|
|
A
Practical Approach To Healthy Eating
By Nehemiah Maxwell
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.
For a free step-by-step guide on how to develop healthy eating habits
visit us at http://www.healthy-eating-habit.com/index.html
To find other free health content see e-healtharticles.com
|
