Nutrition

**__Healthy Eating __** Many things in wellness trace back to healthy eating. By having a healthy diet, you are at a much lower risk of high blood pressure, heart diseases, high cholesterol and that's just the start. A poor diet is the cause of obesity so with a healthy one, obesity is barely in the picture. Junk foods will keep you up all night while your body tries to process such hurtful substances. When you consume nutritious foods, your body doesn’t get stressed out and you fall straight to sleep. In a tough time, it’s tricky to buy nutritious foods because of their expense. Whenever I hear someone say this, I quickly defend healthy eating because in the long run, spending that little bit more saves you money. So many health problems occur because of unhealthy diets. By eating nutritiously you are saving money that would have been used to pay health bills. Healthy eating controls not only how we look, it also controls our mind and how we feel. Just by eating a healthy balanced diet, your life can improve a lot.
 * You know the saying you are what you eat? It's true! At least in the sense that the healthier you eat, the better your life style. Did you know, when humans first evolved they were vegetarians? On this page you can learn all about the benefits of vegetarianism. Also, you can gain knowledge about beverages. They can be very unhealthy to consume. Last but certainly not least, acquire information the FDA is concealing from you about the food you are eating! **

**__Vegetarianism __** People become vegetarians for many different reasons. They may be one for religious reasons or be like me and become one to support animal rights. One other major reason people become vegetarians are for health purposes. By becoming a vegetarian, you could gain 13 precious years of life. The main reason for that is vegetarians eat way less saturated fats than meat eaters and over time, saturated fats kill you. Also vegetarianism gives people more energy. The foods vegetarians eat such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, and many dairy products, have complex carbohydrates that give your body more “fuel.” Overall, a vegetarian diet is lower in fat. Because of this, vegetarians have more control over their weight without feeling deprived of food. One last health benefit people become vegetarians for is the disease prevention. A lot of vegetarians have lower cholesterol, low blood pressure, less chances of heart diseases and more. Being a vegetarian has many benefits that you should take advantage of.



__**Processed Foods **__

Have you ever read the back of a package of frozen veggies or Hostess pastries and thought hmm? You are not alone. Over three-fourths of the ingredients are words people don’t usually have in there vocabulary. This is because these foods are highly processed. According to the article “What is a Processed Food? You Might Be Surprised,” processed food is “any deliberate change in a food that occurs before it’s available for us to eat." Little things like freezing products to keep them fresh or drying them counts as processing foods. Processing foods can become much more complex than that though. A frozen diner is actually a formula created to enhance nutrients or flavor. The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) doesn’t require food labels to put down “Generally Regarded As Safe” ingredients. All the label has to say is artificial coloring or flavoring. Do you want to take a chance and eat something that is “generally” safe? The three things our bodies crave are sugar, salt and fat. Highly processed foods are full of these ingredients making it hard to stop eating them and can lead to obesity. Also, processed food can cause cancer! Some of the chemicals that help preserve the food have been known to have cancerous properties. When you eat processed foods, it’s always a risk to your safety and health.



**__Beverages __**



Many people drink coffee, juice, soda, alcohol along with many other drinks without even knowing what they are putting into their bodies. Because it has become a daily part of our lives, it’s hard to quit these. Have you ever thought about how hot coffee and tea can get? Spilling it on bare skin hurts and blisters appear. Think about what it does to the inside of your body. While sipping hot liquids ( anything above the boiling point, 212° F ) may be nice at the time, it destroys nerves in your tongue. Sadly, cold drinks ( anything below 37° F, a little warmer than freezing ) are no better than hot ones. Cold liquids disturb your digestive system. Empty calories are calories that that don’t fill you up and have no nutrition. Soda, alcohol and juices contain a heavy concentration of calories and fill you up instead of eating wholesome foods. These drinks are normal in a persons diet. It seems very odd, but these drinks can lead to obesity. In a CNN health report, Michael Jacobson, head of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said, "Soda pop is a quintessential junk food. It's just pure calories, and no nutrients. It's like a bomb in our diet." With every sip of soda, we are gaining more calories that will not fill us up. It causes people to eat more at meal or snack times. Over time, these habits will lead to obesity.



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