Our society is conflicted! We want fast food and great looking bodies. We eat for entertainment and groan if we have to walk up a few flights of stairs. This incongruity has led to a societal obsession with nutrition and dieting, but what is the difference?
Nutrition is the study of food at work in our bodies, our source of energy, and the medium for which our nutrients can function. Nutrition is the building blocks of life and is just one key to developing and maintaining good health. Nutrition encompasses a whole range of areas including the utilization of food so the body can remain healthy, grow, repair and maintain its function. It deals with getting the proper amounts of nutrients from food and making smart food choices.
Diet typically refers to a food regimen designed to achieve a goal such as losing weight. However, diet really describes the food we eat in the course of a time period such as 24-hours, one week, or one month. From a health perspective, an ideal diet is a nutritional life-style that promotes good health. It must include several food groups because a single group cannot provide all the nutrients a human needs for good health.
The CDC estimates that up to 40% of deaths from the top 5 leading causes are potentially preventable. These top 5 causes include heart disease, cancer and stroke, which result from poor nutrition and other lifestyle choices in many cases. Nutrition is important because it is the foundation of a productive healthy life. This foundation starts while you are still in utero with the habits of your mother and continue from infancy, through childhood, adolescents, young adulthood and the rest of your life with making wise choices about diet and lifestyle.
Each developmental period has different energy and nutritional requirements. In addition, other lifestyle choices and health challenges may impact these nutritional needs. It is important to develop an understanding of proper nutrition and its components but recognize that individual needs will change over time and be prepared to adjust your diet to address these needs. The goal is to give your body exactly what it needs to meet the demands of life: more or less may contribute to the development of health issues over time. Remember the goal of good nutrition is to maintain a healthy body so you can function at the highest level possible.

I hope this article has provided you with information that will help you make wise choices, so you may:

Live healthy, live well and live long!