The priceless value to your life of good nutrition …

Americans are increasingly becoming sicker and unfit because of what and how they eat.

That’s because we refuse to accept a profound truth: What you eat affects your entire body, from your physical appearance, to your brain function, to your overall physical and mental health, and the amount of energy you have for living life.

Simply put, food fuels your body, and here’s a simple summary of how:

• • The nutrients in the food you eat are the building blocks for overall health.
  • Nutrients are substances required by the body to perform its basic functions.
  • Nutrients have one or more of three basic functions: they provide energy, contribute to body structure, and/or regulate chemical processes in the body. These basic functions allow us to detect and respond to environmental surroundings, move, excrete wastes, breathe, grow, and reproduce.
  • Nutrients must be obtained from your diet (what you eat) since your body can’t make them …

… and, therefore, what and how you eat is critically important.

Making wise choices about what and how you eat can provide you with numerous benefits, such as:

• • Reduce the risk of some diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, stroke, some cancers, and osteoporosis.
  • Reduce high blood pressure.
  • Lower high cholesterol.
  • Improve well-being.
  • Boost your immune system.
  • Improve your ability to recover from illness or injury.
  • Increase your level of energy.
  • Manage your weight.
  • Support your mental well-being.
  • Keep skin, teeth, and eyes healthy.
  • Support, repair, and build lean muscle.
  • Support healthy pregnancies and breast feeding.
  • Helps the function of the digestive system …

… and more.

“Good nutrition,” then, is providing your body with all of the nutrients it needs to function at optimal capacity. A “good diet” generally means planning your meals and snacks to provide nutrient-dense foods that are low in calories; such a personal nutrition plan would be a diet filled with fiber, vegetables, fruit, protein, and healthy fats (the “Mediterranean diet” is often recommended as a “healthy diet”).

So, how can you eat a healthy diet?

First, let’s start with a few basic tips:

• • Eat a variety of foods from each food group and stay within the recommended servings.
  • Practice portion control! You do your body harm when you consistently consume too many calories, even if you’re overeating from a “healthy diet.”
  • Choose foods that are nutrient-dense and low in fat and sugar.
  • Choose and prepare foods that are low in salt.
  • Avoid processed foods. Instead, select and prepare ingredients (preferably organic foods).
  • LEARN TO READ AND UNDERSTAND FOOD LABELS and use that information to make wise decisions.

Understanding what is “good nutrition” and a “healthy diet” is not something that is difficult to achieve. There is a plethora of scientific information available freely for anyone wanting basic guidelines for good nutrition. The U. S. government maintains nutritional guidelines and you can access that information anytime at health.gov. In additional to such government-provided insights, numerous public and private organizations provide nutritional guidance, and one of the best is Harvard School of Public Health. Harvard provides public nutritional guidance with its “Healthy Eating Plate” information, which you can access online here. Harvard’s “Healthy Eating Plate” concept includes the following:

What and how you eat are central components to being a good steward of the body God has given you. How is your current stewardship going?

Scotty