How well do you eat? This is a question we should all ask ourselves regularly, because a good diet is the foundation for a healthy and fit body. You can’t eat bad food and then expect to stay healthy and feel good. Unfortunately, however, the average diet in western countries is terrible - fatty takeway foods, too much sugar, and not enough good fresh fruit and vegetable matter.
A diet lacking in real good foods places you at much higher risk of catching small but unpleasant illnesses such as the common cold and influenza. The reason behind this is that the body’s natural defences to these ailments rely strongly on having access to vitamins and nutrients that simply can’t be found in processed foods.
Small ailments are bad enough, but not life threatening. However, what about developing cancer, or a degenerative disease such as Parkinson's or heart disease? Believe it or not, all are increasingly being associated with poor diets - so maybe it really is time to examine what we can do to improve the outlook.
It really is quite simple, and goes like this: You need to start eating natural, unprocessed foods. Fruits, vegetables, and good home cooked meals. This may sound difficult if your life is busy with work and family commitments, but is this worth your ongoing health? Lets look at some easy ways to start, that even the busiest of us should be able to cope with.
Aim to have breakfast at home every day. Breakfast is easy - it can be something as simple as a bowl of muesli, but this will keep you from eating junk food for the first half of the day. Spend this money instead on some nice fruit, or maybe invest in an orange juicer for your kitchen - this will help make breakfast fun and tasty.
If you must buy lunch and dinner out, a good trick is to at least take along a few pieces of fresh fruit to have with it. If you can, choose something like a salad roll for lunches.
When eating out, it is tempting to buy sugary soft drinks. This is a big no-no, and a better alternative is to either drink water or buy fresh juice from a juice bar. Even better, get a juicer machine to use at home and make your own fruit and vegetable juices to take out with you.
If you manage to eat well even for a few weeks, you will be amazed at how different you feel. One you start to notice the difference you will find it easier to motivate yourself to get fit and healthy, and stay that way.