'Eating Healthy' is the Answer.

You are what you eat!

Eating healthy is not always easy these days. It can be quite difficult with such a huge variety of foods available to us, to always be 'eating healthy' or eating 'what is best for us'. There is no doubt that eating habits (and the food that is available) have changed over the last fifty years or so. Probably much more than you ever imagined.

More and more processed and easy to prepare foods have come on to the market, 'takeaways' have become increasingly popular, an ever-increasing array of 'snacks', breakfast cereals and all manner of 'goodies' are on the shelves for the choosing.

Just take a look in the shopping trolleys being checked-out at the supermarket and you will see that quite often it's the processed and pre-prepared foods, soft drinks, biscuits, chips etc.etc. that you'll see most of. In fact, if you were to remove from the Supermarket shelves all the foods that we shouldn't eat, (or that aren't good for us) you wouldn't find too much left.

Of course, we all embrace this great variety of food without ever stopping to think if these are the foods our bodies need. We never give a thought to the fact that the food we eat is the fuel for our body - without the correct fuel our bodies have to struggle to operate and to do all that is required of them.

It is only natural for people to think:

"If it's there on the shelves, it must be OK to eat!"

It seems that a whole generation has grown up with a completely wrong perspective of what we should be eating, what is 'healthy eating' and what our food is meant to be doing for us.

Is it any wonder that we are seeing a great increase in all sorts of 'disease conditions' that were virtually unheard of when I was a child?

Studies show that people who eat a wide variety of food are healthier, live longer and have reduced risk of developing lifestyle illness. Thankfully, more and more people are becoming aware of the importance of our food choices.

Food choices influence our risk of developing lifestyle illnesses such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Foods, in particular vegetables and fruit, contain a large number of naturally occurring substances known as phytochemicals.

Currently, scientists have identified over 12,000 of these phytochemicals many of which are thought to interfere with the processes that cause cancer and heart disease. So, how do we stay healthy?

Historically we have been told to eat right, exercise regularly, keep weight within acceptable limits and avoid the land mines of life, such as smoking, drinking to excess, and driving too fast. Unfortunately, we have not always understood the vital importance of nutrition.

What guidance can we expect to get on diet and nutrition? The prescription for a healthy diet is typically vague with general recommendations to eat a 'balanced' diet, count calories and consume certain percentages of fats, carbohydrates and proteins.

There is a tendency to view our diet as something that tastes good, fills our stomach and supplies energy; and not what it really is, the source of innumerable nutritional components that are vital for the body to achieve health, maintain health and enhance its ability to fight disease when it inevitably needs to do so.

It is not practical for most people to completely reinvent the way they live their lives, but, just with a little commonsense and knowledge, it is possible to make a huge difference to our overall health.

Start your children early on the road to good health. It is just so important for their growth and development and for their future wellness. Click here for some ideas and nutrition tips for making sure your children are eating healthy. Sometimes we find it very difficult and frustrating to know just what to cook for our family - things that are healthy and easy.

Here is a website full of healthy eating tips, ideas and easy healthy recipes that I'm sure you'll find helpful.

One other important aspect in our life, in fact, probably the most important which I haven't mentioned - is, of course, oxygen. Without oxygen we have no life. You can read more about oxygen and its importance here.

An excellent source for all your questions about nutrition is a website maintained by the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health. It has been designed to get you started down the path toward the healthiest diet possible.

At the Nutrition Source, you’ll find answers to many key questions about eating healthy, including:

• Should you still be concerned about fat intake?
• Should you eat more or fewer carbohydrates?
• What about eggs?
• Fiber?
• Calcium?

And for good reason. Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables can help you ward off heart disease and stroke, control blood pressure and cholesterol, prevent some types of cancer, avoid a painful intestinal ailment called diverticulitis, and guard against cataract and macular degeneration, two common causes of vision loss.

So, just what should we be eating to be sure we are eating healthy?

We should be eating a variety or mixture of foods across the whole range of food types, such as vegetables, fruit, cereals, meat, fish and dairy products.

The new food pyramid, which acts as a guide to help you make better choices about what to eat, includes Nutritional Supplements and an active balanced lifestyle.

The new food pyramid summarizes the best dietary information available today. Use it as a valuable guide to keep you on the right track to eating healthy. No doubt the recommendations will change in the years ahead as nutrition researchers continue to find new information.

One important recent change is that it is now recommended that we add nutritional supplements to our diets, as research is showing that it is almost impossible to get all the nutrients we need from our food.