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Your Diet, Your Health
Nutrition is essential not only for life, but for a healthy life. Learn about the connection between what you eat and how you feel.
By Diana Rodriguez
Medically reviewed by Christine Wilmsen Craig, MD
We've all heard the old saying “you are what you eat.” And it's still true. If you stick to a healthy diet full of vitamins and minerals, your body reflects it. You feel healthy, energized, and just all-around great. However, people who limit their diet to junk foods will undoubtedly suffer the consequences of not giving their bodies what they need to thrive. The result is not only fatigue and low energy, but poor health as well. Understanding this clear connection between your health and your diet may spur you to make better dietary choices.
Your Diet and Your Health: What Your Body Needs
"Food is essential. People take it for granted, but we need nutrients," says Anne Wolf, RD, a researcher at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. Wolf cites as one example the old days when sailors crossed the ocean for months without proper nutrition. As a result, they ended up with scurvy because of a lack of vitamin C from citrus fruits. Vitamin C and other vitamins and minerals are necessary to keep all the different parts of the body healthy and functioning — otherwise, we get sick.
Every little thing that you do happens because of the nutrients that you give your body. Says Wolf, "Food gives us the fuel to think and the energy to move our muscles. The micronutrients, the vitamins, the minerals are there so that our bodies can function. You need food not just to sustain health, but to feel better."
And the only way the body will get the many nutrients needed to stay healthy and function is by eating a wide variety of healthy foods.
Your Diet and Your Health: The Guidelines
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's food pyramid and the daily food recommendations were established after extensive research and continue to be updated as
Nutrition is essential not only for life, but for a healthy life. Learn about the connection between what you eat and how you feel.
By Diana Rodriguez
Medically reviewed by Christine Wilmsen Craig, MD
We've all heard the old saying “you are what you eat.” And it's still true. If you stick to a healthy diet full of vitamins and minerals, your body reflects it. You feel healthy, energized, and just all-around great. However, people who limit their diet to junk foods will undoubtedly suffer the consequences of not giving their bodies what they need to thrive. The result is not only fatigue and low energy, but poor health as well. Understanding this clear connection between your health and your diet may spur you to make better dietary choices.
Your Diet and Your Health: What Your Body Needs
"Food is essential. People take it for granted, but we need nutrients," says Anne Wolf, RD, a researcher at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. Wolf cites as one example the old days when sailors crossed the ocean for months without proper nutrition. As a result, they ended up with scurvy because of a lack of vitamin C from citrus fruits. Vitamin C and other vitamins and minerals are necessary to keep all the different parts of the body healthy and functioning — otherwise, we get sick.
Every little thing that you do happens because of the nutrients that you give your body. Says Wolf, "Food gives us the fuel to think and the energy to move our muscles. The micronutrients, the vitamins, the minerals are there so that our bodies can function. You need food not just to sustain health, but to feel better."
And the only way the body will get the many nutrients needed to stay healthy and function is by eating a wide variety of healthy foods.
Your Diet and Your Health: The Guidelines
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's food pyramid and the daily food recommendations were established after extensive research and continue to be updated as