I'm often asking myself if i'm taking care of my body well. We often ask ourselves if our lifestyle is healthy. The most important factor that influence directly on our health is obviously food.
Eating is one the most important events in everyone’s life. We enjoy eating - it’s part of who we are and part of our culture. In fact, eating is the hottest universal topic of all times. We depend on eating: the foods we eat are the sole source of our energy and nutrition. We know so much about eating: we are born with the desire to eat and grown up with rich traditions of eating. But we also know so little about eating - about how the foods we eat everyday affect our health. We are more confused than ever about the link between diet and health: margarine is healthier than butter or not; a little alcohol will keep heart attacks at bay but cause breast cancer; dietary vitamin antioxidants can prevent lung cancer or can not. Eating is a paradox and a mystery that our ancestors tried and modern scientists are trying to solve.
Based on experiences and traditions, our ancestors have used foods and plant materials to treat various kinds of illness. Manuscripts discovered from a tomb (dated 168 B.C.) in China described prescriptions for 52 ailments with herbs, grains, legumes, vegetables, animal parts, and minerals. Ancient Sumerians recorded the use of 250 medicinal plants on tablets five thousand years ago. Today, plant and food remedies are still the major medicinal source for 80% of the world’s population.
The pharmacological roles of everyday foods have long been neglected by modern medicine due to lack of proven scientific validity. The main focus of modern medicine has been on pharmaceuticals. With the invention of modern chemotherapy and antibiotics in the 1930’s and 1940’s, it seemed as if chemical medicines would take care of all our ills. However, while there continues to be great strides made in the understanding and use of pharmaceuticals, there is also widespread dissatisfaction with both them and the system of medicine that utilizes them. This dissatisfaction is centered around the feeling that they are too disease-oriented, and perhaps too limited by their precision to cope effectively with the subtle factors and interrelationships that compromise human health and disease. The precise and pure nature of modern biomedical pharmaceuticals also tends to increase their side effects. In addition, with the victory over many common infectious diseases, more people are concerned with chronic degenerative processes and with prevention of disease. The increasing concerns have started a new movement in medical research. More and more mainstream scientists are reaching back to the truth of ancient food folk medicines and dietary practices for clues to remedies and antidotes to our modern diseases.
Research on pharmacological effects of foods is fast-paced and the results are exciting. The mystery of what foods can do for or to us has started to unveil. In order to effectively use foods for our health benefits, the following issues need to be considered:
- Keep up with the most recent scientific findings and make use of them for our health benefits
- Try to use variety of whole foods as much as possible instead of isolated dietary supplements for your health problems - they are safer, cheaper, and usually more effective since they can provide multiple and balanced disease fighting capabilities
- Choice of foods is important: since healing power of a food is depending on the content of pharmacologically active constituents that differ among foods, and certain foods may need to be avoided due to their disease encouraging activities
- How do you prepare and eat your foods can affect their pharmacological effects
- Concerns about multiple health conditions: foods that benefit one health condition may be harmful to others
- Overall nutritional values of foods
Sometimes I eat unhealthy food. I eat in fast food beacsue I simply like it and I believe that everything is for people as long as it is used in reasonable amounts
ReplyDeleteI sometimes eat fast foods mainly because of rush. It is easier to run into McDonalds, take 2 cheeseburgers rather than go to restaurant and spend 30-40 minutes waiting/eating/paying. Nowadays we live faster than our parents used to so its natural that people are looking for "fast meals"
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that sometimes (maybe once or twice a month) I eat unhealthy food. Of course pizza doesn't count ;) I'm trying to keep a healthy balance.
ReplyDeleteI think food has a impact on our life expectancy. Overweight can cause heart problems for example.
I am trying to stop going to fast foods but it is quite hard for me. I saw Supersizeme film, but in my opinion McDonald is still the best fast food restaurant ;)
ReplyDeleteI sometimes eat fast food due to lack of time. What's more I'm lazy. so I'd rather order something. But I'm going to stop eating fast foods, because it influences our life and health.
ReplyDeleteI don't like fast foods. I cook myself everyday and I enjoy it. I observe how the food I eat influences my body and it makes me very cautious (I'm fighting with allergy so I don't want to risk).
ReplyDeleteI love fast food, because the same product always taste in the same way and sometimes I just can't help it and I have to have some French fries.
ReplyDeleteTo be serious I'm trying to limit minimum number of my visits in places like McDonald's or KFC.
As others, I like sometimes fast food, especialy kebab, or as someone mentioned cheesburgers from MC :)
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think about "chinese food" aka "chińczyk"? it is kind of fastfood, but i believe that it is quite healthy, of course if it is made from fresh stuff...
My friend works as dietician, she recently told me about het patient, who thanks only to the diet, got thinner from 150kg to 90kg, amazing:)
I know that fast food is very unhealthy but from time to time I eat this kind of food, especially kebab, pizza or Whooper from Burger King. Since I saw SuperSizeMe I have never eaten McDonald's...
ReplyDeleteWhole food is a base of healthy life. I realize this fact very well but nowadays life goes so fast that it is really difficult to lead completely healthy life..;)
Everyone knows that eating fast food is unhealthy. The thing is, sometimes we just don't have a choice. We know what to eat and what not to eat, but we have too little time to put this knowledge into practice, for example when commuting. In my opinion eating at McDonald's will not be too harmful if you don't eat there regularly.
ReplyDeletes4297 i don't agree with you. You have only 1 life and you cannot say that you don't have time to extend it - it will end faster than you expect if you don't take care about it. Lack of time it's not an explanation. Everything depends on this how you organize your time - it's easier to say 'oh i'm so busy that i have to order KFC' than to take your ass to the shop, buy some wegetables and make a nice salad for 2-3 days :) :P
ReplyDeletei'm not a big fan of fast food restaurants, but i'm used to eating just one or two meals a day - and i wonder how will that influence my health in the long term..
ReplyDeletei just hate spending my time for shopping, preparing food at home, washing the dishes etc, so i usually eat in restaurants.
As was written above: everything is for people but in reasonable way and amount.
ReplyDeleteAnd now a nice song about Fast Food.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=it9d94JNriQ
*print screen’ed*
>Do you eat in fast foods?
ReplyDeleteNo, never.
>Do you think that healthy food influence on >our life expectancy?
Of course. I think healthy food is extremely important if we want to live long.
To be honest from time to time I ate fast food meals ;/ But I have strong motivation to fight against my weakness. And of course food influence on our life expectancy a lot.
ReplyDelete