Nutrition and your health

I have dedicated many of my weekly columns to nutrition. The reason I do this is because the largest segment of our health and fitness is based on what we eat. For those of us who understand this, we put a solid emphasis on eating right every day.

As the general population becomes more aware of the importance of nutrition, we are slowly turning our overall health footprint around as a culture. But how did we get here into a culture of fast foods and highly refined and processed food products? Some researchers have placed the beginnings of this shift back to the introduction of agriculture and animal husbandry. The need to preserve our food supplies for longer shelf life and simplify food preparation was developed at lightning speed in the late 1800s.

This push into food industrialization fundamentally altered a number of key nutritional characteristics from our hunter/gatherer roots. One of the first changes to our food supply was the increased use of sugars. This aspect of increasing our daily glycemic load nutritionally has created many health issues. Then the more refined foods became, we lost macronutrient composition and reduced our fiber content. Later as the development of processed foods became more advanced, our foods started to see hydrogenated fats and trans fats alter the type of fatty acid compositions we consumed.

All these significant changes to our ancient primal nutrition has certainly had a direct and negative effect on our overall health leading to many of the chronic diseases we see today.

So how do we get back to our Neolithic beginnings with nutrition? With the abundance of food, culturally many of us eat for comfort or out of habit. A large number of us define our eating habits based on dieting for weight loss or to address health issues like diabetes or food allergies such as gluten.

Building a nutrition program that is healthy and addresses our health or fitness goals is a very important first step in developing a personal nutrition strategy. Like our ancestors who ate foods based on geographic location or seasonal resources, these goals will vary widely from person to person, depending on the season and where you live. The only way to reach your desired results is with a nutrition program that truly fits you, your local market's food selection and, of course, lifestyle.

The next key aspect falls into the discipline category. Having some level of discipline when it comes to your eating habits can be one of the most daunting health challenges you face. There are people who do very well at controlling what they eat, like sweets or fast foods. Then there are folks who have the very best intentions to eat healthy, but no matter how hard they try just can't pass on the cookies or that quart of ice cream. This one aspect can be the biggest killer to good nutrition and a major factor in why roughly 98 percent of all diets fail within the first few months.

Another area that affects all of us is the unique nutritional requirements each of us have due to activity levels. These are based around fueling for our various lifestyle activities. Whether we are sedentary and require little in the way of fueling or highly active with high nutritional demands, no one has the same nutritional footprint. Unfortunately, many fitness and nutritional programs are somewhat canned one size fits all, so most of them do not adequately address your individual needs.

The other aspect tied to this is the fact that your activity levels are not constant. Your caloric intake needs must adjust and match your current activity levels. Balancing nutritional requirements with your unique activity levels is a major component to properly find your nutritional niche and optimal health.

Here are some basic guidelines that if followed constantly will give you a great foundation with your nutrition. These aspects are standards that apply to each and every one of us.

1. Move at least 50 percent of your food source to whole foods. If it's natural, fresh and raw it will have a positive impact nutritionally.

2. Reduce your sugar intake! Sugar is addictive!

3. The importance of micronutrients, "If it fits your Macros," is an interesting approach to eating whatever you want as long as you meet your micronutrient needs.

4. The merits of fasting as it relates to health and nutrition. Fasting can be a powerful tool for a balanced nutritional program.

Our habits and choices around nutrition can become the foundation to our long-term health and fitness. Understanding which direction each of us should take with nutrition can be difficult. Shedding some light on a few key areas should give you a pretty good road map on how to get started with a nutrition plan that best fits your body's unique requirements.

Judd Jones is a director for the Hagadone Corporation.