What is the difference between nutrition and food?

Nutrition is giving your body the required nutrients to be able to function at its most optimal level. Food is the raw material available in nature that our bodies require and recognize for proper nutrition. Hippocrates the Greek Father of medicine said, “thy food should be our medicine and thy medicine should be our food”.

Our ancestor’s hundreds of years ago use to eat from the land, their diets where mainly grains, nuts, fruits, vegetables, roots and water. Their diets were 99% based on what was available during a specific season of the year. Today our diets have dramatically changed to completely reverse this percentage to just 23% compared to our ancestors. We have moved to the habit to eat refined grains, packaged food, ready to eat meals and sodas. Our choices are made on convenience and lifestyle changes.

Since the industrial revolution major shifts occurred in industries bringing prosperity and wealth at social and economic levels. This period moved people working at the land to other major industries. Since agricultural techniques became automatized and more efficient it also moved the people form the land to urbanized regions generating major changes in lifestyle.

Since the mid 1940’s another shift occurred when processed food became an important part of every household. Chemicals, pesticides, preservatives, colorants and many more became available for consumption. A new industry was created and became available throughout the world in every home. Easy to transport, convenient, ready to use, long shelf life and cheaper than whole foods. At the time, the impact to our health was not one of the priorities.

Basically, throughout the years we have disconnected from pure food. Busy lifestyle choices and lack of interest in understanding the underlining problem of malnutrition have generated dramatic health problems. Malnutrition referred to at a cellular level. In industrialized countries, we are eating too much of the wrong food and in developing countries we are eating too little of the right food.

Today we understand the impact and consequences of a convenient lifestyle. I remember as a child every day for dinner, my mother would cook everything from fresh natural products bought that same day. She believed and knew that food was just not to satisfy your hunger but to provide your body the right and proper nutritions. Fruits and vegetables are part of my daily diet today as a result of that.

Your body needs vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, amino acids and glyconutrients to provide your cells with proper nutrition for proper health. When you give your body the right kind of food or raw material your health will improve. Your body is a perfect machine that repairs heals and restores.

  • Healthy cells = Healthy tissue
  • Healthy tissue = Healthy organs
  • Healthy organs = Healthy systems
  • Healthy system = healthy bodies

Our food has been depleted of nutrients through the years, fruits and vegetables’ nutritional value has decreased considerably due to the new agricultural methods, green harvesting and chemicals used for quicker and more efficient production. Also, our food has been genetically modified, the food genetic code is altered, so our bodies don’t recognize the molecular structure. Higher yield is the most important variable for today’s crops.

By recognizing the nutritional depletion in our diets, supplements evolved to bridge the existing gap in our food intake. The majority of supplements in today’s market are based on coal, tar and petrochemicals. Our bodies are designed to absorb nutrients from plant source ingredients, it is advisable to carefully read and understand the label with its nutritional content before consuming any supplement.

A new movement has emerged with the organic food. It is bringing back some nutritional value to our dinner table. But high costs to purchase these products has limited consumption to a very limited group of consumers.

Organic is basically going back to how our ancestors eat, from the land and from the season, without chemicals. However, the nutritional value still might be low due to poor soils and pollution in our water and air.

Let’s make a conscious decision as to how we want to feel and look next year. Start right now to change your diet by adding fresh produces to your diet that only lasts a few days before they perish. Processed food doesn’t get worse, but it will damage your health in the long run. Whole foods are amazing, they have so many properties and natural healing powers, intended by nature to be utilized on a daily basis. The universe is interconnected, nature and the human body work synergistically.

I am an ambassador of fresh food, I believe eating whole foods and avoiding most of the processed food including juices, sodas or ready to eat meals will dramatically change the way you feel and the way you look.

Nutrition is one of the three important components of life. The balance between your spiritual being, emotional being and body close the circle of life of good health and wellness.

Carolina Levie

Nutrition and wellness coach