Before we start on space flight nutritions. I am going to talk about the importance of nutritions. Nutritions can help you grow strong muscles and bones. It also helps you to sustain in keeping yourself healthy and by eating right, it can definitely help you to determine the quality of your life. For astronauts, they would still need to eat even when they are out of space. Their bodies would still need vitamins, minerals and calories.
Even laboratory scientists have to make recommendations for what the astronauts need to consume during their time in space, the scientists would also need to change the recommendations based on their research. Usually the laboratory scientists will keep track of the astronauts by reviewing computerised questionnaires that the astronauts would fill once a week. Apart from that, the scientists do collect blood and urine samples before and after the astronauts’ flight.
Lastly, they will measure the biochemicals to know the level of nutritions left in the astronauts’ bodies. The reason why the scientists have to do this is because they have to find out the concentration of vitamins and minerals. Also to check other biochemicals such as muscles, bones, kidneys etc. Nutritions are very important for our astronauts as there are harmful effects of what space flight could do to the astronauts’ bodies. By knowing the measurements of nutritions, these foods can be learned, modified and designed for the astronauts.
Going deeper in the context, our bodies need some categories of nutrients. Before that, macronutrients, which are fats, protein and carbohydrate, are the calories we consume everyday. While micronutrients are vitamins and minerals, they are still important for our body but do not have to consume so much. Furthermore, macronutrients give us the energy to grow and do things. Every cell in our body needs the energy to function properly, that is why it is important to balance our calories intake and the energy we use everyday to keep ourselves going. If we don’t get enough macronutrients, we would easily get tired and our muscles will not work well.
To conclude, in order to balance it,we have to do some exercise and consume good nutritions to get good overall health. But it’s not just that, we should also include the right amount of calories in our food intake. You can get the right number by knowing the source of the food. To make it simple, a healthy diet should have 50 to 60% from carbohydrates which are rice, bread and pasta. You must not forget to have 30% of fats which you can get from whole milk, nuts and meat, and lastly 15% of proteins from whole grains, dairy products, beans and meats. If you think you are not getting enough nutrients, go and head over online grocery Malaysia. You can also check their food labels behind every product you buy from the supermarket by checking their serving size, check how many their serving size. Not to forget to check how many calories and the percentages of fats, carbohydrates and proteins.
Moving to the next point, I am going to talk about vitamin D. Vitamin D can be received from two things, from vitamins and hormones. From vitamins, it can be synthesized as it is made in your skin. But in order to get this, your skin must be exposed to sunlight. While hormones are biochemically made in one part in your body and acts on another part. If you do not get enough sunlight, but you still would like to get vitamin D, you can naturally get it from fish. You can also consume fortified food, which nutrients have been added to it. Fortified foods are milk and cereals, and also some orange juice.
Furthermore, vitamins are vital for your bones, as it helps your body to use the calcium in your diet. The effects of not getting enough vitamin D, mainly it will make your body not get enough vitamins, you will not be able to use calcium from your food and your bones will become weak. But if you get too much sunlight, you can get sunburn and skin cancer, make sure you know your limitations. People that work as astronauts are not exposed to the sunlight, this is because windows of space vehicles block that specific type of ray that helps to make the vitamin D, because even when the astronauts consume extra vitamin D, they often have a lower amount of it after the flight.