Eating for Health & Wellbeing
Everyone benefits from eating for health and wellbeing, whether they have ADHD or not.
Maintaining a healthy diet ensures individuals obtain all the nutrients they need to maintain their health, immune system, mood and energy levels.
Healthy eating involves eating a wide variety of whole foods in the right proportions, from within and across the five food groups (NHMRC, 2013). It’s also about having a healthy relationship with food and enjoying the eating experience. Healthy eating is not about strict dietary limitations, deprivation, or cutting out a whole food group unless there is a significant health reason for doing so.
All the food we eat can be divided into five groups. They are:
- fruit and vegetables
- starchy foods, such as rice, pasta, bread and potatoes
- meat, fish, eggs and beans
- milk and dairy foods
- occasional foods containing saturated or trans-fats and added sugar.
Food Variety
Food variety is important for a number of reasons. Firstly, no single food (with the exception of breast milk for the first 6 months of life) can provide all the macro and micro nutrients in the amounts needed for good health. Secondly, foods within different food groups as well as foods within the same food group contain different nutrients profiles (NHMRC, 2013).
Nutrients are chemical substances that provide the materials necessary for correct body function. Nutrients are classified as macronutrients or micronutrients. Macronutrients are the larger food molecules: carbohydrates, proteins and fats. Micronutrients are the smaller food molecules: vitamins and minerals.
Macronutrients are broken down by the body to produce energy. They may also be used as building blocks for our body structure. Foods vary in their macronutrient profile. For example, bread and cereals mostly contain carbohydrates where as meat contains predominantly protein (and some fats).
Micronutrients are not burned by the body for fuel and they do not serve as body structure building blocks (except for calcium in bones). Instead they play a vital part in the production of energy and in growth and repair. They also assist the regulation of mechanisms that govern these processes. For example, for a wound to heal you need vitamin C and zinc; vitamin C and zinc are involved in the chemical reactions that produce collagen or scar tissue.
Individuals who restrict their intake of food or eliminate a food group from their diet, put themselves at risk of not obtaining all the nutrients required to maintain their health. This doesn’t mean one needs to eat from each food group at each meal, what matters is the intake of nutrients throughout the average day.
For example, let’s examine bananas, strawberries and blueberries. Whilst bananas are highest in potassium, magnesium and vitamin B2, strawberries are higher in vitamin C and blueberries are higher in Vitamin A and Vitamin K. Bananas and strawberries also contain measurable quantities of copper whilst blueberries don’t. Therefore varying the type of fruit one eats increases the likelihood of absorbing all the fibre, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and phytonutrients the body needs to function and maintain health. These nutrients are important, as they have been shown in countless well-designed studies to be protective against cancer. If you restricted your fruit intake (for example avoided fruits high in fructose) you would run the risk of missing out on some of these nutrients.
Eating a varied diet also reduces the risk of consuming too much of any particular food component and minimises the intake of foods that should be eaten less often.
Wholesomeness
Wholesomeness refers to foods that are made from the whole ingredient, with the whole ingredient remaining as similar as possible to it’s original state.
Wholesome foods have been shown to be more nutritious. For example, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, brown breads made from whole wheat usually contain more fibre than white bread, as well as greater amounts of important nutrients such as vitamin B-6 and vitamin E, magnesium, folic acid, copper, zinc and manganese (Live Strong, 2013).
Another example is whole fruits versus fruit juice. When you eat fruit in its whole form you obtain all their fibre and micronutrients contained within the plant. However research shows that when you juice the fruit, many of the vital polyphenol phytonutrients, which are stuck to the fruit’s fibre, are discarded with the pulp (Muraki, et al., 2013). The fibre content of the fruit is valuable to our health as the fibre is both a bulking agent which helps with gut mobility, as well as a digestible food source for our gut bacteria. Gut bacteria form short chain fatty acids from the fibre, which are used to inhibit the growth of bad bacteria and to increase mineral absorption. It is interesting to note that drinking fruit juice has been shown to increase the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus, whilst eating fruit in its whole form has been shown to decrease the risk (Muraki, et al., 2013). This may also be the case with vegetables.
Additionally, by eating food in its original state or close to it as possible, one can limit their intake of preservatives, colours and flavours, as well as added sugar and trans-fats.
Individuality
Eating a healthy diet also involves taking an individualised approach as everyone’s nutritional needs vary. Nutritional needs can be dependent upon interacting factors such as:
- genetics
- your environment
- social and psychological influences
- physical activity
- digestion and absorption
- sensitivities and allergens
- medications
- the quality, cost and availability of food
- age, health and lifestyle.
A Note on the Dangers of Restrictive Diets
“A donut never killed anyone. 100kg donuts eaten in one sitting might, but so might eating 100kg carrots” (The Moderation Movement).
Implementing a restrictive diet, holding on to a food philosophy which is driven by fear, obsessing about clean eating, thinking certain foods are toxic and demonising certain foods can lead to an unhealthy obsession with eating healthy food called orthorexia. People with orthorexia can develop nutrient deficiencies and malnutrition, suffer from stress, anxiety and depression, and become socially isolated.
Eating healthy means getting it right most of the time, but not aiming for perfection. For example, one can crowd out their diet with a wide variety of wholesome foods so there is less room for less nutritious food, without foregoing them altogether.
For more information
For more information about what constitutes a healthy diet please go to
http://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/guidelines/australian-guide-healthy-eating
If you need expert advice about your diet please make sure you make an appointment to see an accredited practicing dietician.
Some great nutritional blog sites and Facebook pages:
http://www.thenutritionguruandthechef.com/
http://www.thinkingnutrition.com.au/
https://www.facebook.com/moderationmovement
References
Care 2 (2015 ). http://www.care2.com/greenliving/juicing-removes-more-than-just-fiber.html
Kumar, V., Sinha, A, Makkar, H, de Boeck, G. & Becker, K. (2012). Dietary role of non-start polysaccharides in human nutrition: a review. Critical Reviews in Food Science Nutrition, 52(10), 899-935. www.care2.com/greenliving/juicing-removes-more-than-just-fiber.html
Live Strong (2013). http://www.livestrong.com/article/386473-which-is-healthier-white-or-brown-bread/
Muraki, I, Imamura, F. Manson, J., Willett, W. van Dam, R. & Sun, Q. (2013). Fruit consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes: results from three prospective longitudinal cohort studies. British Medical Journal, 28, 347. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3978819/
National Health and Medical Research Council (2013) Australian Dietary Guidelines. Canberra: National Health and Medical Research Council. https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/guidelines-publications/n29-n30-n31-n32-n33-n34