Nutrition Is Not Common Sense
Eating right requires the right knowledge, in addition to enough money to buy or grow food. If, for example, you decide to make a meal of baked potatoes, you need to know the right way to bake them to get the best nutritional value.
The main reason why many people do not get it right is that they think it is common knowledge to know various food combinations. However, the matter of nutritional knowledge is beyond what we may call common sense.
Proper nutrition focuses on the right quantity of food, the combinations of the various food classes, and also the best way to prepare foods to preserve most of their natural nutrients. For these reasons, proper nutritional knowledge is important.
It is also important to know nutrition because although we all eat; we eat for various reasons. Yes, while the primary reason for eating is to satisfy hunger, food plays an important role in our overall health. For this reason, specific diets are used for various reasons. For example, there are diets for people managing weight, people with diseases like diabetes, and people managing hormonal imbalance. Any person in any of these categories will need specific knowledge of nutrition to get the best meal plans to follow. Again, this knowledge is beyond common sense.
Picture this scenario. There is someone at the local gym weighing nearly 120 kg. This person is seeking to reduce weight but receives a diet that is fairly rich in potatoes. Common sense would suggest otherwise. However, a dietician formulates a weight loss diet that is rich in potatoes both as a vegetable and carbohydrate. The ‘normal’ thing for a weight loss diet is to cut off carbs or drastically reduce them.
But a diet plan with regular potato meals is ideal for such a person seeking to lose weight healthily. Not only is a potato good food for satisfying hunger, but it can be combined with other foods in the diet in several interesting ways.
Nutrition must thus be approached from a practical angle; that something does not fit with the general idea does not reduce its value. The realization of this fact is crucial to a successful journey in always choosing the right meals.
It is important to emphasize again that being rich is not necessary to eat right. Even the most affordable foods can be arranged into healthy meal plans. It is all about what works, and not what we think it should be.
