When we talk about healthy life, the terms diet and nutrition will always come in to the picture. From that, we can understand the importance of a good diet and nutrition to maintain a healthy life. However, diet and nutrition are not the same; they have different meanings, but closely related to each other. This article focuses on the characteristic features of diet and nutrition, the similarities and differences between them, and a common comparison linking them.
What is diet?
Diet is a sum of food a person or other organism consumes. Diet may comprise various components. The composition of those components again can be varied depending on several criteria. The composition of a diet vastly depends on the environmental conditions of living, religious opinions, personal preferences, food availability, economical status etc. For an example, rich people can have superior diets where the poor have to rely on inferior goods for their diets. Based on some religious or cultural believes, people tend to restrict their diets in to a narrow range of foods. Especially, some prohibit consuming meat, fish and eggs. According to the varieties of diets, the dietary patterns are identified as pure vegetarianism, ovo- vegetarianism, lacto-vegetarianism, non-vegetarianism (omnivores) etc.
People take their diet in accordance to a daily planner. Most of the people have planned to take their diet in three times a day. Those meals are breakfast, lunch and dinner; some have an additional one called supper. People tend to be flexible in their dietary plans, depending on the convenience, nutritional states, health, weight management etc.
What is nutrition?
Nutrition is a process by which a living organism assimilates food and uses it for growth and replacement of tissues. According to the different types of dietary patterns, nutritional state of a person might change. Nutrition is gained from the different nutritive components in foods. The key nutrients needed to maintain a healthy life are, proteins, carbohydrates, fat, vitamins and minerals. When the amount of a nutrient intake is less than the required, the arising condition is called nutrient disorder or unbalanced nutritional conditions. The entire human health status can be threatened by the prevailing nutrient deficiencies all over the world. Iron deficiency (anemia), vitamin A deficiency, Iodine deficiency, and protein deficiency are the most vulnerable deficiency conditions in the world. Many health related problems can be avoided by having a good nourishment. In other words, they can be prevented by having a proper diet.
What is the difference between Diet and Nutrition?
The main way of getting nutrition is by having a proper diet. Diet comprises of different foods, which contain nutrients. When the foods are ingested, nutrients are absorbed by the body. Body uses them in different metabolic activities. A poor diet will result in a poor metabolic efficiency. Finally, it may lead to nutrient disorders or unbalance nutritional conditions in human body.