Why You Should Ditch the Junk and Nourish Your Body

If you’re the kind of person who goes through life eating whatever the heck you want, you’re probably referred to as ‘lucky’ by lots of people. Most people spend every waking moment stressing about calories and weight gain, so if you don’t put on weight while eating what you want, you must be lucky, right? Wrong. Just because you don’t put on any extra flab, does not mean you’re not harming your body. In fact, you could be extremely unhealthy on the inside, susceptible to all kinds of illness. Whether you eat what you want because you just aren’t fussed about being skinny, or because you don’t put on any weight, you should consider changing your eating habits.

If you decide to eat a diet filled with nourishing, nutrient and vitamin filled foods, you’ll become much healthier. You’ll be able to ward off plenty of diseases related to a bad diet, such as heart disease and Crohn’s. You’ll feel better in yourself, with tons of energy. Your skin and eyes will look better, as well as your hair and fingernails. Your body composition may even improve!

Nobody is saying you should ditch junk food completely; if you need something a little sweet or fatty, then have it once a week. But don’t eat those foods every day. Surely eating them every day takes some of the enjoyment out of them anyway? Eating healthy does not mean starving yourself or only eating salads either, by any means. You should never go hungry on a healthy diet! Here are the kinds of things you should be eating:

• Lots of vegetables.

• Fruit.

• Nuts.

• Lean meat.

• Complex carbs, such as sweet potatoes and rice.

• Greek yoghurt.

• Healthy fats like avocado.

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Here’s a list of things you should be limiting:

• Simple carbs, like cakes.

• Crisps.

• Chips.

• ‘Diet’ foods – these foods don’t fill you up and contain bad ingredients!

• Fizzy drinks.

• Pre packaged foods.

• Takeaways.

You can create plenty of healthy, delicious dishes with the foods on the good list. Here are some of my favorite healthy meals:

• Homemade turkey burgers.

• Banana on gluten free toast with nut butter.

• Steak with sweet potato discs.

• Oats and honey.

• Chicken stir fry.

You can get creative with your meals and make plenty of yummy things to eat!

There are so many more reasons to change the way you eat than, ‘to lose weight’. Here are the benefits of nourishing your body:

• You’ll live longer.

• You’ll stay healthy longer into old age.

• You won’t experience as many health issues.

• You’ll feel full of energy.

• You’ll look better overall.

• You’ll have more confidence.

• You can help others to turn their lives around too. Health related degrees like nutritional science could allow you to turn this into a lucrative career.

• Exercise comes hand in hand with eating good foods. You might find a new sporty hobby you enjoy!

• You’ll give your life more purpose.

Eating healthy foods 100% of the time is almost impossible, so don’t expect to be perfect. Eat healthy foods 80% of the time, and you’ll experience all of the benefits listed here. If you don’t look after yourself, nobody else will!