Why a Healthy Diet IS Important to Good Living

Eating is fun! Eating is relaxing and eating is an absolute necessity for maintaining a balanced and healthy life. Why? Because the foods you eat, and your eating habits, will impact every aspect of your life from the quality of your sleep, the energy you have in the morning and the very materials your amazing meat machine is made of.

Sure you can survive off a jelly doughnut and strong cup of coffee for little, and it might even help you work well for a while. But in the long run there are some impressive mental and physical powers available for those to seek balance and structure in their dietary intake.

Here are a few ways you can greatly optimize your life and capacity as a human being simply by making healthy and balanced food choices.

As you learned in school, food is the energy that your body uses to accomplish all kinds of physical and mental tasks. This is where different food choices can affect the strength and potency of your energy levels for any amount of time. If you have a demanding lifestyle, you will need the energy foods to support your work and mind.

Choose whole grains and healthy carbohydrates that keep the body satisfied and energy for longer periods of time. Of course, if you are maintaining a healthy diet, your health won’t get thrown overboard if you indulge in a jelly doughnut and coffee when facing a few more hours of hard work and the need for an extra boost.

There is no way around it, if you want a strong body, you will need to engage in some physical exercise in addition to all your other demands. This can be either very easy or difficult depending on the value of the foods you are putting in your body.

The diet you need should be selected by the demands you intend to make on the body. Will you be engaging in some intense CrossFit, heavy lifting or intensive cardio? Take the time to consider which foods will give you the strength and energy to perform those feats of physical performance.

By the same measure, if you are sticking to a lighter exercise program or spend your days in mental effort as opposed to physical work, you will need a diet that is suitable here as well. Proteins and Calcium are  the building blocks of the skeletal and muscular systems.

By getting a healthy supply of these nutrients in the diet, your body will be stronger and more resilient. This foundation of a healthy body through quality nutrition must be established early in life so that the body is strong and resilient in later life.

Food and the way it is consumed will play many important roles in your overall feeling of well-being and the satisfaction you derive from eating. One of the worst things about committing to a diet plan that you hate is that so many benefits come from consciously enjoying the foods you have chosen to nourish your mind and body.

So, what does this mean to you when making your weekly meal plans? A healthy diet is about eating exactly what you want and wanting to eat that which makes you feel and operate your best. This even includes the “unhealthy” cobbler pies, pizzas and beer that makes eating so great. But, these feasts should be the exception, not the rule.

In addition to the emotional and psychological aspects of eating, the very neurotransmitters and “feel good” brain chemicals that keep you positive and motivated throughout the day are found in the foods you eat. This means that you will not even be able to really enjoy your work, food or life unless you are getting the full nutritional profile that allows you to live optimally.

The body uses a wide variety of locally produced chemicals to perform its many important functions. For example, the body requires a nutrient called tryptophan that can be found in poultry especially turkey and also in pumpkin seeds and other plant sources. Tryptophan is important in creating melatonin which is released with the setting sun to initiate the sleeping cycle. When the body is well supplied with the nutrients it needs to balance these vital processes, the functions of these processes are greatly improved.

It is very important to get the foods and nutrient supplies that will allow you to think, work and play your very best. But, in all your food planning and preparations remember how important the simple enjoyment of eating is to gaining the full spectrum of benefits from your healthy eating plans. Let this be your focal point when making a healthy meal plan.