B1.1.1 Diet and Exercise
Summary
A combination of a balanced diet and regular exercise is needed to help keep the body healthy.
Healthy Diet
- A healthy diet contains the right balance of the different foods you need and the right amount of energy.
- These foods should provide the following nutrient groups:
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- Carbohydrates for energy and to make cell structures
- Fat for energy and insulation and cell structures
- Protein to control cell reactions (as enzymes) and to build cell structures
- Vitamins and minerals to help our bodies function well.
Malnourishment
- A person is malnourished if their diet is not balanced.
- This may lead to a person being overweight or underweight.
- An unbalanced diet may also lead to diseases.
- Lack of essential nutrients in the diet can lead to deficiency diseases.
- Excess intake of high energy foods can lead to type 2 diabetes.
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- This is a disease where the person is unable to control the levels of sugar in their blood.
- This is very dangerous, and the person must carefully control their diet and monitor their blood sugar levels regularly.
Slimming programmes
- A person gains mass when the energy content of the food taken in is more than the amount of energy expended by the body.
- A person loses mass when the energy content of the food taken in is less than the amount of energy expended by the body.
- An effective slimming programme advises people to reduce the energy content of their food, and to increase the amount they exercise.
- Some slimming programmes encourage people to consume a low proportion of one of the nutrient groups in their diet. This may enable them to lose weight, but it will not necessarily be a sensible, healthy diet.
Exercise
- Exercise increases the amount of energy expended by the body.
- People who exercise regularly are usually healthier than people who take little exercise.
- They expend more energy and their circulatory system becomes more efficient.
- They are likely to have lower blood pressure, and less likely to be overweight.
Metabolic rate
- This is the rate at which all the chemical reactions in the cells of the body are carried out.
- One major set of metabolic reactions is respiration.
- The rate of these reactions vary with the amount of activity you do.
- The more activity, the more energy is required by the body.
- Metabolic rate also varies with respect to the proportion of muscle to fat in your body.
- The higher the proportion of muscle to fat, the higher the metabolic rate.
- Exercise increases the proportion of muscle to fat.
Inheritance
- Inherited factors can influence our health.
- We can inherit genes from our parents which can influence our metabolic rate.
- We can also inherit genes which influence our cholesterol level.
- Cholesterol is a substance that our body creates from fat that we consume in our diet.
- Cholesterol is needed to make cell membranes.
- However, too much cholesterol can increase the chance of cardio-vascular diseases, such as strokes, heart attacks and thrombosis.