The effects of good nutrition on the body are as visible as the effects of bad nutrition on the body. The difference is that bad nutrition can destroy the body, while good nutrition only supports and builds up the body. Hence, the better goal in life is to maintain a lifestyle that promotes good nutrition. This will cause many positive effects, including the following 5 effects of good nutrition.

5 Effects of Good Nutrition:

1. Maintain normal body function

This includes better learning, proper balance and pH in the body tissues, to stabilize and regulate body systems like blood pressure, rebuild tissues, and maintain proper blood sugar levels

2. Maintain healthy weight

This includes proper blood pressures, less likely to allow diseases like Diabetes, heart malfunctions

3. Prevent disease

This includes prevention of cancer, tissue disease, parasitical invasions, bacterial infections

4. Pass along good start to future generations

Healthy babies, immune system, healthy pregnancy

5. Provide stress relief

Reduce side effects of drugs, boost immune system, maintain calm and coping abilities

If you can enjoy these 5 effects of good nutrition, you will be well on your way to a better, healthier body that is able to function properly.

One key to getting good nutrition regularly is to avoid excess. Balance food intake between the major groups, and eat appropriate amounts. You need a balance of proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals, fiber, and other nutrients. A multi vitamin may be helpful if you are not sure about your food intake but it is not a substitute for eating properly. Water is essential to body functioning, moving nutrients into cells, and handling waste disposal.

You can obtain and follow the standard daily food pyramid and recommended dietary allowances (RDAs) put out by the government. It is adjusted according to age because dietary needs change as a person ages.

This pyramid is composed of nutritional groups of: calories, carbohydrates, fats, proteins, fiber, vitamins and minerals, and includes lists of antioxidants and herbs that are beneficial to health.

Besides age, the body’s nutritional needs change with use of drugs, or disorders and diseases that affect the body’s ability to meet those needs, or interfere with absorption or intake of food nutrients.

There are more than the above 5 effects of good nutrition, but these go a long way to getting you started in a healthy lifestyle if you pay attention. By the way, if you cant pay attention, you may need better nutrition! Avoid excess sweets and highly refined food, because they can cause bacterial excesses that can even have a lethal result if left unchecked (Candida). By providing the proper fuel (food) to your body, you enable it to function at its optimum capacity, keeping you healthy, happy, and fit for years and years, with benefits extending even unto the next generation.

Making healthy food choices is important at any age. New medical evidence shows that what you feed your body directly affects your brain.

A “brain healthy” diet means low-fat, low cholesterol choices combined with an abundance of antioxidant foods that are beneficial to the brain. Better nutrition will be good for your heart and your mind.

Many people start out the day with supplements. While it is probably a good idea to take a daily multivitamin to give our bodies a little extra boost, popping a pill is no substitute for a well-rounded, healthy diet.

Studies have shown that most of us do not get enough protein rich foods, and when we do consume protein it is usually later in the day. Scientists know that adequate proteins are vital to having an optimum thinking process, and a protein-based meal in the middle of the day will optimize your mental performance.

But doesn’t protein usually include fat, which is bad for you? Yes, but not all fats are created equal. While it is true that we want to limit the saturated fats that are found in red meats and animal products, you can replace these “bad fats” with Omega-3 fatty acids – also called “essential fats” – which help keep the brain operating at its peak.

In fact, Omega-3 fats are so important to a good diet that a severe lack of these good fats can lead to depression, poor memory, low IQ, learning disabilities, dyslexia, ADD and many more mental disorders.

To ensure that your diet is rich in Omega-3 fats, eat plenty of oily, cold-water fish like wild salmon, sardines, whitefish, trout, tuna, herring, sable fish, mackerel and anchovies. Ask your doctor if you should also take an Omega-3 supplement on a daily basis.

While the goal is to increase the Omega-3s in your diet, you also want to decrease the intake of trans-fats – sometimes called trans fatty acids or hydrogenated vegetable oils. Found in many processed foods, trans-fats will pack on the pounds and provide absolutely no nutrition for your body. They are empty calories, so whenever possible, choose fresh foods over processed.

Carbohydrates that have been refined and processed are also considered a brain drain.

Your body will benefit if you limit the “bad” carbohydrates, such as refined white sugar and high-sugar sweetened drinks.

Foods with high sugar content also have a high glycemic index, which means they adversely affect the body by causing a spike and then a sudden drop in the blood glucose and insulin levels. So the next time you are tempted to substitute a muffin, donut or pastry for a healthy meal, remember that your body and your brain both need high quality foods that provide fuel for the body and brain.

But the body does need “brain booster” carbohydrates found in whole grains, fruits and vegetables.

In fact, your mother was right when she extolled the virtues of eating your vegetables. Even better advice is to consume both fruits and vegetables – with

an emphasis on brightly colored fresh foods.

Focus on a diet rich in fresh fruits and dark leafy vegetables and strive for at least 4-5 servings daily. Vegetables and fruits are packed with antioxidants and many essential vitamins and minerals. Plus, they are low in fat and calories. Choose foods such as kale, spinach, Brussels sprouts, alfalfa sprouts, collard greens, broccoli, beets, red bell pepper, onion, corn, soybeans, eggplant and dark green lettuces. Your brain will benefit from eating fruits with high antioxidant levels including prunes, raisins, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, plums, oranges, red grapes and cherries.

What other advice would Mom recommend? Eat in moderation. Your body has to work in overdrive to digest a huge meal, so smaller meals eaten more often is a better choice.

Nuts, also in moderation, can be a useful part of your diet. A handful of almonds, pecans and walnuts will all provide a good source of vitamin E, an antioxidant.

Drink plenty of fluids (six 8 oz. glasses a day) and make sure that a good portion is water. Limit caffeine and alcohol, although a glass of red wine daily (check with your doctor) can actually be helpful, due to the resveratrol found in dark red wines. Green tea is an excellent substitute for coffee.

The goal with good nutrition is to have a healthier body and mind. Your brain will benefit from a well-balanced diet and improved food choices. When in doubt, choose fresh options, read the labels and consult with your physician or a nutritionist.

Lady triathletes have benefited from the scientific and nutritional advances made in sports and athletics like most modern athletes. Age old sports problems like low energy, cramps and injuries have not been cured, but the answers to why they happen and how to try and prevent them are finally being answered.

Glycogen

There are times when all women triathletes experience what is known as a “bonk” or bonking. Despite the funny name or double entendres that one can think of, it is not much fun when you experience bonking, it involves you completely running out of energy or hitting the proverbial “brick wall”.

Triathletes bonk because their body uses up its glycogen reserves from physical exertion and this results in a feeling of no energy, continuing your physical activity becomes like running through quicksand.

How your body burns glycogen and stored fat calories depends on the amount you have exerted during a race or training session. If you are doing a hard triathlon workout for an hour on an empty stomach, then you will more than likely end up experiencing a “bonk”. If on the other hand you are doing a more moderate one-hour training session without eating anything, your body will use stored fat and glycogen and you will still have enough reserves to get you through.

Professional athletes learn to train their bodies to utilize stored fat primarily, instead of only their glycogen reserves. Using a monitor, they observe their heart rate while training in various heart rate zones, they can then determine how their bodies react in different conditions and intensities and learn the amount of energy they need to achieve their best performance and how to burn their glycogen and fat at different ratios.

The average woman triathlete may not be a professional, but they still need to prevent an energy deficit during a triathlon race or training. First of all, using a proper healthy triathlon designed nutrition plan is paramount, and also making sure there is always a good supply of energy gels and formulated sports drinks available to compensate the deficit in glycogen reserves will make sure that you get to the end of your race or training session.

Dehydration

Even non-athletes constantly hear advice from doctors about drinking enough water to prevent dehydration and other health problems.

The average person consumes about 1.5 gallons or more of water per day in normal bodily activities and respiration. If you are training with the intensity needed to take part in a triathlon, then your water usage level will increase, and it is recommended that you drink at least 4oz of water every 15 minutes.

Most triathletes and other athletes should drink at least one water bottle for every hour of exercise they do, and even more when they are racing.

Never wait until you are already thirsty before you drink water. Thirst is our body’s built in alarm for dehydration, and good hydration must be practised even if you are not thirsty.

Hydrating your body for triathlon workouts and races should start days before the planned activity, and if you are training multiple times a day proper hydration is even more important. Dehydration causes your blood to thicken and forces your heart to work harder to pump the blood around your body, you will have a higher heart rate and your exercise performance will decrease. Dehydration can also result in muscle cramps that can greatly affect your athletic performance.

Hyponatremia

Apart from bonks and dehydration, triathletes may also experience Hyponatremia, an electrolyte disturbance where the plasma has a lower concentration of sodium than normal. During training or racing in a hot climate, the body sweats excessively and loses a great amount of sodium which results in muscle cramps, nausea, headaches, vomiting, disorientation and slurred speech.

Ironman athletes are prone to Hyponatremia because of the extreme nature of the event. Many pro triathlete women fight sodium loss by taking salt tablets which do not just replace sodium in the body but also help the body in the absorption of water.

The good thing for the average triathlete is that much of this type of research is available to anyone, and the remedies and preventative measures are not expensive treatments but simple things that are basically “tricks of the trade”.

Most of these simple remedies have been well field tested to help you push yourself harder and improve your training and race times without any adverse affects to your health.

As long as your doctor has cleared you to do triathlon training beforehand and you tell him what diet and supplements you are taking, you should be able to start testing some of them and slowly become a better woman triathlete.