Food is Fuel
In honor of National Wellness Month, we’d like to talk about the importance of nutrition. It’s so easy for Americans to choose the foods that don’t provide the right kinds of nutrition to fuel their bodies. Every day, various cells in your body are dying off and being replaced by new cells whose composition is fueled by the minerals, nutrients, and vitamins gained from what you consume. Your body uses food as fuel for all of its activities, which is why the right mix of nutrients in your diet can help you live a more healthy life.
Good Nutrition and Proper Diet
A healthy diet with a lot of variety of nutrients is the first place to start, focusing on rebuilding the foundations of your body and health with the best minerals, nutrients, and vitamins.
Foods that can negatively interfere with your diet include high-carbohydrate, high-sugar, and heavily processed foods. Eating these unhealthy foods can affect our nutrient intake. Here are some foods you can work on eliminating when changing your diet:
- Processed Sugar
- Eating food with a lot of sugar such as candy, soda, ice cream, desserts, donuts, pastries, honey, maple syrup, etc. throughout the day can make changes to your blood sugar, resulting in fatigue which can alter your daily routine and sleep patterns
- Artificial Sweeteners
- When trying to cut sugar from your diet, some people turn to artificial sweeteners. These sweeteners such as Equal, Nutrasweet, Splenda, Sweet and Low, and High Fructose Corn Syrup can many times be associated with headaches, cravings, upset stomachs, and weight gain.
- Fruit Juice
- Fruit juice is oftentimes perceived as healthy since it has the word fruit in it, although evidence has shown that drinks that are sweetened with sugar are associated with an increased risk for heart disease, diabetes, and obesity.
- Caffeine
- There can be negative consequences of caffeine consumption if ingested in high doses. Caffeine such as coffee, soda, green and caffeinated teas, and chocolate affect everyone differently and can cause nutrient depletion of important nutrients and interfere with the nutrient absorption of minerals such as iron, calcium, B vitamins, and magnesium.
- Gluten
- Gluten such as bread, deep-fried foods, soy sauce, baked goods like cookies and cake, crackers, chips, pizza, pasta, beer, sauces, etc. provide no essential nutrients. There are naturally gluten-free foods such as fruits, vegetables, meats and nuts that you can build into your diet.
- Corn
- High intake of corn products such as tortilla chips, tortillas, cornbread, corn oil, and popcorn can cause digestive upset such as bloating, gas, and diarrhea.
Don’t waste your time eating foods that provide little to no nutritional value to you. Instead, choose high-calorie/protein snacks. Focusing on unrefined foods such as vegetables, fruits, and other natural products provide high levels of nutrients and antioxidants that your body needs. These foods are packed full of beneficial nutrients and minerals with no added starches, sodium, or sugar which can protect our body from chronic diseases, help with muscle development, and digestion.
How We Can Help!
Do you want to become healthier? No single food will be able to give you all of the nutrients you need, but a healthy diet with a lot of variety can. Similarly, not all nutrients provide energy but are still important to our bodies such as fiber and water.
Are you looking for someone to help you lose weight? Dr. Russo and our team will address physical weight loss and our Tony Robbin’s coach can work with you to create a whole new approach to food, exercise, and dieting, unlike anything you’ve tried before and helped you develop a mental attitude that helps you reach your goal weight!