How do the benefits of
a healthy diet apply to you?
To answer the question, "What are the benefits
of a healthy diet?" we need to clarify what a "healthy
diet" actually is.
There are innumerable benefits
of healthy eating, but if we're not clear on what "healthy
diet" or "healthy eating" are, it's going
to be challenging to know if we're experiencing any benefits!
What's the relationship between food,
nutrition and health? Excellent question Cricket! If we truly wish
to enjoy the benefits of a healthy diet, we need to understand
these facts about healthy eating.
From the article Nutrition
Data:
The reason and purpose for nutrition is incredibly simple:
- You have a body.
- The body needs certain basic things in order to function properly.
- The most fundamental requirement of the body is to be nourished.
To nourish means "to
feed or sustain with substances necessary to life
and growth."
Nutrition is "the act
of being nourished; especially, the processes of
taking in and assimilating food for
promoting growth and replacing worn or injured tissue."
We get nutrition from what we eat and drink. There
are foods and drinks that are healthier than others
though
- some foods have hardly any nutrition and can even be
harmful to our bodies (junk food for example) and on
the other hand, many foods are packed with nutrition
- sometimes
called "superfoods" because they're very nutritious.
Eating a healthy, balanced diet means giving your body
all the nutrients it needs to be totally nourished and
minimizing or avoiding food that isn't nutritious so
it can function
properly.
For more information on exactly what the essential nutrients
that your body needs to be healthy, see the article on
the nutrition of foods.
And although different foods
are either more or less healthy and nutritious, the
article on healthy
eating guidelines will give you one
simple
tool for making healthier food choices!
One of the primary benefits of a healthy
diet (diet
meaning simply what you usually eat and drink) is that you're giving your body what it needs to grow,
repair
itself
and enjoy positive health and energy!
We know that a balanced healthy diet is essential for
our bodies to function optimally and enjoy health. Another
one of the key facts about healthy eating is the principle
that food is medicine.
This concept was known and practiced
well before the current Western culture trends that
emphasize only drug and surgery treatments for health
care.
"Let your food
be your medicine and your medicine be your food" -
Hippocrates 460 - 359 BC
(Hippocrates was an ancient
Greek physician and was considered one of the most
outstanding figures in the history of medicine.
He
is referred to
as the "father of medicine" in recognition
of his lasting contributions to the field as the
founder of the Hippocratic School of medicine. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippocrates)
" Vitality and beauty are gifts
from nature for those who live according to its laws." -
Leonardo DaVinci
Both approaches to health are valid
and work together.. If you break an arm, it is emergency
medicine that you
need.
I sure want a
pain medication if I break something! But if you also
have a balanced healthy diet, another one of the benefits
of that healthy diet is that the broken bone will usually
heal faster and more fully.
How these basic benefits
of healthy eating apply to you is an individual matter.
We all have our own personal
reasons why we want to achieve the benefits of a healthy
diet.
In other words, why do you personally want to
be healthier? Participate in a sport? Have more energy?
Play with your grandchildren or your pet? Feel better
physically than you do right now? Live longer and have
a better quality of life?
For me, I wanted to improve the quality of my life after
a stroke and heart attack and drugs alone weren't cutting
it. In fact, I felt pretty lousy and most of my attention
was on how crappy I felt physically... I wanted to resume
doing things in my life that I needed and wanted to do.
As I learned about the relationship between food,
nutrition and health and the main guideline
for choosing healthy food, it became much easier to apply what I learned in
order to recover much of my health. As I continue eating
a healthier, more balanced diet because I finally understood
what that actually meant, I experienced (and continue
to enjoy) the benefits of a healthy diet because I am
able to do things that require a healthier body!
Cheers!
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Nutrition and Health from the Benefits
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