s
• Cancer
• Peripheral Arterial Disease
• Asthma
• Reduced visual ability
• Uncontrollable or altered behaviour
• Memory loss
• Hormone disruption.

Organic vs. Conventionally-Grown Food Products

Organically-grown agricultural products are farmed using natural farming methods like biological pest control, green manure and crop rotation among others. On the other hand, conventional farming uses synthetic pesticides and herbicides on crops to ensure high volume of yield. Although the difference between these two farming techniques are not always visible on the end products, research has proven that the use of pesticides incurs damages to ecological balance and to human beings, causing them to suffer from deadly diseases.

Organic Food: Your Healthiest and Cheapest Choice of Food

Organic foods are your healthiest choice for two reasons: they have fewer pesticides and they have more nutrients.

Organic farmers are allowed to use chemical sprays. However, these are derived from natural sources and not synthetic unlike the ones used in conventional farming. Pesticides, if they aren’t systemic, they can be absorbed into fruits and vegetables; washing doesn’t get rid of the trace residues in the food. Imagine if you are eating foods that have absorbed the toxins of synthetic pesticides.

As far as nutrients are concerned, a study conducted by Newcastle University in the United Kingdom reports that organic crops have 40% higher levels of some nutrients like zinc, vitamin C, and iron compared to its conventional counterparts. Additionally, according to the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, organically grown corn and berries contain 58% more polyphenols. These are anti-oxidants that help in preventing cardiovascular diseases. Corn and berries also have up to 52% higher levels of vitamin C compared to conventionally-grown ones. Alyson Mitchell, Ph.D., an associate professor of food science and technology at the University of California, explained that the reason why organic crops have more nutrients is in soil fertility. She said, “With organic methods, the nitrogen present in composted soil is released slowly and therefore plants grow at a normal rate, with their nutrients in balance. Vegetables fertilized with conventional fertilizers grow very rapidly and allocate less energy to develop nutrients.”

Why Does Organic Food May Be Your Cheapest Choice?

It is true that organic foods are more expensive than their conventional counterparts because growing them requires more labour and expensive materials to process natural fertilizers and pesticides. However, since they are safer for eating and more nutritious, you will less likely to get sick from what you eat and you become healthier. This also means you don’t have to spend money on medical bills, which is really expensive these days and you spend more time healthy which is, let’s face it, priceless.

Also, you can conveniently subscribe to an organic delivery scheme, which helps you save time from grocery shopping as marketing studies on consumers behaviour prove that we have tendency to buy unnecessary items in a bigger supermarket. What is nutrition? It should be the medicine that fuels your body, so you make sure that you’re eating the right kind of food every day. It doesn’t make sense to get sick from what you eat and spend more money on hospital bills.

Start living a healthier life. Redefine the meaning of what is nutrition for you!