Healthy Eating with Sprinkles of Exercise

It used to be that you would have people call those who tried to eat right Health Nuts, as though there was something definitely wrong with them. You would think that their idea of health food would be to eat homemade cookies instead of the processed kind.
As the nation becomes more and more obese, more disabled, more ill with chronic disease like heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, we are realizing that what has been wrong and wacky has been the American diet. Huge portions of saturated fat laden meat like hamburgers, drinks full of high-fructose corn syrup, and lots of starchy white bread have made our bodies and blood pressure balloon.

The irony is that eating healthy is absolutely delicious, and it will make us thinner, much healthier, and able to be active and energetic, and even live longer. But it does take some work and especially some planning.

First, base your diet in a variety of vegetables and fruit. Stick with whole-grain, preferably 100% whole grain cereals, breads, and pasta. Start with non-sugary cereal in the morning like cheerios or oatmeal. Add in some almonds or walnuts, sprinkle some berries on top. Enjoy.

Make big, beautiful salads for lunch. Salads can be wonderful if you start with some great ingredients. Salads are more than just lettuce, they can be so much more with avocado, tomato, red bell pepper, carrots, green onions - be creative and add what you love! I like to gently toast almonds to add in. Try adding those little dried cranberries, or even raisins. Add a can of well-drained beans- any kind.

I don't know, I suppose I just have my own take on nutrition, but I feel that you can occasionally have a potato chip or gourmet Homemade cookies or even Praline candy as long as you exercise moderation and also eat your vegetables.