A balanced diet with plenty of water, vegetables, fruits and grains helps to prevent illnesses, including diabetes, gingivitis, liver cirrhosis, heart disease and some cancers. This health information will highlight the importance of nutrition and help you start and maintain a nutritionally sound diet. An understanding of how nutrition affects your body is a good way for you to Take Charge of Your Health.

Nutrition: a key to wellness
Nutrition is the science of food and other substances as well as the action, interaction and balance of different nutrients in the body. Your body's essential nutrients include carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals and water.

Good nutrition helps you to digest, absorb, metabolize and excrete properly. It helps balance within the body's functions that leads to homeostatis. It may prevent illnesses such as diabetes, gingivitis, liver cirrhosis, cardiovascular disease and some cancers.

On the other hand, bad nutrition from eating too many sugar, fat, protein and dairy products compared to complex carbohydrates leads to having less energy. It imbalances the body's functions that may lead to diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and cancers such as breast, ovarian and prostrate.

Food pyramid
Base your daily diet on the food pyramid, a model of nutritional eating and an updated version of the older nutritional model of the four food groups.

Fats and sweets
Limit your intake of sugars; they are empty calories without nutritional value.

Protein and dairy
Serve smaller portions: one serving should be two to three ounces (the size of a deck of cards) of cooked meat, protein or dairy products.

Fruits and vegetables
Include three to five servings of fresh vegetables per day, along with two to four servings of fresh fruit.

Grains, cereals, pasta and bread
Strive for 60 percent of your caloric intake, or six to 11 servings per day.

Water: the building block of life
To sustain proper health, drink six to eight glasses of water daily. Wake up to a glass of water, instead of a cup of coffee. Your body needs to be replenished after a night's sleep. When exercising, drink water before you feel thirsty. Recognize the signs of dehydration: headaches, fatigue and dryness of the eyes. Especially during airline travel, drink plenty of water and fruit juices and avoid alcohol and caffeinated drinks because they boost your body's dehydration rate.

Chiropractors advise their patients to include nutrition as part of an overall wellness package.
When patients eat primarily fruits, vegetables and grain products in their diet, they are making a healthy decision. The overconsumption of foods high in fat, cholesterol, refined and processed sugars, salt and alcohol increases the probability of suffering from cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and some forms of cancer.

Chiropractic and Your Health
Chiropractic is oriented toward preventive health care. Nutrition, rest, posture, exercise and periodic spinal adjustments add up to a healthy lifestyle. Taking responsibility for your health helps reduce the need for costly medication, surgery and/or hospitalization.

This text also available at the Palmer College of Chiropractic website.