Good Eating Habits: Keeping You Healthy

Good Eating Habits: Keeping You Healthy

Devin

Have you ever been tempted to just eat whatever and whenever you want? This might be fine once in awhile, but doing this constantly can destroy your body. To prevent this from happening, you should make good eating habits to help your health and prevent future health problems. It also makes you feel good about yourself by eating these healthy foods. This article will help you take the first few steps to start these habits of healthy eating.

What is the Food Pyramid?

To help your eating habits, try to follow the food pyramid that is approved by the USDA. The food pyramid is a system that illustrates the food-guidance system made by the USDA and the HHS. It shows the five basic food groups to help people put these guidelines into action. Also, the Pyramid focuses mainly on fat since most Americans eat too much fat. It will help prevent certain diseases and will help people keep a healthy weight. In your daily diet, you need each of the five food groups, but no one group is more important than the others. At the tip of the Pyramid, there is the fats, oils and sweets group. This includes food like candies, desserts and butter, and these foods should not be eaten too much daily. Below this level, there are two groups of foods. These are the milk and the meat group, and people should eat about 2 to 3 servings of these foods per day. Next, there are two more groups of foods in a level. These foods are the vegetable and fruit groups, and people should eat about 3 to 5 servings of vegetables and 2 to 4 servings of fruits daily. Finally, at the bottom of the pyramid, there is the grain group. This includes food like bread and rice, and people should eat about 6 to 11 servings a day.

What are the Health Benefits?

There are several health benefits to eating healthy. First of all, making good eating habits can help control people's’ weight. Eating healthy, while also exercising, can help avoid excess weight gain. It will also let people maintain a healthy weight. Eating healthy in the morning can help prevent becoming hungry later and stopping at a fast food restaurant. Another thing that eating healthy can help people with is improving their mood. According the Mayo Clinic, eating a healthy diet can improve someone’s physique. This means that you will feel better about your appearance, improving self-esteem. Your confidence will boost and you will be less stressed when you eat healthy and exercise. Healthy eating habits can also prevent diseases, like high blood pressure and a heart disease. Healthy habits can help keep your blood flowing smoothly and will decrease your risk of cardiovascular diseases. The Mayo Clinic says that healthy habits help prevent diseases like diabetes, cancer, and depression. Also, when you eat a balanced diet, your body has the fuel it needs to get through the day. Exercising can also help give you more energy to do daily activities. It can also help you sleep better and get a good night’s rest. Lastly, good eating habits can boost a person’s chances of living a longer life. The American Council of Exercising made a study of 13,000 people. In this study, it showed that those who walked just 30 minutes a day significantly reduced their chances of dying early.

What are the Future Health Problems?

On the other hand, there are many problems when it comes to not eating healthy, which are mainly future health problems. When you do not eat healthily, you are not giving your body the nutrients it needs to make it through the day. Also, when you eat unhealthy foods, you are introducing unhealthy substances like trans fat and sugar into your body.

First of all, eating unhealthy can cause obesity. Fatty foods usually are energy dense, which means that they have more calories than nutrient-dense foods like fruit and vegetables.

When people eat foods with more calories than they actually burn, the extra calories are stored as body fat. This causes obesity, and obesity is able to cause many chronic diseases. Chronic diseases are long lasting diseases, and they include cancer and type 2 diabetes. Trans fat is in many fried foods and baked goods, and eating it too much can increase bad cholesterol. This is mainly linked to heart disease. Every year, trans fat alone is responsible for over 10,000 heart attacks in the United States. Also, eating unhealthy can cause accelerated aging. Without the nutrients that your body needs, the risks for nutritional deficiencies increases. One last thing that unhealthy food can affect is your mental health. According to the Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, there is a relation between unhealthy eating and mental health problems. These problems can include depression in adults.

How do you Create a Healthy Diet?

To create a healthy diet, first, you need to eat more fruits and vegetables. In the United States, only about 27% Americans eat vegetables three to four times a day. To help this problem, there are many things that you can do. First of all, you can organize community trips to the grocery store if it is hard for you to get there. Another thing that you could do to eat more fruits and vegetables is that you can include them with some of your favorite dishes. By doing this, you and your family will be gradually eating healthier. When you shop, plan, and cook, also include your kids. Kids are more likely to eat new fruits and vegetables if they helped chose them. If they do not like them, then there are always new foods to try. To eat healthier around and out of the house you can also eat real food and not junk food. You can do this by making of a plan of what you are going to eat that day, which will help you from eating at fast food restaurant. Also, you can make rules at your home to prevent people from eating too much junk food.

You and your family can also grow your own food in the backyard. This will make you feel like you have an ownership over the food that you are eating. Finally, your body needs water to make it through the day. If you drink too many sodas, your body will not get the energy it needs. To prevent this, you should drink less of sugar-sweetened drinks and more water daily. This will definitely help your healthy eating diet.

Are there Other ways to Become Healthy?

Of course there are! You didn't think that all you had to do to become healthy was to eat healthy, did you? There are several ways to become healthy, and eating healthy is just the first step. First of all, you need to think positive and have a positive attitude. Studies show that people who have a positive attitude have a healthy immune system and have a boosted health. Your body believes what you think, so try to think positively. Next, you should get plenty of exercise every day. When you exercise, you burn off all of the fat that you have built up in your body. Also, you build up muscles that make you more physically healthy. Exercising can make you feel good about your body, and it can help you build up the energy your body needs for that day. Lastly, you should get plenty of sleep. A person should normally get about eight hours of sleep everyday so that they are ready for the next day. By getting a good amount of sleep, you give your body the energy it needs to start the day. Also, it is easier to have a positive attitude when you are awake rather than almost falling asleep. If you do all of these things daily in your life, you will be living a healthy lifestyle.

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