Significance of Science-Based Information
Have you altered what you eat based upon information you’ve received by companies, ambassadors, family, or your friends?
Having graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and Food Science, specializing in Dietetics, I have dedicated several years to studying nutrition and its effects on our bodies. However, my journey with nutrition actually began in high school, not during my freshman year of college. My eating patterns led to an unsatisfactory relationship with food and negatively impacted my self-image, largely because my diet did not align with my values and preferences.
At the end of my freshman year in high school, I realized that I needed to change my diet. This desire prompted concerns from my parents about how I could maintain adequate nutritional status. Motivated by their concerns, I began conducting my own research, exploring medical research papers and college nutrition textbooks to demonstrate that it is possible to be vegetarian while properly fueling my body.
Nutrition has the most profound impact on your body, as what you put in your body affects you in millions of ways, some that you can immediately notice such as in terms of energy levels, ability to concentrate, performance or even changes in mood as food affects your hormones.
Through all the gimmicks that companies use to try to make you change your diet, or sell you an “amazing” life changing product, young adults are often not told unbiased, true information about how they should be fueling their bodies.
This post explores how young adults need to seek science-backed studies through unbiased published research and credible nutrition professionals about ways to help their bodies.
Often, companies within the food industry try to influence susceptible individuals with promising health claims, suggesting that adherence to their nutrition guidelines or purchasing their products will benefit consumers in multiple ways.
Let’s look at what Reid Health on Setpember 8, 2022 said “The Boston Medical Center says of an estimated 45 million Americans who go on a diet annually, 50% use fad diets.”
Many companies prioritize profit over their customers, leading to the promotion of fad diets. These diets promise significant health benefits but often prove to be harmful in the long run. This is especially true if individuals restrict themselves from a variety of food groups in order to follow these trendy diets, which can negatively impact their overall health and development.
Now that we understand the motives behind the creation of FAD diets lets look at why properly fueling your body is so important.
Knowing how you should be fueling your body during your time as a young adult is crucial.
SickKids staff from AboutKidsHealth on March 23, 2020 said “Teens need extra nutrients to support bone growth, hormonal changes and organ and tissue development, including the brain.”
Individuals health in the long run often times points back to their health as a young adult, as our body uses the nutrients that we consume to build crucial components of our body, and there are certain vitamins that are absorbed more in our adolescence than are able to be absorbed later on.
Oftentimes companies within the food industry try to influence susceptible individuals with promising claims that if they follow their guidelines or buy their product they will benefit nutritionally. Taking the journey to find out for yourself how you should be fueling your body during your time as a young adult is key. Young adults should take a voyage to find out what their body needs nutritionally through looking at unbiased information. There is too much misinformation out there about what you should eat, unbiased resources backed by scientific evidence should be the only trustable source.
References
Sickkids staff. (2020, March 23). Healthy eating for teens. AboutKidsHealth
https://www.aboutkidshealth.ca/Article?contentid=638&language=English
Reid Health. (2022, September 8). Fad diets: The New Year’s resolution’s worst enemy. Reid Health.
https://www.reidhealth.org/blog/fad-diets-the-new-years-resolutions-worst-enemy
