Nutrition

In the US and many parts of Europe, there is an obesity endemic that is getting worse every year. Obesity can cause several different health complaints. These include hypertension, high cholesterol, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, metabolic syndrome, polycystic ovaries, fertility problems, dyslipidaemia, thyroid conditions, malnourishment, and more. The sad fact is that obesity is linked to an estimated 300,000 deaths each year in the US alone.

If you are considered obese because you have a BMI of more than thirty, you are not alone. Two out of every three Americans are considered overweight or obese. However, people did not use to be so unhealthy and overweight in the past, so what changed?

The biggest change is in the products that are now available for purchase. America now has more fast food franchises than ever before. What’s more, the grocery stores are laden with sugary snacks and convenient processed foods full of additives and empty calories. The corporations that sell these foods use very effective advertising to ensure that their products are purchased by the majority of Americans.

The good news is that there is something you can do about your weight, and it doesn’t involve any crash diets, or the elimination of any of the key food groups. All you need to do is improve your overall nutrition, and in doing so, let the corporations that sell the foods that are killing us know that enough is enough.

So what measures should you take to improve your nutrition?

Well, the first thing you should do is stop buying sugary snacks and processed foods. That means no more burgers from fast food outlets, candy, ready meals, aspartame-based goods, condiments, genetically modified wheat-based foods, items containing high fructose corn syrup, soda, and cakes and cookies that are packed with sugar and fat. You might also want to steer clear of margarine spreads and cheap mass-produced cooking oils. Any food that has been processed is, fundamentally, bad for you.

What should you eat in place of all the unhealthy convenience food?

The answer is to eat as our forefathers did, and control your portions. That means lots of fruit and vegetables, lean meat, fish, eggs, seafood, nuts, seeds, beans, pulses, herbs, spices, brown rice, and healthy natural oils such as olive or avocado. You should also pick the organic option wherever possible, because this will eliminate unhealthy genetically modified foods from your diet.

Essentially, good nutrition means cooking all your own foods from scratch, and this is where many people find an excuse to avoid changing their dietary habits. They say that they haven’t got time to prepare healthy meals from scratch and hold down a full time job, but they are wrong. It takes about five minutes to put together a decent salad.

Other perfectly healthy nutritious meals take no longer than fifteen minutes to make. You don’t have to prepare something ornate and time consuming, unless it is something you want. If you don’t know any quick nutritious recipes, you can easily find hundreds of them on the internet, or in magazines and other periodicals.

Another common misconception is that nutritious healthy food is boring and tasteless, and nothing could be further from the truth. If you cook with herbs and spices, you can add gorgeous healthy full flavor to any meal. The fact is that many nutritious meals taste far more interesting than burger and fries, but you won’t find that out for yourself unless you give them a try.

Corporations that sell deadly dangerous foods do not care about you, or anybody else. What’s more, they are not responsible for your life choices. You alone wield the power to change how you eat, and take back your life. All that you need to do is ignore the condescending TV ads, walk past the snack aisles in the grocery store, drive past the fast food outlets, and make better choices about what you let pass your lips.