What is the Connection Between Diet and Nutrition?

Diet and nutrition are two common health topics. Yet many people do not realize how closely connected they are. When a person speaks of her diet, she is generally referring to what she eats. When she speaks of her nutrition, she is generally referring to what she gets from the things she eats.

A health conscious person should consider diet and nutrition simultaneously. It is possible to have, plan, or maintain a diet without ever thinking of nutrition. Although this is not wise, it is commonly done. It is not, however, possible for a person to consider nutrition without thinking about diet.

When a person is on a diet, she is supposed to eat according to a plan. Even when a person does not have an eating plan, she still has a diet. It consists of everything she consumes, including solids and liquids. Food is a necessity, which means people must eat to stay alive. What they eat while they are alive determines how healthy they will be.

Whenever a person consumes something, whether by eating or drinking, her body tries to break it down and extract nutrients from it. Nutrients are components in food, such as minerals, fats and vitamins, which the body uses for tasks such as skin renewal, bone growth, and immunity. Nutrition has a direct impact on a person’s health. To be healthy, a person needs a wide variety of nutrients. If she does not get sufficient nutrients she may become malnourished and suffer adverse health consequences.

Diet and nutrition are connected because considering one without considering the other can be detrimental to a person’s health. Many of the prevalent health problems plaguing society are blamed on peoples’ diets. One reason that diets are having negative effects on health is because people often eat without thinking about nutrition.

The term “balanced diet” refers to eating habits where sufficient supplies of all necessary nutrients are consumed. It is important to realize that nutrition can be compromised by either taking in too much or too little of a nutrient. In some cases, people may eat sufficient portions of food but they may not be consuming sufficient amounts of nutrients.

When this happens it often results in deficiencies that lead to disease or weakening of the immune system, which make the body susceptible to infections. To the other extreme, people often aggravate the situation by consuming too much of certain nutrients. This can be equally problematic for an individual, resulting in problems such as obesity or high cholesterol. A person, therefore, has the best chances of living a healthy life when she realizes the connection between diet and nutrition and uses it to make smart decisions.