Balanced Diet or Going All Way Micro ?
To achieve a healthy lifestyle, you need to pay attention to what you eat. Balanced diet is very crucial in promoting good health. A balanced nutrition puts together macronutrients and micronutrients in the right proportions required by the body. Macronutrients are nutrients or chemical substances that are required in the body in large quantities while micronutrients are the exact opposite. This article is going to discuss the importance of one member of the micronutrients; the vitamins and supplements. Vitamins are organic compounds or substances found in plants, living things and animals.
A compound can only qualify as a vitamin if it cannot be synthesized in adequate quantities within the body of an organism. This calls for intake of vitamins through diet and vitamin supplements that helping bringing up the vitamins to the desired level. The main source of vitamins remains to be fruits and vegetables. Natural foods are also rich in vitamins. Eating fruits and some vegetable raw is the best way of getting these vitamins as heat is known to denature their chemical structure hence killing them. Therefore, for a diet to be termed healthy, it should incorporate large amounts of vitamins.
Vitamins are classified according to their solubility. There are fat soluble vitamins which include vitamins A, D K and E. The other 9 vitamins are classified under water soluble vitamins. The major difference between these two classes is that, the water soluble vitamins are not stored in the body while fat soluble can be stored within the body reserves. As the name would have it, water soluble vitamins are soluble in water while their fat counterparts are soluble in fats. This is the property that makes it possible for fat soluble vitamins to be stored in the body while excess water soluble vitamins are excreted through urine.
Different vitamins play different roles in the human body. It is important to also note that a vitamin may pay different roles in different organisms. For instance ascorbic acid may be vitamin C in human beings but a play a totally different function in a dog. Vitamin A is known for its role in vision, prevention of bone loss and maintenance of skin. In reproduction, Vitamin A holds centre spot and is also essential in breastfeeding.
Vitamin B-1 also known Thiamine is charged with the responsibility of transforming carbohydrates into energy within the cells. You would be walking around slumping were it not for Thiamine. Overdose of Thiamine causes muscle relaxation; too dangerous if you operate machinery.
Ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) plays an important role in the development of healthy gums and teeth. It is an antioxidant and promotes healing of wounds.
Vitamin D, the most abundant of all, as you can get it directly from the sun is charged with the responsibility of aiding absorption of calcium for better bone development.
Vitamin E is important in the synthesis of red blood cells, a major component of the blood. It is also important as an antioxidant which rids the body of impurities.
