Diet is the set of food substances that make up the nutritional behavior of living beings. The concept comes from the Greek diaita , which means “way of life” . The diet, therefore, is a habit and constitutes a way of living.
Sometimes the term is used to refer to special diets to lose weight or combat certain diseases, although these cases represent modifications of the diet and not the diet itself. eating habits influence the diet.
Diet types
According to the diet they follow, living beings can be classified in different ways: carnivores (they eat meat), detritivores (they feed on dead organic substances), herbivores (they eat plants and fruits), insectivores (insects), omnivores (their system can digest meats and vegetables), or cannibals (they eat members of the same species), among others. Human beings are omnivorous by nature, although for ideological or religious reasons, many choose to be vegetarians (they abstain from meat and fish).
Veganism, also known as strict vegetarianism, excludes any food product of animal origin from the diet. Better said, any whose elaboration requires the torture and murder of an animal For this reason, it does not admit meat of any kind, eggs, or milk, but only vegetable products. Veganism has historically reduced the risk of cancer and other diseases.
Certain foods make a diet unhealthy.
Cultural, social, and economic influences on food
Human nutrition is not determined only by biological issues but is also influenced by social, economic, and cultural factors. Many times, the diet is conditioned by the availability of food, which depends on climatic conditions and the geographical location of each region.
Neither can we forget the personal factors that determine a diet, such as taste, the influence of advertising for certain food products, aesthetic preferences, and other issues.
Each country and region has its own diet due to climate, availability, and customs. Argentina, for example, has one of the highest beef consumption rates in the world. The United States, on the other hand, is characterized by the intake of junk food, that is, foods with little nutritional value and high levels of fat or sugar, such as hamburgers. This diet has caused an epidemic of obesity in the American population.
All this shows us that the importance of diet is too great to cover only the food aspect of our lives. Each country has unique customs, holidays, languages, and dishes that seem impossible to replicate, “magic” elsewhere.
Returning to the case of veganism
Although the first of its features that comes to mind is that it does not admit the consumption of animal products in its diet, it is about much more than that: it is a compassionate way of sharing the planet with the world. rest of living beings Giraffes cannot hunt, so they tear fresh leaves from the trees with their teeth. We also cannot hunt without weapons, so we should limit ourselves to agriculture.
Producing food or rearing animals in confinement and eating them tells a lot about ourselves. We must adopt a diet that is consistent with our principles and makes us proud of our decisions.
