Healthy Food

Getting the Proper Nutrients
By John Parks

Because nutrition plays such a vital role in our physical, mental and emotional health, it is important to note how certain foods and herbs can affect the human body. Most people have a general understanding that nutrition is good for you - you get it from food like meat, vegetables, nuts and seeds and dairy. But what most people don't know, at least until as of late, is that the quality of our food today does not compare to the quality of food of yesterday.

Before industrialization took over in the early 1900s and began processing the food products we like to eat, food was grown and harvested with little intervention by man. In the days of old, barley, wheat, rice, oats and other grains were harvested from mineral rich soil which provided the minerals of the same sort into the grains themselves. Flour and rice were not bleached, potatoes were not dehydrated and preserved, vegetables were not put in metal cans, and grains were not robbed of their nutritional value by processing techniques designed to "enrich" them.

Altering of the genetic makeup of seeds has also caused our vegetables and grains to produce less nutritionally endowed food. Grains, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds we once thought of as so rich in nutrition now cause our bodies to react with onset of symptoms of disease and mental imbalance. This one fact is overlooked by the general population, and is taken for granted by those who simply don't know.

The same holds true for our modern-day livestock and poultry industry. It is no secret that the meat we eat is loaded with antibiotics, growth hormones, and other toxic ills that are designed to prevent disease, however it is now common knowledge that many of these toxins actually create disease. Mad cow disease, obesity, and even cancer are among some of the most common maladies resulting from the consumption of mass-produced meat. Is it any wonder that so many diseases are rampant throughout our country, and even the industrialized world?

Lack of proper nutrition can cause the body's immune system to suffer irrevocable hardship, some of which are listed below:

• Lethargy
• Muscle pain, cramps and aches
• Joint stiffness and inflammation
• Mental lethargy, confusion
• Faltering memory
• Lack of drive and inspiration
• Unexplained skin conditions
• Hair loss
• Vision and hearing loss
• Mood swings, depression, anxiety and other mental conditions from brain chemical imbalance
• Irrational behavior
• Low blood sugar, high cholesterol, heart disease and other common medical conditions

The list above is just a few of the growing number of physical, mental and emotional conditions that arise from lack of proper nutrition. To help you get a better idea of how nutrition affects the human body, there are a number of resources on the Web that provide information. You can find information on nutritional deficiencies and their symptoms by typing in the symptoms name, or by searching for a specific type of vitamin, mineral, or herb and does the word "deficiency" after it. Also you can seek out nutritional counseling in your local area by doing a web search for "nutrition specialists", "alternative medical doctors", "herbalists", and even "weight loss and nutrition".

Remember, it is essentially up to you to be the caretaker of your temple. Providing the proper nutrition and fuel that it needs to function to its optimum requires your awareness of exactly what you put inside it.

For more information on nutrition, visit http://nutritionmicroblog.com and http://foodmicroblog.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Parks