The importance of nutrition and lifestyle

Most people roll their eyes or moan when confronted with these ideas, but, in reality, taking care of yourself is not as hard, time consuming, expensive, or dull as most would have you believe. In fact, once people decide to choose a healthy life, they notice more energy, increased self-confidence, more time to do things that really matter, and they spend less time in the doctor’s office or hospital.  

It is less expensive to buy organic foods and shop for most items at a health food store than it is to buy candy, soda, chips, pizza, alcohol, and cigarettes. Not only do people consume less food on a healthy diet, they help their bodies to become stronger and more able to fight disease, which makes their health costs lower as well. The foods are not dull or tasteless either. It does depend on what you like, but, in general, unprocessed and whole foods right from the garden (or produce section) are the tastiest and most satisfying. If you don’t like fresh snap peas, maybe you’ve not had them done right!

In our current society of hustle and bustle, we often go for the cheapest and quickest foods to get rid of that nasty hunger sensation. But what does that do to you? Really? Most people don’t know and they don’t care. They will care more when they discover they have heart disease or diabetes or the variety of other conditions caused by this type of lifestyle. But patterns get established and it is so difficult to stay away from the burgers or sodas for long.

Tastes get perverted to like too much fat, sugar, and salt in our diets. Foods don’t taste as good without additives. In reality, they don’t taste as good because cheap food is cheap food and you wouldn’t eat it if you weren’t fooled by the extras added in to either make it look, taste, or smell better. A McDonald’s thin hamburger is greyish to begin with, never mind that it has comparatively loads of fat in its small size. Try just the burger without the cheese, ketchup, mustard, onions, or pickles. Pretty bland. That cheese is what they call ‘cheese food’. They cannot call it ‘cheese’ because of the processing. This ‘cheese food’ makes up most of the sliced cheeses in supermarkets. Look at the labels.

The ketchup has corn syrup (sugar) and sugar added. I could go on, but I won’t. The point is these additives are added to make an inferior product taste good enough to sell at a cheaper price so the public will buy. I guarantee in a taste test of a more expensive, yet organic ketchup made with tomatoes that taste good, and regular ketchup without any added sugar to either sample, you would choose the organic one over the non-organic based solely on freshness of taste. The same goes for burgers, ice cream, breads, and many processed products. The better the ingredient quality, the better it tastes and the healthier it is for you.