Hippocrates once said: ‘Thy food shall be thy cure’, and perhaps he was on the right track. The quality of your life can depend on the quality of your food. Some foods, or lack of them, can cause diseases; others prevent them. A sensible diet may add years to your life. There’s no doubt, diet has an influence. Food is not a preventive nor a cure for all human diseases, but more is being learned about the interaction of food on health, and how much is needed to give a full and happy life span. Sometimes the only difference between a healthy person and a sick person is the food eaten. When poorly nourished and abused, your body gets out of order, you can get sick, and might age and die needlessly prematurely. There’s still much you can do for yourself with preventive health practices and better nutrition. It’s a combination of the right living habits, the right food and ways of preparing food, knowing which foods to avoid and which supplements may be needed. For fitness and the longest life span, you need a lifetime concern for good nutrition. But it’s never too late to start on a programme of self-improvement, with the key points being: moderation in quantity, attention to ‘quality, and especially a variety of items from the four main food groups – milk and milk products; fruits and vegetables; breads and cereals; meat, fish, poultry, eggs or beans. As no individual item contains all the nutrients you need, an assortment of whole food makes for better health.
As a mother, you probably feel your family’s needs come first, and urge your youngsters to drink their milk or fruit juice and eat their vegetables, but make sure you too have your proper share of these foods.
Frequently, young people as well as the elderly, have to work with a limited budget for food. You may be bored with food and its preparation, or be in a hurry, or have little appetite, especially if you are living on your own. You may have difficulty chewing because of poor teeth or ill-fitting dentures, or have problems of indigestion. Or it may not be easy for you to get to the shops if you live some distance away from them, so you may not have much fresh food and choices may be limited or unwise. As years go by, you are probably less active and need fewer calories, but every calorie has to provide good sound nutrition and really count. There’s little room for the ‘empty calories’ in fats, sugars and alcohol. Each day can make different demands on your body and the nourishment it needs, with varying levels of activity, days of stress and days of relaxation.
For determining good bone health, it is crucial to consume sufficient calcium, largely found in dairy products, especially during adolescence and young adulthood, and to have the right ratio of calcium to other foodstuffs. In Yugoslavia, a study of women’s bone mass was conducted in two villages in regions of the country with different eating habits, one group consuming twice as much calcium as the other. In the village where calcium consumption was high, the women’s bones were definitely stronger at skeletal maturity, and fewer fractures were suffered by the elderly. It has been found that women with osteoporosis have generally had poor nutrition, with less calcium, or have had difficulty in absorbing it from their food. As we grow older, it can become more difficult to absorb calcium. Later on, you will read of the different foods that are calcium-rich and the role played by vitamins.
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