A Practical Approach To Healthy Eating
You will never be healthy, eating healthy foods occasionally. You have to make healthy eating a habit if you want to obtain nutritional health.
I have been doing push-ups five days a week for over 25 years. My arms are pretty strong but it did not happen overnight. I did not do push-ups for a couple weeks or months and then stopped. I had to make push-ups a habit if I wanted to continuously get the results I have. Exactly the same holds true with having a healthy diet.
People jump on the "band wagon" of healthy eating when they read books or view web sites that talk about nutrition. While many of these books and web sites tell you what you should eat in-order to be healthy, they fail to teach you how to make healthy eating a habit. Thus in a short period of time when temptations come, people fall right back into their unhealthy eating habits.
What is a Habit? According to Webster's dictionary a habit is "a behavior pattern acquired by frequent repetition or physiologic exposure that shows itself in regularity or increased facility of performance."
Can you see that if we simply apply this principle to healthy eating we will be on our way to vibrant health?
Bad Eating Habits:
Bad eating habits do not develop overnight. For most people these habits began forming when they were kids. Thus one reason why many adults have a hard time breaking their bad eating habits is because these habits have been a part of their lifestyle for many years.
Why Do We Eat Food?
There are two main reasons why we eat food. One is to supply fuel for our body. The other reason is for pleasure. Unfortunately some of the foods that give us pleasure are unhealthy.
Most people make their food selections based on what they see, smell or taste. Look at these three sentences: That pie sure looks good! That pie sure smells good! That pie sure taste good!
Notice that all three statements involve food and pleasure. However the food that is producing the pleasure (in this situation the pie) may or may not be good for you from a nutritional standpoint. That is why we need to be wise in our food selections and not simply leave it up to our sense of sight, taste or smell.
Healthy Eating Can Be Enjoyable:
Some people think of a healthy diet as being boring and tasteless. I think that one reason they feel this way is because most of the commercial ads we see promote foods high in calories, fat, or sugar and only a small percentage of food advertising is done for fruits, vegetables, grains and beans. Thus if there was more nutritional education, more and more people would find healthy eating to be pleasurable and tasty.
How Having a Healthy Diet Changed My Life:
In 1998 my wife finally talked me into going to the doctor to get a check-up. I was not feeling sick but she clearly said that it was a good idea to get a yearly physical examination. Thank God I listened to her.
I have been athletic all my life. I run 18 miles a week. So when I went to the doctor I was not expecting to hear the bad news he gave me. He told me I had borderline diabetes.
Diabetes can be very dangerous if not treated. It is one of the leading cause of death in the United States. It is a disease of the pancreas that causes the body to stop producing the insulin it needs to regulate blood sugar.
My doctor told me that I did not need to be put on medication, however he suggested I start reading some books on healthy eating. That was the beginning of my path to a healthy diet that turned my health situation around.
Today I can honestly say that I am in excellent health. I feel great, I sleep great, people tell me that I do not look my age, I maintain a healthy weight, I do not take any type of medication, my blood pressure is normal, my blood sugar is normal, my cholesterol is normal, my immune system is strong, and the list goes on.
I do not believe that I am healthy because of chance. I strongly believe that one main reason that I am healthy is because I take personal responsibility for my health. A healthy diet is a great part of this responsibility. Our physical bodies have laws that are governed by proper nutrition. If we violate these laws by consistently eating unhealthy foods, we are going to get sick.
--
© Nehemiah Maxwell (2006) Nehemiah Maxwell is the Writing Host at Healthy-Eating-Habit.com. He believes that a healthy diet and exercise are keys to good health and has written some interesting articles on the subject of healthy eating. A free step-by-step guide on how to develop healthy eating habits is available online at his web site, http://www.healthy-eating-habit.com Email: maximilium@comic.com
Source: http://www.articletrader.com
More Resources
Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting
More Nutrition Information:
- Group 1
- Group 2
- Group 3
- Group 4
- Group 5
- Group 6
- Group 7
- Group 8
- Group 9
- Group 10
- Group 11
- Group 12
- Group 13
- Group 14
- Group 15
- Group 16
- Group 17
- Group 18
- Group 19
- Group 20
- Group 21
- Group 22
- Group 23
- Group 24
- Group 25
- Group 26
- Group 27
- Group 28
- Group 29
- Group 30
- Group 31
- Group 32
- Group 33
- Group 34
- Group 35
- Group 36
- Group 37
- Group 38
- Group 39
- Group 40
Related Articles
Learn the Basics of a Successful Low Cholesterol Diet
Understanding What a Low Cholesterol Diet isBasically, in order to lower your cholesterol, you will have to follow a diet that is? low in saturated fat and ? low in cholesterolThis is absolutely essential in helping you to lower your cholesterol. You must understand that although cholesterol lowering medications can be prescribed by your doctor, you will still need to follow a controlled diet specifically to help reduce your high blood cholesterol levels.
Aging Gracefully with the Aid of Various Nutrients
During the past thirty years there has been a steadily growing amount of scientific evidence linking vitamins and minerals to having a direct effect in protecting one's self from aging. Apart from the usual health benefits that we can receive from having adequate amounts of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients in our body, it's also a highly appealing note to include that being healthy inside will actually reflect on how we look like on the outside.
Changing Your Eating Habits
Because all of us have been brought up eating junk food, well most of us, it is not easy to change our eating habits. Your eating habits have developed since childhood based on what your mothers or fathers cooked and what your psychological make-up was during that time.
7 Things To Your Health
Health is the thing. And no matter how many ways you can measure and quantify symptoms and disease, the only way to be healthy is to add to your health.
You Are What You Eat, Do You Dig Your Grave With Your Tongue? Boost Your Immune System
I know that the headline is a oldie, but it really is a goodie and is so very true of most of us, in this age of fast takeaway foods giving us all the foods that we should not be eating if we wish to maintain good health. What you must do is have natural nutrition that will boost your immune system.
Physical Health is Attainable Through Proper Nutrition and Exercise
Obesity is epidemic in this country for both children and adults. The invention of television, video games, and convenient appliances help to influence us to be sedentary.
Busting the Dairy Myth - The Truth About our Health and Dairy
Millions of people around the UK consume dairy products on a daily basis. Our huge consumption of dairy is due not only to the convenience it brings to cooking and the habit of cooking with and eating dairy for the majority of our lives but more alarmingly because of the mantra that we are fed by government and the dairy industry that it is beneficial to our health that somehow you need dairy to ensure you consume enough calcium to maintain strong and healthy bones.
Beverages Boost Calorie Intake, But Many View Fluids As Calorie-free!
Beverages - and not just alcohol - are a significant if little recognized source of calories in North American diets. Yet many people seem to believe that if a calorie is ingested in fluid form, it's a freebie.
Not All Protein is Created Equally
America's focus on nutritious eating began to receive national attention in the 1940s when President Roosevelt introduced the RDA, or Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) model. This model, which took on the shape of a pyramid in the 1980s (and hence now goes by the term "food pyramid"), has gone through a number of iterations since its inception more than 60 years ago[i].
What is a Healthy Eating Plan?
Healthy eating is important for everyone, from babies to the elderly. Learning to eat well is more than just eating a variety of foods so that your body gets the proper nutrients.
Juicing - A Beginners Guide
You can spot a juicer a mile off at the supermarket or greengrocer. Apart from the huge number of carrots and apples they are loading into their trolley, they also have that slightly smug, see-how-healthy-I-am look about them.
Use Food and Focus to Gain Tons of Energy for Summer
While there are many effective ways to get more energy and build your productivity, I've found it very important to pay attention to the seasons."But wait a minute," you say.
Principles of The Zone Diet Plan
The Zone Diet has been around since around 1995, when fatty acids research scientist Dr. Barry Sears published the New York Times bestseller "The Zone".
Protein Wont Make You Fat: Myth #1
How many magazines have you read where they tell you to take in X grams of protein? How many times have you see .75g of protein per lb of bodyweight or 1g maybe 1.
Heart Friendly Foods
Heart disease results when plaque builds up inside the arterial walls, which causes a partial or complete obstruction of blood flow. This reduces flow of blood to heart and may result in angina.
Adding to Your Level of Health is the Key
Here is a continuation of the light and darkness metaphor: a bucket of water. The bucket represents you.
Train Your Self To Eat Healthy
For some people it is really hard to give up the junk food and sweets and eat a better, more nutritious diet. So let's use the example of eating the 5 to 9 fruits and vegetables we need daily.
How to Stop Bad Breath In 4 Refreshing Steps
OK, no more excuses. Here's how to stop making everyone laugh behind your back after getting a whiff of your noxious breath.
Organic Eating - Why Bother?
Originally, all foods were "organic" - grown and prepared without pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers, hormones, irradiation to prevent spoilage, and microwave cooking.Our food these days, whether of vegetable or animal origin, is not only deficient in nutrients but also full of pollutants and farm chemicals.
Put a Zing in your Step with Ginger!
Zingiber officinale has been held in the highest regard by the Indian and Chinese civilizations for as far back as 5000 years.Pythagoras the Greek mathematician was a devotee, as was King Henry VIII.