Are you coasting through life without regard to how your diet affects your health? If you haven’t yet developed the habit of eating well, a lackadaisical approach to what you eat may not serve you well as you begin to age. The concern goes far beyond whether your diet will cause you to gain weight. It is much more than that. In addition to obesity, a poor diet can create:
- Heart disease
- Diabetes
- Cancer
- Arthritis
- Various autoimmune diseases
- Poor quality of life as you age
What is the best diet for you?
There is much confusion about what eating healthy actually looks like. Are alcohol and coffee good or bad for you? Is it ok to eat red meat? Is breakfast the most important meal of the day or should it be avoided? The truth is that everything regarding your diet is arguable. So the best diet for you is the diet that makes you feel well AND contributes to your overall well being. For most people though, what we like to eat doesn’t always make us feel well, nor does it contribute to our long-term well being. Why do we do this to ourselves? Well, we may feel horrible and be approaching a poor quality of life, but we don’t even realize that it is our diet may be responsible. The diet you choose to follow is a personal preference. As an example, if giving up bread and pasta is impossible for you, a keto diet would not be for you. Or, if you enjoy eating a good steak, then a plant-based diet is not for you.
No matter the exact diet you follow, here are six suggestions to help keep you healthy:
- Everything in moderation is a great rule of thumb. Don’t overindulge in anything.
- Keep sugar levels to a bare minimum. Avoid as many sugary treats as possible. Too much sugar on a regular basis causes heart disease, diabetes, cancer, depression, skin conditions, and a host of other diseases. Avoiding sugar as much as we can is never a bad idea. Try saying to yourself, I can do without that
- Limit saturated fats. Even if you are following a keto diet, there are much better sources of fat. Olive oil, coconut oil, MCT oil, avocados, and eggs are better.
- Avoid fast/processed food. These are typically loaded with saturated fats, sugar, preservatives, food coloring, and other chemicals you can’t pronounce.
- Drink lots of water. Consider drinking 1 ounce for every 2 pounds of body weight. It will flush your system and help your body to function better.
- Be as consistent as possible. This is key. However, it is not a bad idea to select one day a week to satisfy your desires to indulge. Just don’t go overboard.
As the holidays rapidly approach, the importance of eating well throughout these coming days of traditional overindulgence may be something to consider. Rather than flying blindly, perhaps it would be good to look at our current habits and consider where you want to be in January. Would you like to be 20 pounds heavier or would you like to start off with a healthier version of you ready to set new health goals for 2020?
We’d love to help you find solutions for Better Health, Naturally!