Home | Health & Longevity | Healthy Meals
In many ways, our bodies are like precision machines. They have thousands of intricate parts that work together as a team to make an amazing whole. But like any machine, our bodies need regular fuel and maintenance. Your body needs to be fueled with the right nutrients in order to run at its maximum capacity. Following good eating habits is important to your overall health, but you also need to be able to sift through the layers of poor information. Below, you'll find some myth busters on good eating habits: 1. "Working out on an empty stomach is best." Myth. Your stomach is rumbling for a reason: it wants a bit more fuel before you go to the gym. Ignoring the message will force your main engine to run on empty. So have a small snack, such as a piece of fruit, before undertaking physical exercise. 2. "Energy bars and drinks are good meal replacements." Wrong again. While these can be fine on the fly or in a pinch, meal replacement bars and drinks are no match for a properly balanced diet. In order to get the antioxidants you need, reach for fruits and vegetables for a boost of vitamins, fiber, minerals and fluid. 3. "Breakfast is not that important." Mom was right about this, as breakfast is the most important meal of each day. Eat a healthy breakfast to give your body the charge it needs to meet your busy schedule. If you skip breakfast, your low fuel start will leave you feeling sluggish and hungry throughout the day. 4. "Low-carb diets provide all the nutrients we need." Another myth. For temporary weight loss, low-carb diets may work, but in terms of overall good health, they come up short. We need carbohydrates for our very survival, and they start by developing muscle tissue, and storing energy for later use. 5. "Just eat what you want, whenever you want." Sorry, life is not that easy! Just because you exercise regularly, and make some good choices around food, does not give you license to eat whatever you want. The key is balancing all the choices. Eating all cheese and wheat products one week, and all fruit and veggies the next is not going to lead to a healthy body. 6. "Chop as many calories as you can." Cutting calories is part of losing weight, but running too low on fuel can harm you, too. Trim those calories gently, aiming for a weight loss of about 1-2 pounds per week. Much more loss than that means you should add some more food to your diet. 7. "Skip alcohol and soda." Yes! Not a myth. Good drinking habits are part of good eating. Soda pop really is just colored sugar water with chemical flavor. Why add to the profits of those companies, when you can drink tap water, juice, or milk? Drink regularly throughout the day. (Though it should be noted that the eight glass a day "rule" is not actually based on scientific research, but is itself a frequently repeated myth.) Don't let yourself get dehydrated. A solid understanding of a healthy diet will lead you to make good eating habit choices. It is not that complicated, and when you change what you eat, you will have made a big step toward overall wellness enhancement. Fuel up with good food, and keep that motor running for smooth performance down the road.
Article Source: http://www.ApprovedArticles.com
Sheila Ffloyd writes for a variety of popular web sites, on health plan and health and wellness product themes. Feel free to grab a unique version of this article from the Unique Articles Submission Service
Please Rate this Article
5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5
# of Ratings = 1 | Rating = 5/5