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We’ve all heard the old saying ‘you are what you eat’, but have you ever stopped to really think about how true that statement is? Let's face facts; when we eat healthy we FEEL better. It truly is the key to our well-being.
Notice how you feel when you eat something processed or greasy verses how you feel when you have had a healthy meal. If you really stop and take notice you won't even believe the difference! We all have up to 100 trillion cells in our bodies. That's a lot of cells to supply good food too! Every single one of those cells is demanding a constant supply of nutrients in order to function properly.
Our food choices affect all of these cells, therefore, it affects every aspect of our being. It can impact our mood, energy levels, make food cravings go out of control, cognitive function, lower sex drive, increase poor sleeping habits, and over-all our general health and well-being can plummet. If you feed your body mostly a diet of junk and processed foods it’ll simply start storing it as fat, it will lower your energy levels, and it can even compromise your brain power! Ain't nobody! got time for that!
Some amazing facts! Drink Water!
A 2011 study in the British Journal of Nutrition found that even mild dehydration in men reduced vigilance and memory and increased tension, anxiety, and fatigue.
Life can not exist without water. Water can be a miracle cure for many common ailments such as headaches, fatigue, and joint pain. That is only to name a few! Humans can go weeks without food, but only 3 days without water!
Dehydration can be a reason why you get that mid-afternoon slump. Even mild dehydration can make you feel tired, sluggish, and grumpy. This can occur with as little as a loss of 1.5% of your body’s water weight!
Put Down The FRIES!
A 2009 Cambridge University study found that high-fat diets made laboratory rats not just slower but dumber. And we are talking about the bad fats not the healthy fats that can be found in food such as avocados.
We need the healthy fats for good brain power! Also, choosing the right types of dietary fats to consume is one of the most important factors in reducing the risk of developing heart disease.
Sugar = Bad...M'Kay?
A recent UCLA study found that a diet high in fructose slows the brain, hampering memory and learning. Omega-3 fatty acids--found in salmon, walnuts, and flax-seed can counteract the disruption.
Also, sugar can cause insulin resistance, which could be a stepping stone towards metabolic syndrome and type II diabetes.
Cancer is one of the top leading causes of death in the United States(1) and is characterized by uncontrolled growth of cells. Insulin is one of the key hormones in regulating this type of growth. This is the reason that many scientists believe that having a constant elevated insulin level, which is a consequence of too much sugar consumption, can be a contributing factor to cancer.(2)
Also, the metabolic issues that are connected with sugar consumption are known to cause inflammation, which is another potential cause of cancer.(3)
Another factor to consider with sugar and many junk food items is that they can cause a massive dopamine release. (4).
For this reason alone, people who have a susceptibility to addiction can become strongly addicted to sugar and other junk foods (5).
Many people say, “everything in moderation”, however this thought pattern would not really work well for people who are truly addicted to junk food; the only thing that works for true addiction is abstinence.
For many, MANY years, people have blamed saturated fat for heart disease, which by the way is the number one killer in the world! (6) We are finding now that this statement is just not true! New studies are showing that saturated fat is actually harmless. (7),(8),(9)
The evidence is still mounting that sugar is the culprit and not the fat. (10)
So remember, try to eat healthy, exercise, and meditate, and feel your body and mind flourish!
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