Nutrition and health – Part 1

With the dimension the issue of health is taking today. Men everywhere are waking up to the truth of prevention is better than cure. We human beings are generally used to the curative approach to the issue of our health.

Nobody appreciates the serious and unwise implication of this approach. Apart from the fact that it is not cost effective especially where the health damage is serious the unfortunate thing is that the person concerned may even die after so much money has been expended.

Preventive approach to the issue of health is about the individual having at least a common sense understanding of what leads to ill-health, sickness and disease and how at his own level know what to do to forestall unpleasant health issues.

In this respect the truth is clearly coming to light that the origin of most of what we refer to as sickness, disease or ill-health has to do with our nutritional processes. It has to do with what we eat and drink.

Much as what we eat and drink give us pleasure, what most people don’t know about and which usually is the result of health discomfort is that, there might be an ignorance in the method and proportion of taking these nutrients that may cause more harm than the good we think we are deriving from them.

It is a fact of life that all living organisms need certain nutrients to survive. We experts will tell you that from the moment the egg is fertilised the organism concerned must take in certain substances suited to it to acquire energy, and make for the growth that must make it adapt successfully physically, mentally and emotionally to its environment. This applies to the human being too and we are particularly discussing the human being in this topic.

The basis of nutrition is food but there are subsidiary elements attached to food that demands that they should be given prominence in any discussion of this nature if we want to have a wholistic understanding of the issue of health.

Essentially human beings take food in order to get energy and materials that are needed for growth. It is essential to point out that growth is not just a matter of development.

Growth can be stunted. Stunted growth in itself is a condition of ill-health. A condition of growth that is not healthy. This is even more unfortunate when the stunted growth we are talking about concerns the issue of mental or mind development.

A human being in essence is what is found in the quality of his mind and you may be surprised the kind of role nutrition plays in the whole issue of mind development.

Food equally is essential to repair and replace cells that are deteriorating in the body. Those who know how to apply the right kind of food to their body are those who are masters in the preventive approach to the issue of health. They know that the right kind of nutritional intake protect the body against disease and ill-health.