[LifeStyle] Nutrition glossary: the most important terms you need to know to eat a healthy diet

[#Steeven.™]

Today we handle a huge amount of information. So much so that it is very easy to get lost in the meantime. What's more, there are those who use this gibberish of language for their own benefit, confusing the consumer. Today we do a little review of all those words that we will ever meet if we go in search of a healthy diet.

 

About food and its substances
Let's start talking about things that we eat, that we will find in the supermarket, in a conversation, reading a table of ingredients ... These terms are directly associated with the substances that make up food.
Macronutrients: this name is known to fats, proteins and carbohydrates (sugars), misnamed carbohydrates. They are called macronutrients because they are the major components of our diet, present in much greater amounts than the rest of the nutrients.

Micronutrients: as the name suggests, unlike the previous ones, these are present in much less quantity. But that does not mean that they are less important. On the contrary, a deficit in these substances, which are minerals, trace elements and vitamins, basically, can cause a serious disruption in our health.

Dietary fiber: these substances, of vegetable origin in almost 100% of cases, can be soluble or insoluble. Fibers are very important in the diet, and it is recommended to eat at least 25 grams of them every day to improve intestinal transit and protect the intestinal microbiota. They also help you lose weight, among many other benefits.

Sugars: they are known in this way, generically, to all carbohydrates. Sugar, sucrose, is a sugar. But not all sugars are sugar, confusingly enough. Among sugars we find energetic ones such as fructose, glucose, galactose, lactose ... these are simple sugar molecules (like glucose) or combinations of these (sucrose is a mixture of fructose and glucose). Many of the fibers are also complex sugars that cannot be digested. For this reason, many foods can contain a certain amount of sugar even if they are not free.

Free sugar: the question is simpler than it seems. Free sugar is one that is not associated with the rest of the biological components, such as fibers. These prevent the rapid assimilation of sugar into the blood. When we eat added sugar, we are taking free sugar. But this also happens with natural juices, although to a lesser extent, since we break the structural component of the fruit. Free sugar kicks blood sugar levels up, raising blood sugar.

Non-caloric sweeteners: unlike sugars, non-caloric sweeteners produce a sweet taste but do not contain energy to assimilate due to their composition. Among them are substances of various chemical nature, including some sugars. The most famous are aspartame, cyclamate or saccharin.

About the food itself
The food itself has its own section. Much of the terminology is associated with a myriad of confusing concepts used by the industry to its advantage and sometimes at the expense of the consumer. But words mean what they mean and nothing else.

Natural: a natural food is one that has not been processed. This means that it is as it comes from nature with minimal mani[CENSORED]tion that does not change its properties. Natural foods can be cooked, at which point they are processed.
Processed: When cooked, treated or prepared, food falls into the category of processed.

Ultra-processed: the ultra-processed, however, are those foods that have undergone a treatment that greatly modifies their nature. Substances are added or removed from ultra-processed products to change their palatability, structure and duration. Many times they lose nutritional properties or the bioavailability of their nutrients as a result of industrial ultra-processing.
Good processed: on the contrary, if the procedure is respectful with the food, adds few substances of questionable quality and the result maintains the nutritional properties as far as possible, the processing is known as "good processing". There is a wide variety of these foods in the supermarket.

Bio, Eco ..: organic products, also known as "natural", bio, etc., refer colloquially to a series of foods, although not all of them can be classified as such. Organic or bio foods are determined according to the legislation to meet certain characteristics. The names "natural", "traditional" and the like have a much more diffuse origin and are not regulated, although they are used interchangeably and do not really guarantee anything at all.
Light: from the entry of non-caloric sweeteners, "light" or low sugar and fat products appear. These products try to replace these substances with others that do not provide energy and, supposedly, help maintain health. For the moment, its usefulness is in question. Although the premise is very simple, nutrition is a very complex thing and there are several reasons to justify that these products do not deliver what they promise.

Food additive: a series of added substances are called thus, as their name indicates, to achieve a specific objective: a certain consistency, flavor, keeping them longer ... There are many additives, some of "natural" origin and others artificial. but all regulated.
Preservative: these additives are intended to ensure the health of a food, avoiding infections or microbiological problems in perishables.
Safe: a safe food is one that is suitable for consumption within the values and time ranges determined by the industry and endorsed by the food safety authority. This security is certified and has an associated quality and traceability system. In other words, a safe food can be eaten without fear of a food problem under normal conditions.
Healthy: a healthy food is one that improves or helps our health. Everything that is out of this tonic we cannot include as a healthy diet. That means that not all safe foods fall into the healthy category.

Food supplements: these substances are ingested outside of the normal diet and are designed to solve nutritional deficiencies from the diet. The best known food supplement is vitamin B12. However, not all are well regulated or helpful.
Food supplements: the main problem with regulation is that supplements are food supplements. However, in the United States, for example, there is a clear differentiation. The supplements, unlike supplements, do not have to solve a deficit, but can serve to increase a substance already present, they can be food in themselves, and their objective is to reinforce the diet, not supplement it.

 

About healthy life
Let's quickly review some of the more fleeting concepts we are faced with. These terms are the result of growing knowledge about health and nutrition, and are often not fully understood.

Healthy Living: This is not some baseless and utopian ethereal concept, as many pretend to assume. The healthy lifestyle is one that, as its name suggests, opts for healthy habits that enhance and improve our health. A healthy lifestyle, that is, following these habits, helps to extend hope and quality of life, as has been proven on numerous occasions. A healthy lifestyle differs from specific diets and remedies in that it is a fundamental, natural and progressive change that accompanies us for a long period of our lives.

Healthy habits: among these, to achieve a healthy lifestyle, is eating better, with a healthier diet that contains more fibers, more water, more fruits and vegetables, less animal products, less or no sugar, fat from good quality, no ultra-processed ... It also includes increasing physical effort, which can be done in many ways.
Physical exercise: exercise or training refers to an activity of medium or high intensity. It can be a regular or sporadic workout, but it is always of a certain intensity. The WHO advises some physical exercise a week for a number of health benefits.
Physical activity: on the other hand, a healthy life does not only include physical exercise, although it recommends it. We can also settle for an increase in daily physical activity. This also has benefits and they are included within a healthy lifestyle: dancing, walking, climbing stairs ... in short, moving more is something very positive.