During National Nutrition Month, you are invited to learn about making informed food choices and developing healthy eating habits.

What is Nutrition?

Nutrition is the sum of the processes by which a body takes in and uses food to support its life. 

Nutritious diets play a key role in helping individuals stay healthy throughout life.

But what is a nutritious diet?  I’m sure you’ve heard someone say “eat a balanced diet”.  But what does that mean?

A balanced diet is getting the essential nutrients that your body needs. This means eating whole foods.

The body is amazing. It has the ability to heal itself.  It is replacing cells all the time, but it needs the right nutrients to be able to do this effectively. Without the right “building blocks” your body can’t do its job. 

The body given the right fuel will run optimally. Each cell will run well and the DNA will make a new perfect cell when it is time to reproduce itself. However, if you don’t give it the right nutritional ingredients, it won’t be able to make a perfect copy.

As an example, let’s say you hired a contractor and asked him to build you a perfect replica of the Taj Mahal. He could do it. He is that good. He knows the tools of his trade. But the only materials you give him are plywood and nails. He would do the best he could, but he wouldn’t build that perfect replica and it won’t stand up the way the original has.

Bodies do not work on chemicals such as preservatives and flavor enhancers. They do not work on pesticides or any of the other varied things you can find in processed foods or even in poorly grown or GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) fruits and vegetables. You need healthy food.

Although there are many natural remedies that are advertised as helping illness and disease, what these natural remedies are relying on is supplying the body with the nutrients it is deficient in so the body is able to restore its health.

The Underlying Reason

You will notice that all health conditions have some failure of some part of the body to function properly. What do the individual organs and body use to function: Protein, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, amino acids. Where can you get all of these? The answer is Real Food.

The foundation of good health comes from a good healthy diet that provides all the macronutrients and micronutrients that the body needs. Putting real food into the body is the way to undercut having to constantly fight for your health.

Real food is as close to its natural form as possible, unprocessed or minimally processed, without preservatives, chemicals or other additives. If you are looking for gluten-free, go to the Produce Department. Produce is gluten-free.

For anything you buy to eat, read the labels. Make sure nothing is in the food you purchase except natural ingredients.

Eating a healthy diet is a matter of understanding the nutrients your body needs, getting the list of the foods that supply those nutrients, and working your menus around that. This is the way to start on the road to real health.

You should eat for your health, not for your taste buds. We think you’ll find the amount of energy you get, and, if you are overweight, the amount of weight you will lose will convince you to eat for your health.

Meanwhile, if you haven’t been eating well, it won’t hurt to supplement your current diet with good whole food or food-based vitamins and minerals to help address any nutrient deficiencies you have.

Get the Essential Nutrients your Body Needs

If improving your health is on your 2024 goals’ list, consider starting by improving your nutrition so that your body can operate at an optimum level – both physically and mentally.