Diet

Just the mere mention of the word ″diet″ has the power to send most overweight individuals into a panic, fearing the sacrifice they will have to make to lose weight.

Let's face it, no one wants to be told they can't eat the food they really enjoy.

However, when that food is what is causing weight gain and potentially a whole world of health problems down the line, it's a sacrifice that must be made. Or else!

On the other hand, going on a diet doesn't need to be quite so scary. At least not when it's a diet designed to be healthy, tasty and fulfilling.

Whole Food Diet

That's what my diet tends to be like most of the time, at any rate. I actually love the taste of fresh vegetables when they're steamed just right and never overcooked.

Who wouldn't?

I grow most of my own veggies so they're about as truly organic as they come, so I know I'm not eating any pesticide residue or other agricultural chemicals that are hiding in much of the fresh produce you can buy at regular grocery stores.

If you haven't already guessed, I take the wholesomeness and cleanliness of my food quite seriously.

Why should I or anyone else for that matter have to consume chemically tainted food in a day and age when that kind of thing should be non-existent?

So I poke a well-aimed middle finger at the chemical farmer in general and hint that they can stick their poisoned produce where the sun don't shine! I choose what I eat and that's all there is to it.

Where was I?

Oh yes, whole foods and health.

The body's health relies on us to give it the right food and not to poison it with what's toxic. Whole foods are the healthy side of the diet equation, while processed foods are the toxic side.

I really believe that you are what you eat and when you eat good food, your health reflects that goodness. So I eat as good as I can for as much of the time as I can.

It's not much to ask for is it?

Not Quite Vegetarian

While I'm not entirely vegetarian, I have in recent years seriously cut back on the amount of meat I eat. It's not for ethical reasons really.

It's more like I don't want to be eating a tasty steak with a payload of strange hormones, antibiotics and who knows what else hidden inside each tasty bite!

So I lean on the side of caution in that respect and only indulge in a meaty feast on occasion. Even then, I try to ensure my steak comes from a grass fed cow and not from a poor, unhealthy factory farmed animal.

The moral of this part of the story is: Try to eat meat from grass fed, open-grazing animals!

Cooked or Raw?

There's a lot of talk these days about the health benefits of eating a raw food diet. I can see the sense in much of it, but not all of it.

I personally aim for a percentage of a meal to be made up of some raw items like salads, some shredded cabbage, grated carrot and maybe some sprouted seeds like broccoli or hemp for example. I also like to include a handful of nuts like almonds or walnuts or seeds like sunflower or pumpkin.

These are packed with goodness and nutrients that are not always available in other foods. Like walnuts are rich in omega 3 fatty acid, pumpkin seeds have zinc and sunflower seeds have some vitamin B3. There is more, but it would take a much longer and way more boring article to cover all the good stuff in just those foods alone!

Many vegetables contain certain enzymes that our bodies make good use of, that are destroyed by cooking. So it pays to include some raw stuff for that reason.

Other things just don't sit right when you think about them raw. Like potatoes or beans, chick peas or cauliflower, turnip and parsnips, for example.

So some veggies are cooked to make them more tasty but to retain as much of their nutrients as possible. I like steaming as a cooking option that doesn't strip too much goodness out of food.

Avoiding Bad Food

There are heaps of bad foods out there that must be avoided if you want to enjoy good health, a slim figure and a longer life. That's a huge subject in itself and one I will be covering in individual articles here.

While most people equate a diet with losing weight, it doesn't always have to be just that. Watching what you eat is also incredibly important to stay healthy. And being healthy and physically fit tends to go hand in hand with a slimmer figure as long as you're eating the right things.

Suffice it to say, the main things to steer clear of are all processed foods (that's just about anything that comes packaged in some way), sugar and refined carbs, soft drinks and soda and anything with artificial sweeteners in.

Oh boy, that's a lot of what you'll find in any regular grocery store!

Summing Up

I'm adding more pages to cover more focused topics on diet. The body needs the nutrients and nutrition that it needs and as long as you give it what it needs and not what it doesn't need, it will reward you by feeling and looking good.

There is a lot of information out there to research and I must admit, I do absorb a lot of what I go looking for. My own aims are simple:

Be healthy
Be in shape
Be living longer in a healthy body

Those things are all achievable when the diet is right and the body gets what it needs when it needs it.