The Importance Of Healthy Eating

You’ve probably heard all about the benefits of healthy eating but just don’t believe you have the time to stick to a healthy diet.  As a result, you have the takeaway on speed dial and your freezer is filled with microwave meals.  What you may not realise is that by eating this way you are depriving your body of many essential nutrients and missing out on a number of important health benefits.  In this articleintend to open your mind up to the real value of healthy eating and discussingsome ofthe main benefits it can have on your body.

1) It Gives You Energy

One of the main reasons to eat healthy is because it gives you energy.  Healthy foods are filled with slow digesting carbohydrates.  These take longer to digest than unhealthy,rapidly digesting carbohydrates so the energy they provide is released into your blood at a much slower and more stable rate.  This means that you have more consistent energy levels which last for the full day when you eat healthy.

In contrast, unhealthy foods general contain high levels of rapidly digesting carbohydrates.  These get digested very quickly and the energy they provide is released into your blood stream at a much faster, less stable rate.  As a result, your energy levels generally peak and then crash when you eat unhealthy foods.

2) It Ensures That Your Body Works Properly

Healthy foods are packed full of the nutrients that your body needs to operate properly.  They support almost every function you can think of.  For example, vitamin A is essential for healthy vision, chloride helps keep the fluid levels within your body balanced and potassium helps keep your blood pressure under control.

Eating unhealthy foods deprives your body of these nutrients and prevents it from functioning properly.  For example, failing to eat enough vitamin A can limit your vision and in the worst cases cause full blindness.  Not getting enough sulphur can prevent your nerves from functioning properly.

3) It Keeps You Safe From Chronic Disease

 Eating a good diet can keep you safe from almost any chronic disease.  Whilst it is still not known exactly why the nutrients in healthy foods can protect against disease, study after study has consistently shown the power of a healthy diet when it comes to disease prevention.  For example, research has shown that the traditional Mediterranean diet reduces your heart disease risk.

Consuming unhealthy foods has the opposite effect and can actually increase your risk of contracting these nasty diseases.  For example, according to this article from Medical News Today one third of all cancers are linked to poor dietary choices.

4) It Reduces Your Chance Of Illness

 Another key benefit of following a healthy diet is that the wide range of vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients in these foods help keep your immune system strong.  Your immune system is what keeps you safe from disease, infection and foreign bodies.  If you have a strong immune system then your chances of getting ill are much lower.

However, following a limited, unhealthy diet means that your body does not get given all these immune system boosting nutrients.  As a result, your immune system becomes weak and your body becomes much less effective at fighting disease, infection and foreign bodies.  This leaves you much more open to illness.

5) It Improves Your Physical Performance

 Eating the right foods doesn’t just benefit you internally – it also greatly improves your physical performance.  For example, the protein in healthy foods ensures that your muscles have the fuel they need to repair themselves after exercise and grow back stronger.  The vitamins and minerals in healthy food keep your blood healthy and ensure that it can quickly transport oxygen to where it is needed when you exert yourself.

Following a poor diet has the opposite effect and can actually hinder your performance during exercise.  For example, eating poor quality, rapidly digesting carbohydrates will not give you the steady release of energy that is required to complete a gruelling workout.  Failing to get enough protein will prevent your muscles from fully recovering after a workout.

Summary

There are many, many reasons to eat healthy.  The reasons listed in this article are really just scraping the surface.  The bottom line is that eating healthy is one of the best things you can do for your body.  So if you are currently living off fast food, microwave meals and pizza then you should really consider making a few changes to your diet.

Eating healthy doesn’t have to be difficult or time consuming.  Grabbing a piece of fruit instead of a bar of chocolate, drinking a glass of water instead of a glass of soda or cooking up some chicken and vegetables instead of having a microwave meal are all quick and easy ways to eat more healthy.  Making smart choices such as these will do you a lot of good in the long run and help you live a much fuller, happier and healthier life.

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