The Spokesman Paper ~ April 2010

Eating Well & Reaping The Health Benefits!

By Susan M. Poore, RN, CNC, CPLC

Many individuals feel that “eating healthy” only has to happen when we have a “reason” such as losing weight.  Consuming many of the nutritious foods our bodies thrive on should be the norm, not the exception and unfortunately in America it isn’t.  Instead, good foods are replaced with high fat, high sugar, processed foods that are convenient but sorely lack the type of nutrition we need to really survive.

What does it mean to “eat well”?  Eating well means that you are feeding your body what it requires to remain healthy, at its top performance and to prevent disease.  We seldom think about how the foods we eat can affect our future.  I teach my clients how to incorporate nutritious foods into their daily lives. When the body gets what it needs, the benefit is that any excess weight comes off and your health improves.  Weight loss diets do not need to continually be a part of our lives if we all learned to do just that. 

Can most diseases be prevented? Absolutely!  Multiple studies have shown that 90% of them are preventable and that the primary cause is poor dietary habits and excess weight.   Heart disease, diabetes and cancer are just a few.  Preventing illness and disease with healthy food is so easy.  Treating illness and disease is difficult, costly and takes its toll on the human body. 

So what can you do TODAY to start creating positive changes in your diet?  First, avoid the white foods:  white sugar, white flour, white rice, white potatoes and white flour.  Replacing them with whole wheat and whole grain products along with non-processed foods is a start.  Another suggestion is to learn to read food labels.  Companies pay marketing agencies to make a product “appear” healthy whether it is or not.  Words like “natural” have very little or no meaning in the nutrition world.  Words like “partially hydrogenated” (i.e. Trans fats) along with dozens of other words you cannot even pronounce are good indicators that the product may not be that disease fighting food your body needs. 

Clients come to see me for several different reasons, many for weight loss, fatigue and issues that can be resolved through changes in their diets, nutrition and stress levels.  People unfortunately think they are giving up their favorite foods to lose weight and then want to return to them when they are no longer on a diet.  The question is… would you give up something if you knew it was creating illness, disease or causing your body to slow down and stop you from having the ability to lose weight?  It’s all in how we look at things, how we perceive what healthy foods can do for us and what unhealthy foods cannot do.  If you want to make a difference in your health...start with good nutrition.  Seek help if you are not sure what you need to be avoiding and what foods will help you meet your individual health goals!   www.BalancedHealth101.com   

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Susan is a registered nurse extensively trained and certified in Nutrition,

Stress Management and is a Professional Life Coach. 

Her practice is located at 9^th & Delaware in Alamogordo.  (575) 491-5036