A_Practical_Approach_To_Healthy_Eating

							Title:
A Practical Approach To Healthy Eati
ng

Word Count:
790

Summary:
Our physical bodies have laws that
are governed by proper nutrition. N
evertheless people have a hard time
  sticking to a healthy diet. By app
lying the principles of how a habit
  is formed we can develop healthy e
ating habits that lasts a lifetime.
Keywords:
healthy diet, healthy eating, habit
, healthy eating habits

Article Body:
I have been doing push-ups five day
s a week for over 25 years. My arms
 are pretty strong but it did not h
appen overnight. I did not do push-
ups for a couple weeks or months an
d then stopped. I had to make push-
ups a habit if I wanted to continuo
usly get the results I have.
Exactly the same holds true with he
althy eating. You will never be hea
lthy, eating healthy foods occasion
ally. You have to make healthy eati
ng a habit if you want to obtain nu
tritional health. People jump on th
e _band wagon_ of healthy eating wh
en they read books or view websites
 that talk about nutrition. While m
any of these books and websites tel
l you what you should eat in-order
to be healthy, they fail to teach y
ou how to make healthy eating a hab
it. Thus in a short period of time
when temptations come, people fall
right back into their old unhealthy
 eating habits.

 What is a Habit? According to Webs
ter's dictionary a habit is _a beha
vior pattern acquired by frequent r
epetition or physiologic exposure t
hat shows itself in regularity or i
ncreased facility of performance._
Can you see that if we simply apply
 this principle to healthy eating w
e will be on our way to vibrant hea
lth?
Bad Eating Habits:

Bad eating habits do not develop ov
ernight. For most people these habi
ts began forming when they were kid
s. Thus one reason why many adults
have a hard time breaking their bad
 eating habits is because these hab
its have been a part of their lifes
tyle for many years.

Why Do We Eat Food?

There are two main reasons why we e
at food. One is to supply fuel for
our body. The other reason is for p
leasure. Unfortunately some of the
foods that gives us pleasure are un
healthy.

Most people make their food selecti
ons based on what they see, smell o
r taste. Look at these three senten
ces: That pie sure looks good! That
 pie sure smells good! That pie sur
e taste good!

Notice that all three statements in
volve food and pleasure. However th
e food that is producing the pleasu
re (in this situation the pie) may
or may not be good for you from a n
utritional standpoint. That is why
we need to be wise in our food sele
ctions and not simply leave it up t
o our sense of sight, taste or smell.

Eating Healthy Can Be Enjoyable:

Some people think of eating healthy
 as being boring and tasteless. I t
hink that one reason they feel this
 way is because most of the commerc
ial ads we see promote foods high i
n calories, fat, or sugar and only
a small percentage of food advertis
ing is done for fruits, vegetables,
 grains and beans. Thus if there wa
s more nutritional education, more
and more people would find eating h
ealthy to be pleasurable and tasty.

How Healthy Eating Habits Changed My
 Life:
In 1998 my wife finally talked me i
nto going to the doctor to get a ch
eck-up. I was not feeling sick but
she clearly said that it was a good
 idea to get a yearly physical exam
ination. Thank God I listened to he
r.
I have been athletic all my life. I
 run 18 miles a week. So when I wen
t to the doctor I was not expecting
 to hear the bad news he gave me. H
e told me I had borderline diabetes.

Diabetes can be very dangerous if n
ot treated. It is one of the leadin
g cause of death in the United Stat
es. It is a disease of the pancreas
 that causes the body to stop produ
cing the insulin it needs to regula
te blood sugar.

My doctor told me that I did not ne
ed to be put on medication, however
 he suggested I start reading some
books on healthy eating. That was t
he beginning of my path to healthy
eating habits that turned my health
 situation around. Today I can hone
stly say that I am in excellent hea
lth. I feel great, I sleep great, p
eople tell me that I do not look my
 age, I maintain a healthy weight,
I do not take any type of medicatio
n, my blood pressure is normal, my
blood sugar is normal, my cholester
ol is normal, my immune system is s
trong, and the list goes on.
It is great to be in good health an
d I thank God for it. However I do
not believe that I am healthy becau
se of chance. I strongly believe th
at one main reason that I am health
y is because I take personal respon
sibility for my health. Making heal
thy eating a habit is a great part
of this responsibility. Our physica
l bodies have laws that are governe
d by proper nutrition. If we violat
e these laws by consistently eating
 unhealthy foods, we are going to g
et sick.