Nutrition is Important to Young Adults
Like the topic of sleep hygiene, nutrition is equally crucial for a young adult’s development. Their diet and intake will directly impact their mental health, physical health, and can prevent future (read: chronic) health conditions. If you are reading this, I imagine you know what it feels like to be hungry. I can go out on a limb and guess you maybe have also experienced what it feels like to feel tired, hangry, exhausted, or overfilled. These are all signals being sent from your body to your brain. Thinking about these signals makes me think about awareness and the type of food young adults are putting into our bodies. It’s no wonder that nutrition is a piece that can impact a young adult’s overall health.
If you are surviving on a fast-food diet, you probably find yourself low energy frequently. That, and likely are unhappy and overweight. That’s why the skill of learning about the basics of nutrition, menu planning, grocery shopping, and how to cook are all skills being taught in most young adult transitional programs. This is basic education that’s important for young adults to learn to be self-sufficient. Not talking about how the food a young adult puts in their body and how it impacts them, is hurting them. We need to get dialed with understanding nutrition to better ensure a healthy diet, and a health life.
I haven’t even mentioned how nutrition impacts immune health, muscle growth and repair (i.e. protein), bone strength (i.e. calcium and Vitamin D), brain functioning (i.e. Omega-3 fatty acids like fish), digestion (i.e. constipation), and then prevents serious health conditions such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, or even some mood disorders. All of this is to say, with a lack of education and understanding, young adults may inherently be creating more challenges for themselves in the long term of their lives. A balanced diet and maintaining a healthy weight for a young adult is just one area of focus that cannot be ignored anymore.
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