You Are What You Eat

An introduction to the importance of what we eat.

The term ‘you are what you eat’ indicates that the type of food one consumes has a direct impact on ones body and consequently health. Our bodies need specific amounts of nutrients and minerals in order to survive and function properly. Although these amounts are relatively small, they are imperative. If all the minerals were extracted from the human body, they would only weigh around 2kg, however without them, we would not have healthy bones, teeth, muscles and even our hearts would not be able to beat regularly. 

In the early 1900s, scientists discovered the importance of vitamins for the correct functioning of the body. When trying to find out the causes of scurvy and other degenerative diseases, they came across specific compounds that had a direct effect on human health. They called each compound vitamin A, B, C etc. This scientific discovery is an important factor in proving that you really are what you eat. These compounds, or nutrients, are found in the foods that we ingest and each one plays a vital role in how we are created and survive. Taking scurvy as an example, if the body is deficient in vitamin C (ascorbic acid), a person can have swollen bleeding gums and an inability to heal wounds. According to the NHS website, adults need just 40mg vitamin C per day, which, it states, should be easily acquired from ones daily diet. This one vitamin is imperative to protect and maintain cells - healthy skin, blood vessels, bones and cartilage. The human body cannot synthesise or store vitamin C and so it must be eaten in order to be absorbed. Each vitamin, like C, has its own important role to play and without it, the body will deteriorate. This is a direct example of how ‘you are what you eat’.

In addition to vitamins, our body weight is made up of 50-60% water. Our blood is 92% water, brain and muscles are 72% water and even our bones are 22% water. Without water, nothing can function. Our body uses up a minimum of 1 litre of it each day and more in hot weather or through exercise. In order to survive, we should ideally consume 1.5 to 2 litres of water every day. Without food, we can live for up to around a month. Without water, however, we tend to live around 3 days before our bodies give up. This proves just how imperative it is for our survival. When we are dehydrated, our bodies show physical signs quickly: our lips, skin and hands become dry, our urine smells and becomes dark, we feel thirsty and tired. Nothing can rectify these symptoms apart from drinking water. Yet more proof that ‘you are what you eat’.

Many physical ailments will occur when we do not have a healthy, varied diet. According to The Health Survey for England in 2017, 28.7% of adults in England are obese and a further 35.6% are overweight. This is an alarming number because of the complications that arise from being overweight. Obesity causes 30,000 deaths a year and many more illnesses than that. Heart disease and bowel cancers are some of the most common illnesses in the Western world and are mostly caused by poor diet choices. In fact, around 75% of people living in affluent parts of the world are dying at a young age from heart disease and other diet related illnesses.

Dangerously high cholesterol levels in the body cause a multitude of spiralling events that can devastatingly lead to a heart attack and possibly death. Our bodies need cholesterol to build healthy cells. Cholesterol is absorbed into the body from eggs, dairy products and meat but we also produce it in the liver from saturated fatty acids. In today’s Western world, an emphasis is put on meat being the basis of a staple diet. With fast food being the norm, we are constantly ingesting high levels of saturated fat from palm oils, cured meats, cakes, bacon. The list goes on. A small amount of saturated fat is healthy but because we are having, in general, far more than is recommended (approx. 20g a day for women and 30g a day for men), our bodies are storing more than is safe. The cholesterol is stored as fatty deposits in our blood vessels, which cause blockages in our arteries. If not reversed, it can potentially cause a heart attack.  Cholesterol levels can be reduced and regulated by introducing vegetables and unsaturated fats into the diet, such as oily fish, nuts and olive oil. These products are known to lower cholesterol, in addition to offering many other healthful effects on the body.

Fats are important for the full functioning of the body and brain. The brain is more than 60% fat. Fatty acids, made from omega 3 and omega 6 oils (found in unsaturated fats), regulate the prostaglandins (chemicals that regulate neurotransmitters, which transmit information between nerve cells). There is evidence that mental illness is caused by an imbalance of fatty acids. For example, people with schizophrenia have low levels of omega 3 fats, which stabilise the production of ‘soothing’ prostaglandins, meaning there is a build up of bad prostaglandins, which irritate the brain. This is the case in many mental illnesses. We can rebalance by eating more food that contains omega 3. Therefore, another reason why we are what we eat, quite literally.

Interestingly, there is proof that vegetarians are amongst the healthiest people living. Fewer cancers, bowel problems and heart diseases are recorded in vegetarians. There is less obesity amongst vegetarians and the foods they eat remove excess cholesterol from the blood stream, leaving them free from the major problems that excessive meat eating diets can cause. In addition, fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds and pulses all offer the nutrients that our bodies need to survive. They are easy for our systems to digest and absorb the right amount of each nutrient to function fully, hence living a healthier lifestyle.

There are countless examples to demonstrate how what we eat directly affects our health and wellbeing, both mental and physical. In the Western world, we are dying prematurely due to a lack of nutritious eating. Take-aways, junk food, sugar and perhaps a lack of education, all contribute to heart disease, cancers and mental illness. There are many studies that prove the importance of healthy eating. For example, a study into the ‘Mediterranean Diet’ (whole grains, fruit, vegetables, nuts, beans and herbs) found that those eating this natural diet had a noticeable positive change in their overall health in a short period of time. This, along with other experiments, proves the importance of eating whole, natural food in a varied diet. 

To conclude, this essay merely touches upon the importance of the types of food that we consume. Everything that we eat does have a direct influence on the functioning, health and longevity of our bodies. There is so much proof that a poor diet will likely cause serious complications and possibly premature death. The food we eat can and will change our lifespan and how much we can enjoy the short time we have on this planet. Therefore, in so many ways, we really are what we eat.

References

1. Friedman, H.S. Psychology Today (2013) You Are What You Eat [Accessed 14.09.2020 at https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/secrets-longevity/201306/you-are-what-you-eat]

2. Health Express (2020) Obesity Statistics, facts and figures in the UK [Accessed on 13.9.2020 at https://www.healthexpress.co.uk/obesity/uk-statistics]

3. Mayo Clinic (2020) High Cholesterol [Accessed on 13.9.2020 at https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/high-blood-cholesterol/symptoms-causes/syc-20350800]

4. NHS.co.uk (2020) Vitamin C Vitamins and Minerals [Accessed on 13.09.2020 at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-and-minerals/vitamin-c/]

5. UK Parliament: House of Commons Library (2019) Obesity Statistics [Accessed on 13.9.20 at https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn03336/]