nutrition basics

nutrition basics

Nutrition basics
healthy foods

Nutrition is the process by which your body gets energy and nutrients from the food you eat. So what are nutrients? There are six types of nutrients:

Proteins
About proteins
meats, poltry, fish, eggs, beans

Proteins (PROH-teens) are important substances found in every cell in your body. There are many types of proteins. Some help your cells get energy from the food you eat. Other proteins build up or repair your body. Proteins also help make your bones strong and help your muscles flex. There's even a protein inside your red blood cells that carries oxygen to every part of your body.

You can think of each protein as being like a long necklace with differently shaped beads. Each "bead" is called an amino acid (uh-MEE-noh ASS-ihd). Inside your cells, amino acids are strung together to form proteins.

Your body can make some amino acids but not others. When you eat meat and other animal products (such as milk, cheese, and yogurt), you get all the amino acids your body needs. That includes both the amino acids your body can make and those it can't make. For this reason, protein from animals is called complete protein.

When you eat foods from plants (such as beans or nuts), you're getting incomplete protein. It's incomplete because you're not getting all the amino acids your body needs. But one type of plant food will have amino acids that another type of plant food is missing. So to get complete protein from plants, you need to eat a variety of plant foods. For instance, if you eat both beans and brown rice, you can get complete protein. Or you can get complete protein by eating peanut butter on whole-wheat bread.
Good sources of protein

Fish and shellfish
Poultry
Red meat (beef, pork, lamb)
Eggs
Nuts
Peanut butter
Nut butters
Seeds
Beans
Peas
Lentils
Soy products (tofu, tempeh, vegetarian burgers)
Milk
Milk products (cheese, cottage cheese, yogurt)

Carbohydrates
About carbohydrates
breads, pasta, grains, rice, cereal

Carbohydrates (kar-boh-HEYE-drayts) are a type of substance found in food. Carbohydrates are the main source of energy for your body.

You're probably already familiar with one type of carbohydrate — table sugar. But there are also other types of sugars. They're found naturally in fruits, vegetables, and milk. Your cells can change all of these sugars into glucose (GLOO-kohss), or blood sugar. Your cells "burn" glucose for energy.

Another type of carbohydrate is starch. Starches are made up of a lot of sugars strung together. Starches are found in vegetables such as potatoes, peas, and corn. They are also found in breads, cereals, and pasta. Your body breaks starches down into sugars.

Dietary fiber is also a type of carbohydrate. Unlike starch, your body cannot break fiber down into sugars. But you still need to eat fiber to keep your digestive system working well. Foods high in fiber include fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, and seeds. Whole-grain foods (such as whole-wheat bread, oatmeal, and brown rice) are also high in fiber.
Healthy and unhealthy carbohydrates

Healthy carbohydrates include:

Natural sugars in fruits, vegetables, and milk
Starches in whole-grain foods, beans, peas, and corn
Dietary fiber

Unhealthy carbohydrates are those that raise your blood sugar level too much. The problem with having high blood sugar is that it can, over time, cause you to develop diabetes. Eating too much table sugar can do that. So can eating too much of other sugars that are added to foods. You can tell if something has added sugars by looking at the ingredients list on the package or soda can. Look for terms such as:

Corn sweetener
Corn syrup
Fructose (FRUHK-tohss)
High-fructose corn syrup
Dextrose (DEK-strohss)
Glucose
Lactose (LAK-tohss)
Maltose (MAHL-tohss)
Sucrose (SOO-krohss)
Honey
Sugar
Brown sugar
Invert sugar
Molasses
Malt syrup
Syrup
Fats
butter, oil, and shortening

Fat sounds like something that you shouldn't eat. But your body needs some fat to grow and work well. Your body uses fats to make substances that it needs. Also, like carbohydrates, fat is a source of energy.

There are three major types of fat in food:

Unsaturated (uhn-SACH-uh-ray-tid) fats are found in olive oil, peanut oil, canola oil, nuts, and avocados. "Fatty" fish — such as salmon, herring, and mackerel — are also a source of unsaturated fats.
Saturated fats are found in red meats (such as beef, pork, and lamb) and animal products (such as butter, cheese, and all milk except skim). Saturated fats are also in palm and coconut oils. These oils are often used in ready-made cakes and cookies, as well as crackers.
Trans fats are found in stick margarine and in fried foods, such as doughnuts and french fries. Like saturated fats, trans fats are often found in ready-made cakes and cookies, as well as crackers. When you see the words "hydrogenated" (heye-DROJ-uh-nay-tid) or "partially hydrogenated" in the ingredients list on the package, it means that the food contains trans fats.

Saturated and trans fats increase your risk of heart disease, stroke, and perhaps other diseases. To help prevent these diseases, most of the fats you eat should be unsaturated. But even with unsaturated fats, you should only eat them in moderate amounts. Eating too much of any type of fat can cause you to gain too much weight. And being overweight or obese can also cause health problems.

Vitamins

You have probably heard of vitamins. Your mother may have told you to drink your orange juice so that you get your vitamin C or to drink your milk so that you get your vitamin D.

But what are vitamins anyway? Vitamins are substances found in the foods we eat. They all have special jobs. Our bodies cannot make vitamins, so we need to get them by eating healthy foods or by taking vitamin pills. Most kids should be able to get all the vitamins they need by eating healthy foods. Vitamin pills cannot replace eating healthy foods.

There are 13 vitamins your body needs. Below is a list of the vitamins, some of what they do, and good food sources.
VITAMINS Vitamin Actions Sources
A

Needed for vision
Helps your body fight germs
Helps keep your skin healthy



Cereals fortified with vitamin A
Mango, cantaloupe, apricot
Green vegetables like spinach, kale, turnip greens
Broccoli
Carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, squash
Liver
Eggs
Milk fortified with vitamin A

B vitamins — B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B12, folic acid (FOH-lik ASS-ihd) or folate (FOH-layt), biotin (BEYE-uh-tin)


Help break down food to give you energy
Good for your nervous system
Help your body make red blood cells
Folic acid or folate prevents a type of birth defect



Whole grains, such as whole wheat and oats
Fish and seafood
Poultry and lean red meats
Eggs
Dairy products, like milk and yogurt
Leafy green vegetables
Beans and peas

C


Needed for healthy bones, blood vessels, gums, and skin



Citrus fruits, like oranges and grapefruit
Cantaloupe
Strawberries
Tomatoes
Broccoli
Cabbage
Kiwi fruit
Papaya
Sweet red peppers

D


Needed for healthy bones and teeth



Milk fortified with vitamin D
Fish
Egg yolks
Liver
Cereal fortified with vitamin D

Note: Your body can make enough vitamin D if you are in sunlight for about 10-15 minutes twice a week.

E


Protects cells in the body
Help your body make red blood cells



Whole grains, such as whole wheat and oats
Wheat germ
Leafy green vegetables
Egg yolks
Nuts and seeds

K


Helps your blood clot
Helps keep your bones strong



Leafy green vegetables
Dairy products, like milk and yogurt
Broccoli
Soybean oil

Note: Your body usually makes all the vitamin K you need.
Folic acid

foods with folic acidFolic acid, or folate, is one of the B vitamins. It gets special attention because getting enough folic acid during pregnancy before and during pregnancy lessens the chance a woman will have a baby with a type of birth defect called spina bifida.

It's never too early to start thinking about getting enough folic acid. All women who are at an age where they can become pregnant should get 400 micrograms (mcg) of folic acid daily. The best food source of folic acid is breakfast cereals fortified with folic acid. Other foods rich in folic acid include:

Oranges, orange juice
Green leafy vegetables, like spinach and mustard greens
Yeast
Cooked dry beans
Peas
Peanuts

You can also take a folic acid pill or a multivitamin that contains at least 400 mcg of folic acid.

Minerals

When you think of minerals, you might think first of things like silver and gold. Those are minerals, but some types of minerals are also found in food. Just like your body needs vitamins, your body needs minerals for growth and health.

There are two kinds of minerals in food: macrominerals and trace minerals. Macrominerals are minerals your body needs in larger amounts. Below is a list of the macrominerals, some of what they do, and good food sources.
MACROMINERALS Macromineral Actions Sources

Calcium (KAL-see-uhm)


Needed for making bones and teeth
Helps nerves and muscles function



Dairy products, such as milk, cheese, and yogurt
Canned salmon
Leafy green vegetables, such as Chinese cabbage, bok choy, kale, collard greens, turnip greens, mustard greens
Broccoli
Calcium-fortified foods — from orange juice to cereals and crackers

Chloride (KLOR-eyed)


Needed for keeping the right amounts of water in the different parts of your body



Salt
Rye
Tomatoes
Lettuce
Celery
Olives
Beef and pork
Cheese

Magnesium (mag-NEE-zee-uhm)


Needed for making bones and teeth
Helps nerves and muscles function



Leafy green vegetables
Nuts
Bran cereal
Seafood
Dairy products, such as milk, cheese, and yogurt

Phosphorus (FOSS-fer-uhs)


Needed for making bones and teeth
Needed for storing energy from food



Dairy products, such as milk, cheese, and yogurt
Red meat (beef, pork, and lamb)
Poultry
Fish
Eggs
Nuts
Peas

Potassium (puh-TASS-ee-uhm)


Helps nerves and muscles function
Needed for keeping the right amounts of water in the different parts of your body



Bananas
Broccoli
Tomatoes
Potatoes with skins
Leafy green vegetables, like spinach, turnip greens, collard greens, and kale
Citrus fruits, like oranges
Dried fruits
Legumes

Sodium (SOH-dee-uhm)


Helps nerves and muscles function
Needed for keeping the right amounts of water in the different parts of your body



Salt
Milk and cheese
Beets
Celery
Beef and pork
Green olives

Note: Many people get too much sodium.

Your body needs just small amounts of trace minerals. Below is a list of the trace minerals, some of what they do, and good food sources.
TRACE MINERALS Trace mineral Actions Sources

Copper (KOP-er)


Helps protect cells from damage
Needed for making bone and red blood cells



Shellfish (especially oysters)
Chocolate
Mushrooms
Nuts
Beans
Whole-grain cereals

Fluoride (FLOOR-eyed)


Needed for making bones and teeth



Saltwater fish
Tea
Fluoridated water (water that has had fluoride added to it)

Iodine (EYE-uh-dyn)


Needed for your thyroid gland to function properly



Seafood
Iodized salt (salt that has had iodine added to it)
Drinking water (in regions with iodine-rich soil, which are usually near an ocean)

Iron (EYE-ern)


Helps red blood cells deliver oxygen to body tissues (If you don't get enough iron, you could get iron deficiency anemia.)
Helps muscles function



Red meat, such as beef
Tuna and salmon
Eggs
Beans
Baked potato with skins
Dried fruit, like apricots, prunes, and raisins
Leafy green vegetables, such as spinach and turnip greens
Whole grains, like whole wheat or oats
Breakfast cereals fortified with iron

Selenium (sih-LEE-nee-uhm)


Helps protect cells from damage
Needed for your thyroid gland to function properly



Brazil nuts
Fish and shellfish
Red meat
Enriched breads
Eggs
Chicken
Wheat germ

Zinc (zingk)


Needed for healthy skin
Needed for healing wounds, such as cuts
Helps your body fight off illnesses and infections



Red meat (beef, pork, and lamb)
Legumes
Water
glass of water

Water plays lots of important roles in your body. For instance, the water in:

Blood helps red blood cells carry oxygen to all parts of your body
Your stomach and intestines helps digest your food
Urine helps your body get rid of waste products
Sweat helps keep your body cool

In fact, water makes up more than half your body weight. So it's important that you get enough water. But how much water is enough? There's no magic amount of water that teens need to drink each day. You should always drink when you're thirsty. And you need to drink more when it's hot or you're being physically active. A good rule of thumb is to look at the color of your urine. If it's light yellow, your body probably has enough water. If it's a dark yellow, you probably need more water.

Your body doesn't get water just from drinking water. Milk, juice, and soda all have water. It's better to drink milk or juice because soda has lots of added sugars and no other nutrients. You can also get water by eating fruits and vegetables. For instance, watermelon is loaded with water. So are peaches, plums, peas, lettuce, and tomatoes.

Sneak Attack on Supplements: FDA and Senator Durbin Use Slow News Day to Launch Attack on Supplement Industry
July 2nd, 2011 by Angela, Nutritionist

I am motivated to share this news release from the The Alliance for Natural Health USA
with my readers – the FDA is once again trying to prevent Americans from having access to supplements.

——–

Yesterday, both the FDA and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) dropped policy “bombs” on those of us who use dietary supplements. It is no mere coincidence that both were released on the Friday before a holiday weekend.
By timing the introduction of their anti-supplement legislation and regulatory guidance this way, the FDA and Sen. Durbin are both hoping to evade negative publicity. We think it is better to keep American citizens fully informed, and with your help, we will get the word out. Please send this communication far and wide.

First, the FDA has issued draft guidance for complying with the New Dietary Ingredient (NDI) notification protocols contained by the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA). As you may recall, DSHEA said that supplements already on sale prior to the passage of the act were “grandfathered” in, and did not have to be reviewed by the FDA. New supplements developed after the Act have been in a kind of limbo
waiting for the FDA to spell out the procedures to be followed.

These new supplements have always been at risk because of the uncertainly surrounding their regulatory status. And many of these new supplements are extremely important for our health. We won’t name them, because to do would be to put a bull’s-eye on them for the FDA to shoot at, but you would recognize many of them and may be currently taking them. DSHEA was passed in 1994. The FDA has thus taken seventeen years to provide regulatory guidance for these new supplements. Now a draft version of guidance is here, and it isn’t good. It is just another effort by the FDA to suffocate the supplement industry so that everything—supplements and drugs alike—will go through the vastly expensive drug approval process, a process that pays for FDA salaries. We have said it before and we will say it again. Supplements cannot usually be patented. No non-patentable substance can be taken through a drug approval process that on average costs a billion dollars. If supplements are treated like drugs, there simply won’t be any supplements. The FDA knows this perfectly well.

The new draft guidance is written in the usual regulatory non-English, but buried within it are definitions of “new supplements” that will make more and more supplements subject to the new rules. The rules themselves are designed to make it harder and harder to market new supplements, all of which will need to submit notification to an agency that is fundamentally hostile to the supplement industry. Not only does each supplement require its own notification, a separate notification must be submitted by each company that offers it. Additionally, notification must be submitted again if the supplement is reformulated in any way or offered in combination
with any other supplement or ingredient. Based on what the FDA has done in the past, many more applications will be rejected than accepted and the cost of the whole process will be high.

The FDA is required to give us 90 days to comment on their proposed guidance. Our experts are busy analyzing the proposal in all its detail and we will report on it again and provide an Action Alert in our next newsletter right after the holiday. We already know this needs to be stopped. With your help we will do everything we can to change it. Your ability to use supplements not already documented as having been on the market under
the same exact name and formulation prior to 1994 will depend on it.

As we mentioned above, Sen. Durbin’s much-feared Dietary Supplement Labeling Act of 2011 (S.1310) has been formally introduced in Congress. The language is not available online yet, but the draft procured by ANH-USA yesterday reaffirmed the analysis we sent you earlier this week. Look for our in-depth article and Action
Alert on S.1310 in our newsletter on Tuesday, July 5th!

The Alliance for Natural Health USA
1350 Connecticut Ave NW, 5th Floor, Washington, DC 20036