While Stress, heredity, and smoking are all factors that play into a person’s health and well being, one of the biggest impacts on one’s health is diet. Choosing to eat healthy benefits the body in a number of key areas. If you’re still gobbling up pizza and slurping down the diet soda, then you are clearly unconvinced, but see if these eight points about a healthy diet will change your mind.
1. Strengthens and improves muscle function
Healthy muscles carry us where we want to go. The right foods, along with proper exercise, build and maintain muscle mass, maintaining strength and mobility.
2. Promotes a longer life
Feeding your body what it needs can add years to your life. Reducing stress is one way to promote health, and a healthy diet is another. Foods rich in minerals and vitamins build up every cell in your body, preparing it to fight illness and stay alive longer.
3. Enables richer years
An individual who is healthy maintains a higher level of physical activity and brain function than their less healthy peers. A stronger body provides a richer life with more unique experiences.
4. Makes you prettier
If you won’t eat healthy for your insides, maybe a better outside will motivate some dietary changes. We all want to be physically attractive. Healthy foods contribute to clear skin and shiny hair that no amount of high priced beauty products provides. Fueling the body with rich omega fatty acids, collagen containing bone broth and fresh vegetables nourishes skin, hair, and nails.
5. Makes you smarter
Research shows certain dietary choices power up your brain to function at a higher level and help everyday brain function. Introducing “brain foods” like Ketonootropics, Coconut oil and MCT oils into your diet aid with memory retention and problem-solving skills.
This is one of the best reasons to commit to a healthy diet of vitamin-rich foods, as a healthy brain allows a much more active and independent lifestyle, from working longer to being able to drive.
6. Decreases your injury risk
A high-functioning body with strong bones and muscles maintains balance, handles heavy loads, and holds up under stress better than its weaker counterparts. Muscles and bones lacking calcium and protein over time grow weaker.
This, unfortunately, causes the body to be less stable and more prone to injury. Falls, slips, and twists end up with more serious injuries if a person’s body isn’t strong and healthy.
7. Fights bad genes
If you are already worried about cancer that runs on mom’s side or the heart attack risk that runs on dad’s side, take heart. While you can’t change your DNA, you can use a healthy diet to combat some of your genetic disposition to disease. Epigenetics says that we can turn our genetic expression on or off based on our lifestyle. Ingraining a healthy diet into your life, as well as exercise and regular doctor checkups, helps minimize the risk of falling victim to your family’s predisposed illnesses.
But, should you end up with an illness, whether or not from heredity, a healthy diet….
8. Prepares you to fight illness
A nutrient-rich diet boosts a person’s immune system to be able to fight off infection and illness. When a person falls victim to a disease or other medical condition, their diet helps them fight it off so it hopefully doesn’t get worse and is cured quickly.
A healthy diet is integral to a long, happy life. Deciding to eat healthily and maintain that commitment consistently may seem like a big change in lifestyle at first, but it will benefit you and your loved ones in ways that are practically immeasurable. For help sorting out your diet or for a customized diet to help you achieve a specific health goal, scheule your appointment for a consultation.
Dr. Hoch (pronounced Hoke), is a 1988 Graduate of Peotone High School and a 1990 Graduate of Joliet Junior College. She Received both her B.S. in Human Biology (1991) and her Doctorate of Chiropractic (D.C.) (1993) from The National College of Chiropractic in Lombard, IL. She also received her graduate and post-graduate certifications in Acupuncture from NCC. This article is copyrighted and may not be copied or duplicated in any manner including printed or electronic media, regardless of whether for a fee or gratis without the prior written permission of Dr. Hoch.