Think about it. You eat a French fry, it goes into your mouth (chew chew chew) and down into your stomach (plunk), works it’s way through your digestive track (refined carbs make you a little gassy?) and all of those Frenchy fried nutrients get taken out and put into your bloodstream, where it feeds all the organs, muscles and cells in your body. A French fry body!

I’ve wanted to write about this for a while, but haven’t known how to approach it. I didn’t want it to come out as a lecture or anything, like your mother telling you to eat your greens, but more of an inspirational piece. And so, hopefully this will motivate you to make better choices with your eating habits.

Every time you put food in your mouth, you have a chance to refuel yourself. Every morsel that you ingest is essentially a chance to recover your body and to improve your mind and its functions. Every time you eat junk food, you lose out on that instance to gift your body something good, something that will fuel you through the bumps along the road.

I’m talking healthy eating here, so let me be clear: this is not about dieting. It is about straight up, healthy body, get yourself on track, smart eating. If you are making the right choices for optimal health, you will whip your body and lifestyle into shape without even trying. Healthy eating will bring your body to its optimal capability, which is primarily where we should want to be and genetically how we look and feel our best. It is not healthy to want to look like a stick figure regalia of a Hilton descendant, although everyone’s body is different. Their money isn’t the only thing they have going for them, genetically the Hiltons and Richies have small frames, but we’ve all seen the tabloid pictures of them looking like walking skeletons. The point is to get to the best body for you.

For starters, check out the ADA website. The American Dietetic Association is the world’s largest organization of food and nutrition professionals, which includes doctors, dietitians, health instructors, etc. It is tried and true information on nutrition and diet whose foundation is research, education and advocacy. You can find articles about eating healthy on the run and figuring out which artificial sweetener is best, as well as the benefits of chewing gum. Who knew that Bubblicious could help manage weight and relieve stress?

The basics of nutrition come down to an appropriate balance of the major food groups. See here for a refresher course on the food pyramid. If you can truly make it a goal to hit all of the requirements in each food group, you are going to be so full that you won’t have any room for cheese fries (Ok I will always have room for cheese fries, but hopefully you catch my drift). If you are one of those that count McDonalds as your primary food group, start slow. Add a piece of fruit a day as a snack instead of chips, wean yourself off of M+Ms by adding 10 or 12 to a cup of yogurt instead of eating the whole bag, add veggies to your pizza. By filling yourself up with a few extra healthy choices each day, you’ll notice a reduction in cravings for high fat and sugary foods.

It’s not about being a nutrition nazi and eating tofu and spinach at every meal. While that may work for some, it isn’t realistic for most. Plus, food is one of life’s greatest pleasures. From personal experience, I know that if I deny myself something it only makes me want it more. Its ok to enjoy a little variety and moderation in your diet without killing all the excitement. You don’t need to pass up your chocolate chip cookies for carrot sticks, try having one cookie with a glass of low fat milk instead of eating the whole bag with a can of pepsi. Eight ounces of 1% milk has 8 grams of protein in it, combined with the moderate indulgence of a cookie it will leave you feeling full without the deprivation of living off of carrot sticks. Also, listening to your body is key. If you are hungry, eat something. It’s all about making the right choices.

Another great tip is to focus on eating real foods. Real foods are anything unprocessed, non-industrialized, and are fresh and seasonable. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel, choose natural foods that don’t have a paragraph of ingredients on their labels, or better yet choose food that doesn’t come with a label. If you need help with this one, please step into the fruit and veggie section of your local grocery store. Hopefully this won’t be a new experience for you. Even so, you don’t need to eat all fruits and veggies to eat real foods. Real cheese (gasp! sorry Velveeta), free range chicken and eggs, whole grains, juices made of 100% juice are great choices as well.

I could go on and on about this topic. Of course, I am not a nutritionist and only speaking from experience and my own knowledge with a little help from Google. Especially for those with high blood pressure, diabetes or heart disease, always consult a doctor before making any dietary changes.

When you eat crap, you feel like crap, and essentially you are crap. So start working on uncrapping yourself!

What are your healthy eating tips?

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