The word “diet” is related to Greek διατροφή (τροφή) (dia-treh-FOH, treh-FOH), meaning “a way of living.” Diets are often categorized as being healthy or unhealthy and some people may refer to certain diets as being a fad diet. The most prevalent type of diet among Americans consists of reduced dietary energy intake, increased polyunsaturated fatty acid consumption, and weight loss. Lifestyle staffing lynchburg tn is a common term for this kind of diet. Diets have been around as long as humans have. The ancient Greeks believed that you should balance the four humors (blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile), in order to remain healthy.
The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates (460-370 B.C.) developed the Hippocratic Diet which consisted of eating “clean” foods such as fruits and vegetables and avoiding “unclean” foods such as meat or fish which were believed to be bad for your health. In 300 B.C., the Greek physician Asclepiad proposed that diets should be used for disease prevention, rather than for curing diseases since there was no known cure at that time.
The History of Healthy Lifestyle :
1. The ancient Greeks
The ancient Greeks used diets to prevent illness, treat diseases, and to gain weight. The physician Hippocrates (460-370 B.C.) used dietary practices for preventing disease as evidenced by his “Hippocratic Diet.” Hippocrates believed that it was unnecessary to regard the stomach as an organ for digestion of food and that food should not be disturbed until it reaches the small intestine.
He also viewed eating a lot of fat in foods as being unhealthy because grease is cold and moist and the body doesn’t want such food. Another aspect of Hippocrates’ diet was that he believed consumption of certain foods such as fish made people aristoi (eaters of expensive fish).
2. The Romans
The Romans were very much people of the diet. They believed that if you drank wine in excess you’d be more sensitive to pain and would die sooner, as evident by their saying “corps succumbit” which meant that overindulgence in alcohol will eventually kill you. The Romans also used food and drink to ward off disease and keep the body healthy. The Romans believed that eating a lot of fruits and vegetables made them strong against illness because they lacked fats. Also, drinking water was thought to be important because it would give the body a cold sensation so it would perspire which would increase the flow of blood in order to transport all of the necessary nutrients to all parts of your body.
3. The Middle Ages
The Middle Ages were a time of great food and wine consumption as evidenced by the long sermons that were given. These sermons focused on the cultivation of good eating habits that included drinking lots of wine, eating meat, and eating cheese whenever possible. Also, beef was used for the treatment of many diseases, ranging from migraine attacks to leprosy.
The disease was thought to be caused by lurking miasma (air) and consuming beef helped remove it through sweat-drying or salivation. People believed that if they did not consume such foods it would result in early death or an illness which would be hard to recover from.
4. The Renaissance
The Renaissance was a time of great advancement in science and art. Medical knowledge of the time was dominated by humoral theory, which held that body fluids (blood, phlegm, yellow bile, black bile) were responsible for human health and personality traits. The four humors affected both the health of an individual and their personality based on the dominance of certain humors in the body.
This theory dictated diet so that an individual could be cured or so that their health would remain normal or remain balanced. A few changes to the diet of this time included the introduction of oranges and lemons, which were once thought to be the same type of fruit. These fruits were believed to help with a variety of illnesses from underachieving in school to urinary problems. Also, during the Renaissance wine was viewed as a health elixir due to its medicinal properties.
5. The Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a time of great change in diet and health, both for the better and for the worse. As people began to move into cities in mass numbers, living conditions became crowded and unsanitary.
While this movement towards urbanization resulted in a larger workforce to support the industrial economy, it also became associated with poverty and pollution from factories. At this time, fresh food was hard to come by so many people relied on cheap processed foods as their main source of nutrition.
