Every year, the number of Americans going on a diet increases. Surveys performed by the federal government demonstrate how prevalent the desire for weight loss is in American society. One federal survey’s findings showed that 44 percent of women and 29 percent of men in America were trying to lose weight on a daily basis (The Science of Slimming ( Cover Story)). Recent figures revealed that 31 percent of Americans fall under the category of being obese, and 64 percent of Americans are overweight (The Science of Slimming ( Cover Story)). This is a problem because factors such as obesity and being overweight are precursors to chronic and often terminal conditions ranging from diabetes to cancer. While the number of Americans on diets increases so does the amount of diet options available. As the issues of obesity and weight loss plague American society, both health care professionals and consumers have begun to consider new methods to achieve their health care needs. The macrobiotic diet, an alternative form of medicine is an option worth considering when attempting change your diet to benefit your health and fit your lifestyle.
In a lengthy synopsis of The Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine, Wells points out some very crucial points and important facts that state what the macrobiotic diet entails. Firstly, in Greek the term macrobiotics translates to mean the great life. Unlike most diets the macrobiotic diet involves more than just what you take in it involves lifestyle changes, environmental factors and much more.
The macrobiotic diet is often referred to as a holistic approach to nutrition, meaning that all aspects of the person’s life are taken into consideration as part of the nutritional plan. Constructed around...
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...ovide patient teaching about what the body needs to be getting nutritionally and be doing physically to be healthy (Macrobiotic diets can be healthful, but not a cancer cure. (Ask EN)). It would become imperative that the patient get their labs checked regularly to make sure that their body was functioning as it should.
Works Cited
Ashton, Alison. "The macrobiotic diet: it can make you feel energized , happy and healthy, And surprise! It's easier than you think." Natural Health March 2011: 42.
Ken, Wells R. "Macrobiotic Diet." The Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine 2009, 3 ed.
"Macrobiotic diets can be healthful, but not a cancer cure. (Ask EN)." Enviromental Nutrition 7 Nov 2002.
Spake, Amanda. "THE SCIENCE OF SLIMMING. (Cover story)." U.S. News & World Report 134.21 (2003): 34. Academic Search Elite. EBSCO. Web. 12 Mar 2011.
This essay will focus on how gut bacteria can affect weight and, the mutualistic relationship between gut bacteria and the human in maintaining normal health.
... each and every day how to fight against germs that are unfamiliar to them. Our bodies play a vital area as to how our bodies are getting sick or healthy. A sudden change of diet can have a negative affect on our bodies, I have experienced this myself when we changed to a vegan diet for a week.
Holistic Nutrition promotes the detoxification of the body from the disease-causing pathogens which cause diseases. Holistic nutrition has a positive impact on people with nutritional based health problems which reduces spending on health care by families. Adaptation of holistic nutrition will have a significant impact on health outcomes in the community which will reduce chronic health problems in the
The human gut contains a huge diversity of bacteria and the microbiota, which is crucially important for maintaining human health. According to Greiner et al, the gut microbiome plays an important role as a regulator to modulate human’s metabolism when there is a change in the environment. It is because that the gut microbiome is composed of many different bacterial species, and thus it is a multicellular organ with a metabolic function (2011). Despite the huge diversity of the gut microbiome, there are only three groups of bacteria are dominated in human gut microbiome, which include Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, and Actinobacteria (Greiner et al 2011).
Wardlaw, G.M. and Smith. Contemporary Nutrition: Issues and Insights. 5th Edition. Boston: McGraw-Hill, pp 85, 2004.
...al D. Food for life: how the new four food groups can save your life.
Hats off to bacteria! This article summarizes that bacteria are good for our body and help us function a lot better. Bacteria live in our guts, in our mouths, and on our skin. Overuse of antibiotics has disturbed the bacterial ecosystem, possibly so much that it is irreversible. In 1999 Lawrence Brandt a professor of medicine and surgery at the Albert Einstein College of medicine had success when trying to help a patient combat diarrhea induced by clostridium difficile. A patient developed diarrhea after taking a course of antibiotics for sinusitis; nothing could shake her C.difficile infection. Brandt reasoned the initial antibiotic treatment had killed gut bacteria that promote digestive health; not knowing which strain to replace, he transplanted stool form her husband. That night she reported marked improvement- for the first time in six months. This procedure has helped patients, but hopefully in the future doctors will be able to administer the particular strain of bacteria that is needed. 99% of the bacteria we harbor are resistant to culture in the lab. It was this impossible to study bacteria until the last decade or so, when DNA sequencing techniques allowed researchers to obtain gene sequences from as little as one bacterial cell. With this researchers found that bacteria cells in our bodies outnumber our human cells. Bacterial exposure throughout our lifetime is needed for our wellbeing, thinking, and functioning, contributing to conditions such as diabetes, obesity, allergies, asthma, and atherosclerosis, as well as to anxiety and mood and cognition disorders. These conditions have become more prominent because of our obsession with sanitation has eliminated the exposure to bacteria humans used to routinely get throu...
Nutrition is a very controversial and confusing topic. One day coffee is bad for you, but the next day it is good. Alcohol is detrimental for our health one day, but the next day red wine is the elixir of life. There are dozens of diet plans and they promise a leaner and healthier body. There is the 3-Hour Diet that involves constantly eating small portions of anything we want to eat. The latest diet craze, the Paleo Diet, is based upon eating foods that our “hunter-gatherer ancestors” would have thrived on during the Paleolithic era. And there is the Blood Type Diet, the South Beach Diet, the Macrobiotic Diet, the Mediterranean Diet, and the list goes on. But who and what should we believe? Well, there is an optimal diet for humans and the answer might surprise many.
The population in the United States as of 2009 was 307,006,550 the younger population is projected to slightly increase and eventually plateau though the older population has been steadily increasing and projected to continue on an upward trend (Vincent & Velkoff, 2010). The lack of a healthier diet is something that has been highlighted in the media for the past decade and more often than not we are seeing the effects of overindulging and the consumption of highl...
Elsevier Health Sciences. "Eating Out Can Have Both Positive And Negative Impact On Obesity." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 10 January 2008. .
However, some people might argue by saying that this diet wouldn’t work because living the lives of cavemen in present times is just impossible. If you look at the concept literally, you would surely find it difficult to adhere to. This is why those who have an open mind and those who are not afraid to try out new things for their own benefit are those that will really benefit from this kind of diet.
A plethora of adults in the United States take dietary supplements either occasionally or every day. Today’s dietary supplements include enzymes, vitamins, probiotics, herbs, and many others ingredients. Dietary supplements come in a great number of forms: Powders, traditional tablets, capsules, as well as energy bars and drinks. Although Americans believe that by taking dietary supplements, they will receive the essential micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) to improve and maintain their health, supplements are not necessary for overall health and consuming too much of them can deal to severe organ damage and death.
The Encyclopedia of Healing Foods is an A-Z guide on the nutritional benefits and medicinal properties of food. It talks about how diet plays a major role in both provoking and preventing diseases. You can find out how to design a safe diet, use foods to heal and even how to prepare healthful meals.
If you frequent health forums or fitness blogs, you'll have read the word “macros” before. The word is short for macronutrients. That leads to the question, “what are macronutrients?”
(Center for Disease Control 1). While genetic factors have been attributed to obesity, the major cause is the consumption of foods that are high in fat content. A sedentary lifestyle by people who eat these fatty foods allows for the accumulation of fat in the body resulting in the extra weight. Even those without a sedentary lifestyle, but have a diet full of fats with less exercise are also at the risk of becoming obese. Obesity is a concern in the world with an increase in prevalence from 4.2% in 1990 to 6.7% in 2010. In the United States, obesity is a national health issue that has attracted special attention from the First Lady of t...