Our healthy eating guidelines are the start of your healthy eating habits.

Healthy eating guidelines will help you develop healthy eating habits.

This is key because, when you have healthy eating habits you lose weight. Simple as that.

Unfortunately, eating healthy has only become an issue in the last century. In the beginning humans lived on a natural diet from the land and ate pretty much raw or minimally processed foods, which sustained us for millions of years: fruits, vegetables, meats, nuts and seeds.

But, during the past 100 years or so western countries have become industrialized, cities are booming, pollution has escalated and we’ve come to depend on highly processed foods like: fast foods, pizza, sweets, chips, convenience foods, sodas, canned foods so on and so forth. These are not part of our healthy eating guidelines, in fact quite the opposite.

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So along with our fast paced life, industrial pollution and processed foods, has come the dramatic rise of chronic diseases; like heart attacks, high blood pressure, stroke, cancers, diabetes, liver, kidney problems and obesity, to name just a few.

This makes a self-health approach all that much more important to your mental and psychical well being.

Learning how to eat right today will not only help you in losing weight, it reduces your risk to the epidemic of chronic disease spreading around the world. Also, healthy people spend minimal time and money on doctors, hospitals and health insurance bills. You gotta love that.

Healthy eating guidelines to help you develop healthy eating habits.

*** Generally, the less a food is processed the better. The more food is processed (through excessive cooking, pasteurization, homogenization, high heat) the less natural and nutritious it becomes.

Our healthy eating guidelines discourage using processed food that has had the life sucked out of it. The bitch about this is you’re body just converts it to fat and you know where that gets you.

Processed foods have potentially harmful chemicals that may have been introduced during the production process. The longer the food processing chain, the greater the chance harmful chemicals end up in the food.

*** Seek out natural, whole or minimally processed foods. Healthy eating habits include a lot of foods that can be eaten raw, such as fresh fruits and vegetables. Such foods are rich in a variety of high quality nutrients.

Always choose fresh over frozen, dried or canned foods. Fresh foods taste better, have more nutrients with no added salt, sugar or unhealthy additives.

Try to buy only organic meats, vegetables and fruits that come from reputable manufacturers close by. You’ll avoid harmful substances like hormones, antibiotics, and pesticides in the food. Besides, the shorter distance the food travels to get to your table, the fresher and more nutritious the food.

*** Avoid or minimize excess sugar; junk food, sweets, processed canned and convenience foods. Unfortunately processed sugar tasted good, but is not good for us.

You find this type of sugar in most commercial yogurts, kefirs and juices, fruit and soft drinks.

These foods are high in calories, sugars, harmful artificial substances and low in nutrients. This is the stuff that jacks your weight up.

A lifestyle of eating like this has been linked with a variety of diseases including obesity, diabetes, immune system disorders, cardiovascular diseases, malnutrition and cancer. Get the picture...

*** Do not over eat. Over the past several decades, food in the western and westernized nations became increasingly affordable and more readily available than ever before in human history.

This very fact, combined with the enjoyment of recreational eating and the stress relief that food consumption brings results in a national past time of frequent over eating.

Our Healthy eating guidelines encourage learning: Learning to eat the right food, learning to eat 5 smaller healthier meals a day, and learning how much is enough. Cutting down on calories considerably lowers your susceptibility to diseases and prolongs your life.

*** Nutritional needs vary depending on genetics, age, health; not to mention the physical, mental, and emotional activities you’re dealing with on a daily basis.

So, your healthy eating guidelines may include supplementing your diet with vitamins if you think your daily nutritional intake from food is insufficient. Vitamins can make the difference, so check with your doctor.

And lastly, never forget, good health is based on a balanced approach to life on all levels. It's a life long process and should be practiced every day.

Smiles…Gigi

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