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**I found this article and in a short and concise, straight to the
point way, it made since so I am sharing Mr. Doub's point of view
with you.**
HEALTH AND NUTRITION - by Doub, Sr-Soke (1/1/96)
People in the United States tend to be overfed and overweight. The
reason for this is that most of us overeat, that is, we take in more
calories than our energy needs or requirements. Why? Our eating
habits were formed shortly after infancy. As we get older it becomes
difficult to change bad eating habits.
To be effective in life, we need a good nutritional program, and it
is absolutely essential. In order to understand what a good program
is we need to re-educate ourselves and throw off the perceptions and
concepts that were slipped into our minds by special interest groups
and well meaning but ignorant doctors.
To be effective, we need to eat the proper foods and exercise every
day-if we miss exercise for a few days we must start over, as there
is no catching up. When machines properly cared for they don't work
properly and eventually break down-our bodies are the most
sophisticated machines ever made.
The food we eat provides us with energy from three sources:
carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. In order to utilize the energy
from these nutrients, our body must break down the bulk from into
simple forms. The diagram below shows the basic steps in this
breakdown process which is called ingestion and digestion.
Ingestion - we take a mouthful of food, chew it enough times so that
it is physically broken up into a chunky paste and mixed with certain
enzymes that were excreted from under the tongue and other places.
We then swallow it.
Digestion:
Carbohydrates --------Acid/Enzyme Breakdown --------Glucose
Proteins --------Acid/Enzyme Breakdown-----------Amino Acids
Fats----------Acid/Enzyme Breakdown------------Fatty Acids
Carbohydrates are complex sugars (starches) and are found in most
foods, i.e., bread, cereals, and fruits and vegetables.
Carbohydrates must be broken down into simple sugars in order to be
absorbed into the blood stream. They are then carried to the muscle
and brain for energy and to the liver and adipose (fatty) tissue for
storage for future use. Carbohydrates are essential but most of us
take in far too much carbohydrate; what isn't used for energy or
stored in the liver is converted to and stored as FAT. So counting
carbohydrates is just as important as counting calories.
PROTEINS are amino acids linked together, which are necessary to
rebuild and repair body tissue. Proteins can be found in legumes
(beans, lentils, nuts, etc.), rice, whole grain cereals, fish eggs,
and poultry. The body is able to make twelve of the twenty amino
acids but the other eight must be taken in form the food we eat and
are called essential amino acids. Failure to eat foods, which contain
these essential amino acids, can result in problems in all the body
organs. To combat protein deficiency, the body starts by breaking
down the hair, then the skin and finally the muscles and uses the
protein in them.
FATS are composed of glycerol and fatty acids, the latter being
stored as fat in the adipose tissue (that's our "chubbies and love
handles") until needed for energy. This provides padding and warmth
for the internal organs and insulation from external changes in
temperature - most of us have more insulation that we need. There is
evidence to show that people who eat diets high in saturated fats are
more susceptible to heart disease..
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