Showing posts with label whole body health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label whole body health. Show all posts

Sunday, April 10, 2011

You Are What You Eat

We’ve all heard the phrase “you are what you eat”. It’s a popular phrase in that it does hold some truth to it. The foods we eat contain a wide variety of essential and nonessential nutrients, as well as other substances that can affect our body functions.

There are six classes of nutrients known to be essential for human beings. They are carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals, and water. Our body needs all of these nutrients to maintain healthy functioning. Without sufficient or balanced intake of any of these vital nutrients, disease can develop.

Our body is constantly changing. We are not the same person we were a month ago. Although we may look the same and don’t notice any change, the substances that make up the tissues and organs of our body are continually changing. We tend to think of tissues such as bones, the heart and blood vessels, and nerves as being solid and permanent, but they are in fact in a constant state of renewal. How incredible is it that all of the cells of the skin are replaced every month, or the cells lining the intestinal tract are replacing themselves every 1 to 3 days. How about taste cells rejuvenating every 7 days, and red blood cells turning over every 120 days. Wow, isn’t the body remarkable!