Healthy living is a long term commitment. Understanding the basics of
a healthy lifestyle and putting the education into place will get you
on the road to better living. What you eat has a big effect on how you
feel, preform and to some extent determines your shape, chiseled to
pear.
To begin stop eating processed foods and start eating
healthy. Eliminate foods that are not natural. Here are a few that are
found in many forms throughout our food chain:
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Artificial ingredients like synthetic dyes like FD&C Red No. 40, Tartrazine, or Blue No. 1 (Read the labels on food items).
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Artificial sweeteners - saccharin, aspartame, or sucralose (found in diet soda)
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Refined grains (white flour disguised as enriched wheat flour) instead use whole grains, quinoa, brown rice.
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Factory farmed meat and fish - go organic where you can.
The commercial beef stock are fed antibiotics and other
synthetic foods. For example, the commercial livestock farmers
unintentionally created mad cow disease. They processed the remains from
the cattle and sheep into a meal byproduct and used it as additional
feed for the remaining stock generating more yield from their cattle.
The result was the slaughter of 4.4 million cattle to stop the spread of
the disease. It is believed to have been eradicated. However,
commercial cattle remain to be fed in an unnatural way with synthetic
feed and other means.
Organic free ranging is best. If at all possible avoid commercial meat and use local farmers when you can.
Farm
raised fish also are fed tablets with dye and antibiotics to prevent
disease from infecting fish in the confined environment. The dyes give
salmon that extra orange appearance while also delivering a compound
called canthazanthin. It is known to cause eye defects and retinal
damage. The European Commission ordered fish farmers to reduce its use.
The United States requires labels. That doesn't seem that it is much of a
deterrent to its use.
Another problematic food source is high
fructose corn syrup. It is an artificial sweetener that is processed
corn syrup with additional enzymes. It is found in a substantial number
of foods including crackers, breads, drinks, canned vegetables, and a
lot more. Check your labels. It is a cheap substitute to sugar and the
reason it is so prevalent. It is attributed to the obesity epidemic in
the U.S.
Healthy Eating Tips
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Use natural food colorings like -paprika, saffron, or annatto.
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For sweeteners always go natural with honey, maple syrup, and cane sugar worst case scenario. Strive to eliminate sugar.
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The easiest way to get vegetables into the diet is to juice. You don't
need expensive equipment like a Vegomatic. You can use a blender.
Juicing or smoothies are a great way to get vegetables
easily into the diet and when you're on the go. One delicious smoothie I
like in particular is the green Pina colada recipe. It's so easy to
make and it takes literally minutes to make. I use coconut water in
place of coconut milk as it has far less calories. I also add a raw egg
for an additional kick of protein. I use a Ninja blender. The egg sounds
gross to some but you can't even taste it. I have used two raw eggs
recently and I really didn't notice a taste difference. When I'm in a
hurry it's a good meal replacement and it tastes good.
Vegetable
and fruit smoothies are great because they are raw. The nutrients are
not cooked out of them. If you can afford organic fruits and vegetables,
even better. Buy local when you can. The vitamins and nutrients your
get from going raw is great for the digestive track and easier on the
liver. It's a good way to fuel your body.
Replacing soda is a must
for a healthy lifestyle. Use carbonated water in place of soda. You can
experiment with flavorings naturally by adding lemon, lime, cucumber,
pineapple, watermelon, melon, pear, apple, peach, etc. Try it.
I do like S. Pellegrino sparkling water. It tastes so good to me I don't like to alte
r the flavor. I have recently tried grapefruit flavored Perrier
sparkling water and found it to be refreshing. These are great
alternatives to soda if you still want the fizzy of a carbonated drink.
Danish
researchers have discovered that drinking diet soda has led to fat
buildup around the liver and skeletal muscles which contributes to
insulin resistance and diabetes. The study revealed that people who
drank 1 diet soda per day for 6 months had a 132- 143% increase in liver
fat. In addition a 117-221% increase in skeletal fat, and about a 30
percent increase in both triglyceride blood fats and other organ fat.
Eliminating
the soda will have you feeling better within a week. You will have a
lot more energy, not be nearly as tired and your blood sugar levels will
be a lot more stable.
You will want to also eliminate fast foods
and fried foods immediately. Those are basically a chemical smorgasbord
and so bad for the body. Another contributor to the U.S. obesity
problem.
The fast food industry has tapped into
convenience. It is a quick and inexpensive way to solve the hunger
pangs. The cure for this is to simply do some
meal planning. Besides losing weight and feeling better you can also save money.
Using
a weekly meal plan will solve not only lunch plans but all meals for
the entire week. Get a meal plan in place and that will solve the
majority of the "I'm hungry what am I going to eat?" It is really simple
and its also a great way to grocery shop and save money.
Find a
way to get some exercise and plan for that too. The best way to stick to
an exercise program is to find one that you enjoy. Do you like tennis,
shooting hoops, going for a jog along a pristine trail? Find what you
like and you will be successful.
The main thing is if you enjoy
it, it's a lot easier to commit to it. Once you do you will find
success. Add exercise to a better eating plan and you will reap the
results.
My name is Dean Vella, and I created
http://www.mypaleodiet.org
because I am a believer in living a healthy lifestyle. I created the
site to share what I have learned and some great recipes. I know from
experience how food affects my performance whether its physical or
mental, having found some winning solutions to an eating lifestyle.
One
discovery I found is something called leptin resistance. Leptin is the
chemical that tells your brain your full and to stop eating. It can be
affected by a poor diet and is found to be prevalent in obese people.
Correcting leptin resistance has shown dramatic effects for people
trying to lose weight. You can read more about it on mypaleodiet.org.
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