What do you eat? What we eat and proper nutrition is important in everyday life. As part of our Daggett Shuler culture of internal and personal development we recently had a nutrition presentation for our team. So, it seems like a good time for a nutrition review.
Exercise is only part of the formula in developing an active, healthy lifestyle. Folks often kid themselves that they can eat more if they exercise. That may be partially true, but remember that no matter what amount of exercise you do, you can never keep up with excessive eating and poor nutrition.
So let’s take a look at the basic components of Healthy Nutrition. There are a multitude of books, articles, and businesses that focus on proper nutrition. Many of these programs are either complicated, or have dangerously unhealthy side effects. It seems that many of these programs are more business oriented than nutrition oriented. Furthermore, statistics show that most people who participate in commercial nutrition programs simply fail to maintain their proper weight and properly continue with a healthy lifestyle over time.
Nutrition is much more simple in concept, although it certainly takes diligence in application. Rather than get overly complicated, let’s try to encourage simplifying nutrition by following three simple principles:
1. Avoid simple sugar. This sounds easy, but once you start reading labels this means more than just knocking off desserts and candy. There is a lot of simple sugars added to our everyday packaged foods and condiments. Reading labels is a must. Corn syrup and other simple sugars are additives to many foods.
2. Avoid saturated fats. This means avoiding most fatty and greasy food. It does take a little education to understand that the”good fats” are unsaturated. Saturated fats are found in dairy, meats, and many oils.
3. Avoid trans fats. Trans fats generally include all hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils. Again, you have to become very good at reading labels. Many packaged and processed foods have these trans fats hidden in the ingredient listings. Trans fats are unhealthy, metabolic blockers, and generally come in foods that you want to avoid anyway. But, they are many times hidden very well, so be careful!
Following these easy, simple rules leaves you with lots of lean meat, fish, fruits, whole grains, and vegetables. If you follow these rules you can eat as much as you want and will never have to worry about nutrition as a problem.
Good nutrition can improve our lives. With good nutrition you look better, feel better, prevent disease, and you perform better in everyday life. This adds up to a more positive self-image, and positive self-image is one of those magic ingredients for success in life.