Healthy Eating

• carbohydrates
• protein
• fats
• vitamins
• minerals
• fibres
• water

If your diet isnt balancd you will end up malnourished. This doesnt necessarily mean to be under weight, but it commonly is, it means to have a problem with your nourishment.

Ending up with defiency diseases is also common. Such as scurvy resulting from not enough vitamin C.

If we take in too much energy we get fat, but if we take in too little we get thin.

How much energy do you need?

The amount of energy you need to live depends on lots of different things.

The amount of exercise you do affects the amount of energy you use up. If you do little energy, you need little food. If you do lots of exercise you need lots of food. Your food supplies your muscles as they work.

Regular exercise means you are more fit than others.

The Metabolic Rate

This is the rate at which all the chemical reactions in the cells of the body take place. It varies from person to person.

The proportion of muscle ----> fat in your body effects your metabolic rate. Men generally have a HIGHER metabolic rate. You can change the proportion of muscle to fat in your body by exercising and building up more muscle.

Exercise increases your metabolic rate for a time even after you stop exercising.

BMI= body mass in kg

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( height in metres) 2

This compares your body mass to your height.

If you have a BMI below 18.5, or above 35, then you have some real health problems.

Obesity

If you take in more energy (food) than you use, the exess is stored as fat. Basically if you eat loads and dont do any exercise because your fat, ugly and lazy and have nothing going for you. whatsoever.

Body fat cushions your internal organs, and acts as an energy store for when you dont feel like eating. But too much can make you obese.

• Obesity can lead to: arthiritis (worn joints)
• diabetes (high blood sugar levels)
• high blood pressure
• heart disease.

Losing Weight

• Reduce energy intake by cutting back on biscuits, cake, crisps.
• Increase amount of energy by taking up more exercise.
• Or do both!

Starvation

• Becoming very thin and muscles wasting away
• Immune system cant work properly so you pick up infections
• If woman, periods become irregular or stop completely.

Many suffer from a mental disorder called anorexia nervosa.

Cholesterol

Fat is an energy rich food. So too much fat can easily make you over weight. It can also effect your cholesterol levels in your blood.

Cholesterol is a substance made in your liver and is carried your body in your blood. It helps make the membranes of your body cells, your sex hormonesand the hormones that help your body deal with stress.

High levels increase risk of getting heart disease or diseased blood vessels. They can even be blocked with cholesterol!

Controlling Cholesterol

The amount depends on two things:

• The way your liver works, inherited.
• Amount of fat in your diet.

Carried around your body by two types of lipoproteins:

• Low-Density lipoproteins are known as BAD cholesterol. Raised levels increase risk of heart disease.
• High-Density lipoproteins are known as GOOD cholesterol and they reduce risk of heart disease.

A balance of LDL and HDL give a healthy heart.

Types of Fat:

• Saturated Fats increase blood cholesterol levels. You find them animal fats like mean, butter and cheese.
• Mono-unsaturated fats seem to have two useful effects. Reduce your overall blood cholesterol levels and improve the balance between LDLs and HDLs. You find them in food like olive oil, olives, peanuts and margarines.
• Polyunsaturated fats are even better at reducing your blood cholesterol levels. You find them in corn oil, sunflower oil, margarines and oily fish.

Salt

Vital in our diet. Without it, our nervous system wouldnt work. For 30% of the population too much salt can lead to high blood pressure. This damages heart, kidneys and increase risk of stroke.

Fast foods are really bad.