Nutrition For Dummies. Carol Ann Rinzler

basic assumptions about who you are and why you plunked down your hard-earned cash for an entire volume about nutrition:

       You didn’t study nutrition in high school or college and now you’ve discovered that you have a better shot at staying healthy if you know how to put together well-balanced, nutritious meals.

       You’re confused by conflicting advice on vitamins and minerals, protein, fats, and carbs. In other words, you need a reliable road map through the nutrient maze.

       You want basic information, but you don’t want to become an expert in nutrition or spend hours digging your way through medical textbooks and journals.

Icons Used in This Book

      Icons are a handy For Dummies way to catch your attention as you slide your eyes down the page. The icons come in several varieties, each with its own special meaning.

      

The information tagged with this icon is important enough for you to highlight, write down and post it where you’ll see it often, or flag for later reference.

      

This icon points to clear, concise explanations of technical terms and processes — details that are interesting but not necessarily critical to your understanding of a topic. In other words, skip them if you want, but try a few first.

      

Bull’s-eye! This is time- and stress-saving information that you can use to improve your diet and health.

      

This is a watch-out-for-the-curves icon, alerting you to nutrition pitfalls, such as (oops!) leaving the skin on the chicken — turning a low-fat food into one that is high in fat and cholesterol. This icon also warns you about physical dangers, such as supplements to avoid because they may do more damage than good to your health.

Beyond the Book

      In addition to what you’re reading right now, this product also comes with a free access-anywhere Cheat Sheet that provides helpful tips on cutting calories, figuring out when you may need extra nutrients, keeping food safe, and understanding nutrition terms and measurements. To get this Cheat Sheet, simply go to www.dummies.com and search for “Nutrition For Dummies Cheat Sheet” in the Search box.

Where to Go from Here

For Dummies books are not linear (proceeding from Chapter 1 to 2 to 3 and so on). In fact, you can choose a subject, such as calories, in Chapter 5, dive right in there, and then skip over to how water works in your body (that’s Chapter 12) and still make sense of what you’re reading because each chapter delivers a complete message. (Full disclosure: Once in a while there will be a cross reference to a second chapter or even a third, a kind of nutrition fact treasure hunt.)

      So, in short, if proteins are your passion, go right to Chapter 6. If you want to know why you absolutely can’t resist chocolate-covered pretzels, go to Chapter 15. If you’re fascinated by food processing, your choice is Chapter 19. Use the table of contents to find broad categories of information or the index to look up more specific things.

      On the other hand, if you’re not sure where you want to go, why not just begin at the beginning, Part 1, Chapter 1? It gives you all the basic info you need to understand nutrition and points to places where you can find more detailed information.

Part 1

      Nutrition 101: The Basic Facts about Nutrition

IN THIS PART …

      Defining nutrition and its effect on your body

      Following food as you digest it

      Deciding how much nutrition you need

      Figuring out your best weight

      Considering how calories impact your life

Chapter 1

      Nutrition Equals Life: Knowing What to Eat to Get What You Need

      IN THIS CHAPTER

      

Understanding the importance of nutrition

      

Determining how nutrients build your body

      

Evaluating nutrition information

      

Figuring out how to read (and question) a nutrition study

      You are what you eat. You are also how you eat. And when you eat.

      Choosing a varied diet of healthful foods supports any healthy mind and body, but which healthful foods you choose says much about your personal tastes as well as the culture from which you come.

      How you eat may do the same: Do you use a knife and fork? A pair of sticks? Your hands and a round of bread? Each is a cultural statement. As for when you eat (and when you stop), that is a purely personal physiological response to signals from your digestive organs and your brain: “Get food now!” or “Thank you, that’s enough.”

Understanding more about nutrition means exploring what happens to what you eat and drink as it moves from your plate to your mouth to your digestive tract and into every tissue and cell and discovering how your organs and systems work. You observe firsthand why some foods and beverages are essential to your health. And you find out how to manage your diet so that you can get the biggest bang (nutrients) for your buck (calories).

Discovering the First Principles of Nutrition

      Technically speaking, nutrition is the science of how the body uses food. In the broader sense, it is nourishment — the process of providing food and the study of what that food offers. In fact, nutrition is life. All living things, including you, need food and water to live. Beyond that, you need good food, meaning food with the proper nutrients, to live well. If you don’t eat and drink, you’ll die. Period. If you don’t eat and drink nutritious food and beverages your body may pay the price:

       Your bones may bend or break (not enough calcium).

       Your gums may bleed (not enough vitamin C).