Eating Healthy foods is the First Step to better Health and a Longer Life

Good Nutrition is the First Step to better Health and a Longer Life

Importance of a Healthy Diet

From fast food joints to aisles and aisles of junk foods, unhealthy foods seem to be everywhere. Even worse, many perceive these foods to be tastier than their healthy counterparts. This can make it difficult for people to make smart choices about food. Whether you're thinking about overhauling your diet or just need a bit more motivation to keep up your current efforts eat eating healthy, it's smart to keep focusing on the benefits of healthy diet. Remembering why you are eating healthy can make it easier to make better choices.

Basic Bodily Functions

Your body needs a variety of nutrients just to function normally. It needs calcium to build strong bones, protein to repair muscles and iron to make red blood cells to carry oxygen throughout the body. You get all of these nutrients by eating a wide variety of nutritious foods. Junk foods may be convenient, but they don't usually have necessary vitamins and minerals, and when you fill up on junk foods, you won't be able to eat the healthier foods. Even when you are smart about eating healthy foods, it's still a good idea to take a multivitamin daily to be sure your body is getting everything it needs.

Preventing Illness

Many common sicknesses can be prevented or reduced by eating nutritious foods. For example, a diet that doesn't incorporate a lot of fruits and vegetables can cause high cholesterol, which increases the risk of heart disease. According to the President's Council on Fitness, Sports, & Nutrition, poor diet also relates to high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis and some types of cancer. (http://www.fitness.gov/eat-healthy/why-is-it-important/) While good nutrition isn't a cure-all for disease, it's an excellent place to start. Simply replacing some foods with better choices is a step in the right direction. For example, you might choose brown rice instead of white or have a small salad as a side dish with your sandwich instead of chips.

Feeling Better

Eating healthy foods can also give you more energy and help you think even more clearly. Many people don't even realize they're living in a fog until they make changes in their eating habits. You might start by eliminating refined sugars from your diet for a short period of time and make note of the changes. Some people are surprised to find that having a green smoothie in the morning gives them even more energy than their coffee used to.

Maintaining a Healthy Weight

While it's true that it's possible to be healthy and overweight, or unhealthy at a "normal" weight, focusing on eating healthy foods can help prevent the weight fluctuations that occur with making poor food choices. Though weight loss and gain is not an exact science, it's definitely true that junk foods often have a higher calorie count per volume, which usually causes people to gain weight. On the other hand, healthy foods like fruits and vegetables have fewer calories. This means that a person can easily feel up on a low-calorie food like broccoli for few calories. Anyone who wants to reduce calorie intake without feeling hungry will find that focusing on fruits and vegetables can get the job done. In many cases, weight loss occurs naturally when someone eliminates junk foods from their diet.

Setting Good Examples

When kids come into play, it becomes even more important to eat healthy foods. While everyone jokes about children only eating macaroni and cheese, pizza and hot dogs, this is detrimental to their health. Many young children are already struggling with obesity, and some of the types of health problems that are more typically found in adults are starting to show up in younger children. Whether you have children of your own or you are a beloved friend or relative, eating healthy foods sets a good example for the kids you love. Show them how much you love to eat healthy foods, and try preparing them in different ways. These can both help kids to try out new foods.

Eating healthier foods is often a learning process. Someone who goes "cold turkey" or tries to follow an eating plan that forbids certain foods may find themselves reverting back to bad habits when they feel deprived. In most cases, it's best to incorporate small changes and to try to make healthy choices most of the time. It's OK to have cake or pizza sometimes, but balance it out with salads, smoothies and foods made from whole grains.

The secret to helping prevent, delay or minimize illness is Good Nutrition

It's not difficult to ensure you are getting adequate nutrition, it simply involves eating healthy food such as fresh fruits, vegetables and dairy products that contain natural nutrients. Try to avoid junk and processed foods.

Food Then and Now: How Much Has Nutrition Changed?

If you have a grandparent you must have listened to them telling you stories that start with "back in my day". The story may have been about how they walked in the snow to school shoeless, or how they had to fight tigers. These stories may have been exaggerations, and there is no way to prove them. However, if your grandparent is telling you just how much nutrition has changed, then you need to grab a stool and listen because they are right, and there is overwhelming evidence to prove this. A recent study done at the University of Colorado showed that the quality of food has greatly declined over the last 100 years. According to this study, food density has declined by about 40 to 60% over the last 100 years. What this means is that the food we are eating today, has 50% fewer nutrients compared to what our grandparents consumed.

Essential nutrients such as minerals, vitamins, phytochemcials and antioxidants are foundational to a strong body and healthy cells. Another study showed that only 11% of Americans eat at least 3 vegetables and 2 fruits in a day. It is such unhealthy choices and poor nutritional habits that have opened doors to a myriad of diseases. To make good nutritional choices, we must look at what we are doing wrong and learn from what our grandparents did right.

Eggs, Meat and Dairy products

Factory farmed dairy products were inconceivable in the days of our grandparents. People who did not own their own farms and raise their animals would have milk delivered from a local dairy. Meat and poultry products were bought from the local butcher who owned an animal farm. Genetically modified feeds, antibiotics and growth hormones were not used. Our ancestors may have eaten too much of these products but the animals were reared on grass and not on growth hormones. Times have changed, and today, over 10 billion animals are raised in America. However, most of them never experience daylight save for the day they are being slaughtered. They are raised in tiny, dark and unsanitary conditions that provide a good breeding ground for disease causing micro-organisms. The unnatural foods consumed by these animals are heavily loaded with chemicals that have a negative impact on the consumers. The drugs pumped in the feeds and in the animals diminish the nutrient absorption, and significantly reduce the ability to derive nutrients from them. To get the right nutrients from meat, eggs and dairy products go for organic products. Processed Foods

In the past, food was made from scratch. Things took a different turn after the 1950, the idea of faster foods and shortcuts slowly started creeping in. Today, nearly 70% of the processed foods contain artificial sweeteners, colors and genetically modified ingredients. They are also stabilized with chemical preservatives and trans fats. As if this is not bad enough, they are packed in plastic bags that potentially cause birth defects and cancer. Processed foods are the major reasons why people are getting sick and fat. If most of your favorite foods have a shelf life of about a decade, then you have reason to worry. Often times, they are loaded with harmful preservatives some of which are suspected to be human carcinogens. Have you ever wondered why junk foods such as candy, soft soda, chips, cookies and fast foods are very addictive? Processed foods contain high levels of fructose corn syrup and sugar. Both of these deplete the nutrients in your body. What is more alarming is that fructose corn syrup makes it very hard for you to quit eating junk. High consumption of fructose corn syrup slows down the release of a hormone known as leptin. This is the hormone in your body that alerts you when you are full. This means that you keep eating and this is why most obese people cannot really explain how they got fat. It appears as though it happened overnight. It is time to return to the basics, prepare your foods from scratch and avoid junk. Fruits and Vegetables

The nutritional value of vegetables and fruits is also at risk. Many of the nutrients that were once found in vegetables and fruits have greatly diminished. For instance, an apple today carries less that 50% of the nutrients it once had 100 years ago. Poor farming methods have led to depleted soil and sick plants which need a higher dose or herbicides and pesticides. This is what is ailing our fruits and vegetables. The truth is that we need to be taking many vegetables and fruits in our daily diet; however, the sad reality is that we would need to consume so much so as to get the nutritive value that these foods once had. How can you maximize on the nutritive value of fruits and vegetables?

Buy local produce Small farms are more likely to rotate their crops so as to maintain the nutritious soil. Again, food that is grown in your local area will get to you faster and the nutrition lose will be minimal.
Frozen foods can be more nutritious The most ideal solution would be to buy locally grown foods. However, if they are not accessible then buying vegetables that have been frozen immediately after a harvest is better than the ones that take a long time to get to you.
Do not shy away from ugly produce Organic produce may sometimes look misshapen and small. However, this can also be an indicator that they were not laden with pesticides or genetically modified.
Grow your own foods There are certain foods such as green onions which you can easily grow in containers in your backyard or balcony.

Eating Healthy Foods: What is the way forward?

Proper preparation and handling of foods can retain the essential nutrients. Some of the ways to preserve the nutrients include:

Wash all your vegetables and fruits with running water. Thick skinned vegetables such as melons should be washed using a soft brush and running water. Do not soak your vegetables and fruits because some of the vitamins will be lost in the water.
Carrots, pears and potatoes all have edible skins. You need to trim away as little skin as possible. This is because most minerals and vitamins are contained in the outer leaves and skin. Peels serve as natural barriers to prevent nutrient loss. Carrots and pears can be eaten with their peels; you just need to clean them properly.
Vegetables that are cooked should be cut into larger and longer pieces. This leaves fewer surfaces expose and more vitamins are retained.
Vegetables should not be overcooked. When you cook them for a shorter period the flavor and color is retained.
Vegetables and fruits should be cooked in very little water. It is better to steam them as steaming will retain most of the nutrients.
Vegetables such as green beans, asparagus, snow peas and broccoli should be cooked until they are just crisp and tender. Essential nutrients such as vitamin B and vitamin C are easily destroyed by heat.

Undeniably, the nutritive value and quality of food has changed over the years. However you can still lead a healthy lifestyle by following the tips above.