Nutrition and You

Your lifestyle and continued happiness are determined primarily by your daily activities and diet, which deeply affect your health. Here we outline some tips that you can follow on the path to a sustainable, healthy lifestyle goal.

Eating Healthily
• Scientists have found that in the process of cooking and preserving certain foods, many vitamins and minerals are deteriorated that remain intact in raw foods. As a result, we know it's healthier to eat fresh fruit and vegetables instead of packaged, processed junk food.
• You can save yourself significant exposure to toxic metals and pesticides by choosing organic foods at your supermarket.
• Prevent digestive disorders, colon cancer, and heart disease by getting 25 to 30 grams of fiber per day. Excellent sources for this important bit of nutrition are beans, cereals, nuts, and whole-grain breads.
• For optimal function of your body, drink 8 to 10 cups of water every day. Coffee and soft drinks, though they are liquid, will in fact only dehydrate you, and as such are poor substitutes for water, which is essential to nearly every operation that transpires in your body.

Ensuring Health with a Healthy Routine
• Every week, get 20 minutes of good exercise, on three or four days.
• You have control over your entire diet at home, whereas restaurants tend to infuse their foods with lots of fat, sugar, and salt. Instead of going out, make yourself and your family good food you know is healthy.
• Make sure you can benefit from your intake of food, by ceasing bad habits like drinking and smoking, which block certain nutrients from being absorbed by your body.

Be a Vegetarian
Researchers have shown that heart disease, certain cancers, and many other diseases are all dramatically reduced in likelihood by partaking in well-rounded vegetarian eating habits. Avoid simply replacing the meat in your diet with much worse choices like fried vegetables, or other, low-protein sources of fat.

If you're considering becoming vegetarian, think about the following:

• Vegetarians can have trouble getting enough iron and vitamin B12. Look into supplements, fortified foods, and foods naturally high in these nutrients to avoid tiredness and anemia associated with these mineral deficiencies.
  
• You can only absorb the nutrients you need from a variety of foods, including legumes, vegetables, fruits and grains.
  
• Your doctor can help you transition seamlessly to a vegetarian diet, so have a conversation about how you can get the same nutrients common to meat, but rare in other foods. Pregnant and nursing women, children, and people recovering from illnesses are particularly in need of these nutrients.
  
  

But What about Supplements?
Your body consumes a large amount of minerals, vitamins, and nutrients every day, and somehow these things must be put back into your system. Fortunately, seeds and nuts, dark green vegetables, and high-Omega-3 oils are wonderful, completely natural places to find essential fatty acids, magnesium, and a variety of other minerals.

Supplements, however, do not provide a reasonable foundation for your nutrition, and as such, should not replace regular, balanced food intake. Use your physician as a resource in the search for a supplement; only their analysis can tell you for sure what you personally need and how best to get it.