Does it really matter what we eat? When it comes to staying healthy, one thing that always comes to mind is a healthy diet or optimal nutrition diet.
And then there are people who eat junk food, indulge in minimal physical activity and still manage to be in shape. So, is it their genes that help them stay lean? Or is it the composition of their gut microbiome, the microorganisms that live inside our stomach and intestines. Or are they just plain lucky people.
Does Diet Really Matter that Much?
Does it really matter what we eat? Let us try to answer this question by looking at different factors that affect our health. One of the factors that affect our health is indeed our age. As we grow old, we become less and lesser physically active. And if we keep consuming same amount of diet and do not use up the calories in any activity, they will eventually end up getting accumulated in our body.
The aging is also accompanied with gradual loss of muscle mass after we turn thirty which is a natural process that speeds up after age forty. The lesser muscle mass you have, the lower will be your metabolic rate, and the lesser will be the calories that your body can burn.
So, a younger person of twenty will not face the same consequences of having junk food as someone above forty even if they have same body weight and indulge in same level of routine physical activity.
Read more about Why a healthy diet matter
Do Genes Affect What We Eat?
It is indeed a fact that a very significant part of how and where we gain weight is because of genetics. Studies have shown that the contribution of genes that you have received from your ancestors could be 40% to as high as 70% in deciding your chances of being obese or healthy. However, the percentage of people who actually have a genetic mutation in their genes that can directly cause obesity is very low with some studies suggesting it to be about 5%.
Similarly, it is also a fact that thinness is also an inheritable trait through so called ‘lean gene’. And that might be the reason why your friend can eat whatever she wants and still not gain any weight, whereas you can end up gaining several kilos just by looking at those ‘Samosas’ and ‘Rasgullas’.
Factors that Decides Your Health Status Along with What we Eat
Two very important factors that have nothing to do with your genes or diet, but still matter a lot in deciding your health status are level of mental stress and your sleep patterns. Same diet and same level of physical activity can still end up in different outcome for your health compared to your friend if you don’t sleep enough or sleep too much, or if your lifestyle is too stressful.
Physical Activity and Meditation
Our daily physical activity level indeed has a great impact on our body weight and shape. It has been found that getting into a healthy shape is 70% about diet and 30% about physical activity. we should indulge in regular exercise to the extent where our body start burning fat.
It also must be a combination of different type of exercise like yoga, weightlifting, aerobics which will help you in reaching your weight goal. Relaxation exercise, meditation and yoga are also important to combat stress that has been shown to have a very adverse effect on health.
Sound Sleep
A good sleep will give a complete rest to your body, mind and refresh you for the next day activity. It also reduces stress, and help in proper detoxification process in the body while you are resting. Any metabolic disorder will also have a big impact on your body weight. Like thyroid problem, PCOS, Vitamin D deficiency can impact any gains expected even from a normal diet.
Quantity and Quality of Food
However the good part is that even if you can’t change your genes or reverse your age, you can actually do a lot by taking care of your diet. Food items that we eat to get energy for our daily work can keep us fit and healthy.
But you must understand that different food items can give you different amount of calories even if you eat them in exact same quantity. So, what matters is not only that how much calories we eat, but more important is from which type of food items we get those calories.
Body Metabolism
A very important factor is our metabolism rate which is where your genes play a crucial role. Your friend may need more calories just to maintain her weight and health because her metabolism is very fast.
On the other hand someone whose metabolism is slow will either need to intake less calories or do more physical activities, or do both to keep themselves fit and healthy.
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Eat More Fibre
Eating foods rich in fibre like whole grains, fruit and vegetables, seeds will give you a feeling of satiety and also help in avoiding overeating. More the fibre you eat, more time will it take in digesting the food, and longer it will be before you will start feeling hungry again.
Fat is also an essential part of our diet but should always be consumed in moderate amount, and should include more of polyunsaturated fats which come from seeds and nuts, and less of ‘ghee’ and ‘dalda’.
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Increase Your Daily Liquid Intake
Drink at least 8-10 glasses of water including plain water, lemonade without sugar, and green tea. These will help in clearing your digestive tract, keep your skin moist and healthy and also helps in weight loss. Enjoying what you eat is the key to stop overeating and also improves your nutrient absorption.
Read more about What should a healthy diet includes click the link.
Eat Slowly and Mindfully
Always eat mindfully and without any distraction. If your whole attention is on your food while you are eating, then you are more likely to eat less food then. Avoiding binge eating, having fixed timings of your daily routine of eating your meals will also help a lot.
Because eating too frequently, even if it is healthy food can also ruin all the gains expected from a healthy diet. Last but not the least, it is sometimes very important to track what you eat throughout the day. If you can keep a diary and note down everything what you are having and in what amount, it will give you a good idea what your body needs.
The Message We Got from Does it Really Matter What We Eat?
If you have bad genes and slow metabolism, then diet may not be the only factor that affects your health. And even if there is nothing you can do about your genetics, the fact is that do have choice to decide what and how much to eat. And there is a lot that a healthy optimal diet can achieve if you choose to have a healthy future life.
