The Importance of Healthy Eating – And Some Tips Too!

Have you ever heard the saying you are what you eat? In some sense, this is true, because if you eat unhealthy foods you are prone to be an unhealthy person. The foods we ingest are extremely important to our ability to grow, maintain function, and prevent illness. Therefore, if you value your health, you should learn as much about healthy eating as possible.

Healthy eating is important from the day we are born. As a child, we grow quite rapidly and this is due in part to the foods we eat. Foods all contain nutrients that provide us not only with fuel to live our daily lives, but also with the very substances that build our bones, muscles, and organ tissues. Not getting enough of one nutrient or another can cause a variety of problems, including stunting our growth.

For mothers who are nursing, nutrition is important because breast milk contains the nutrients a child needs to grow and develop properly. Upon growing older, these nutrients are then found in food, but don’t think that healthy eating isn’t important for growth after you’ve gone through puberty. Cells continuous break down and rebuild, so healthy eating for growth continues to be important until the day we die.

In our daily lives, we use energy to think, walk, talk, breathe, and perform any other action. The energy it takes our body to do these things comes from two places: fat reserves in the body or our daily food intake. If you don’t eat healthy foods, you will find that you are storing more fat that necessary or that you aren’t getting enough and you feel sluggish or weak.

Along with energy-providing nutrients, like fats and carbohydrates, we also need the right nutrients to allow our organs to do their jobs. Hormones and other substances in the body make sure that everything is working properly. If you don’t eat the right nutrients, your body cannot produce these hormones and, as a result, cannot function properly.

Lastly, healthy eating is important in order to prevent illness. When we do not get the right nutrients, or body’s natural defence system against diseases weakens, allowing viruses and bacteria to attack the body. It’s like a well-trained army—if the army doesn’t have enough to eat, it will not do well in battle. Without healthy foods and plenty of water, our bodies simply could not operate on a day-to-day basis. Learning how to eat healthy foods is therefore and important lesson, and one which we should begin learning as children.

People use many excuses to give reason to why they are not eating healthy foods. One of the most common of these excuses is that they have no time to worry about choosing the best foods and cooking them for themselves and their families. However, no matter how little time you have to spend in the kitchen and at the supermarket, there are ways in which you can eat in a healthy way without much time. Learning how to quickly eating healthily can make all the difference in perfecting your diet.

Eating healthy foods begins with healthy ingredients, but if you are short on time, you may find that spending time in the grocery store does not fit into your schedule. To maximise your time, plan ahead for two weeks at a time. Instead of having to go to the store every time you need an ingredient, make a list and keep your refrigerator, freezer, and pantry stocked with good, healthy ingredients.

Along with planning your shopping list, plan your meals as well. If you find little time to cook during the week, you can instead try making a few healthy meals in advance on the weekend and then putting them in your freezer. Before you go to work in the morning, simply stick the frozen dinner in the refrigerator to thaw and then pop into the oven to cook when you get home from work. This will help you avoid having to pick up fast food.

When you do find yourself in the need of a quick meal and want to order out, look for healthy options. Instead of choosing a burger and fries, for example, look at the chicken breast options. Some fast food restaurants also have salads and fruit, but beware of dressing, which can be tons of fats and empty calories. Keep healthy drinks on hand at home instead of purchasing a soda as well.

Healthy eating on the run will never be easy. However, putting a tad bit more time into is worth that extra effort, because you’ll be living a healthier life in the end. I hope this article, which has been tastefully shared on the internet freely, has helped you. They are consistent with what I teach in the Strategic Nutrition Guide, which you should check out if you haven’t already.

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Also published on Medium.