An informative blog post about the need to choose nutrients above taste, all day, every day.
Everyone’s got food on their mind – even if not everyone admits it.
Food is just as crucial as oxygen or water, or anything else in the entire world.
Breathing’s great, water’s fantastic, but they sure don’t make your taste buds go crazy like food. But sometimes, we forget the fundamental essence of food. It’s not about the taste; it’s about the nutrients!
This blog post discusses the prevalent fixation on taste over nutrients, the importance of nutrients, and how freeze-dried foods combine the best of both worlds.
Why’s everyone so obsessed with taste?
As children, we learn about the different classes of food and their effects on our bodies. These food classes are accompanied by particular nutrients that aid body function and deliver crucial chemicals needed by the body.
Sadly, we’ve stopped thinking about food in terms of nutrition. We prefer to make food choices based almost entirely on taste and flavoring.
Energy-dense, nutrient-deficient foods dominate today's modern industrialized food supply). Due to enormous volumes, low pricing, and convenience of consumption, these foods are high in sugar, saturated fat, and sodium and are highly processed and widely accessible.
It appears that most people have succumbed to their inner desires to prioritize pleasure (great taste and flavoring) above everything else.
There’s also a bit of a false connection between nutrients and taste. It appears that many people believe that tasty foods are nutritious foods. While that may be true with many fruits, it isn’t always the case. Sugar-sweetened beverages are delicious but are very unhealthy. Brussel sprouts don’t taste great, but they have great nutritional value.
In the end, the preference for taste over nutrition may just be a simple demonstration of the innate human desire always to choose pleasure. Perhaps, a constant reminder of the importance of nutrients to the body might just be the game-changer.
The Importance of Nutrients to the Body
Nutrients are split in two ways, macronutrients and micronutrients.
Macronutrients are consumed in large amounts and are essential to the sustenance of the human body. They include protein, carbohydrates, and fat.
Micronutrients, on the other hand, are taken in small doses but have maximum effects. Minerals and vitamins are the micronutrients we have, and they are found in vegetables and fruits and sometimes in other types of food. They include calcium, potassium, and all the vitamins.
Nutrients are essential for many reasons, including but certainly not limited to the following:
Nutrients are great energy providers
Two primary nutrients provide this energy: carbohydrates and fats.
Carbohydrates contain four calories per gram, the same amount of calories as proteins and half the fat calories. The body breaks these nutrients into glucose to use for fuel. Fats only yield nine kcals/gram, but they tend to serve as a long-term energy source because they take longer to break down.
Nutrients destroy harmful substances
Nutrients help to protect the human body from certain health dangers.
For example, nutrients can neutralize free radicals, a type of cell-damaging particle formed during metabolism. They may act as antioxidants to slow or stop damage caused by toxins, pollution, or radiation. They are also helpful in producing other nutrients and chemicals by the body for growth, maintenance, and reproduction.
Nutrients make the skin, bones, nails, and teeth stronger
A calcium-rich diet maintains strong bones and teeth and helps prevent osteoporosis-related bone loss. Calcium is found in low-fat dairy products like milk, cheese, yogurt, dark green vegetables like bok choy and broccoli, and fortified foods like soy products, fruit juices, and cereals.
Even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend 1,000 mg of calcium each day for persons aged 19-50.
Nutrition helps to control your weight
Overly sweet food, including sodas and fast food, usually come with calorie-baggage. They fill you up with calories that build up more fat and ultimately cause significant health issues.
On the other hand, Nutritious food keeps your calorie count in check so that you maintain a good BMI and stay healthy.
How the wrong food preservation method can rob you of good nutrients
Getting great nutrients isn’t always a matter of the type of food you choose to eat. You can eat naturally nutritious food like fruits and crops and still lose out on nutrients.
Specific food preservation techniques can be responsible for nutrient loss — even in the most nutritious foods.
Here are some examples of the most popular preservation methods and the nutrient levels maintained and lost during the preservation process:
Canning
Canned food causes up to one-third or half of the loss in nutrients such as Vitamin A, Vitamin C, thiamine, and riboflavin.
There are also additional vitamin losses of around 5% — 20% with every passing year.
Freezing
As a result of oxidation, frozen foods lose nutrients even faster than canned foods. Freezing vegetables alone can cause them to lose 15%-20% of Vitamin C.
Frozen foods lose almost all nutrients if not consumed within 3-6 months of storage.
Drying/Dehydration
Dehydrated foods fare better than most of the other popular options of preserving food. However, considerable nutrient losses, especially to Vitamin C and Vitamin A, also occur.
Now, it may seem like there’s really no way to preserve food while still enjoying great nutrients, that isn’t the case. There is one food preservation technique that retains virtually all of the nutritional properties of most types of food.
This food preservation method is so effective that NASA uses it to preserve food for astronauts. Food kept in this way is often referred to as “space food.”
Freeze-drying saves up to 98% of nutrients
Freeze-dried foods — are the end product of the freeze-drying process. In freeze-drying (lyophilization), a process referred to as sublimation, removes moisture from frozen raw products.
Freeze-drying is a revolutionary technique that has protected both flavor and nutrients for up to 25 years. That’s why it’s space food for astronauts. Even soldiers eat freeze-dried food to stay healthy during combat missions.
Freeze-drying works on fruits and vegetables and coffee, fish, natural food flavorings, seafood, eggs, dairy, and even stew and soups.
Freeze-dried foods are literally the best of both worlds, and they give you the flavor as well as almost all the nutrients.
Final thoughts
In a taste-craze world, nutrition still remains the most critical factor to be considered when making food choices.
Good taste is beautiful and makes food more enjoyable, but it should never be at the expense of good nutrition. Good nutrition guarantees better health, delivers longer life expectancy and helps cure many diseases.
Therefore, to make the best food choices, it is best not to rely on preservation techniques that preserve taste alone.
Go for taste. Go harder for nutrition. Go for freeze-dried food.
One Last Thing:
If you’ve ever wondered what astronauts eat, or whether space food is really different from what you enjoy on Earth, check our Amazon page HERE and test it yourself! Don't miss the opportunity to taste real astronaut food.
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