Good Nutrition Always Looks Good on You

June 3, 2009

Fat, or nutrients? The choice is yours...

In spite of all the increasing awareness that our bodies are a reflection of our commitment to a healthy diet and good exercise, millions of us around the globe regularly make unhealthy choices.

Perhaps the simple answer to this puzzle is that people find it easier to ignore this truth than to take on the commitment that they believe must follow if they embrace the ideal of healthy living.

What they are probably unaware of is that good health habits are just as compelling and equally hard to break as bad health habits.

Reading this, you probably are surprised. Of course the only way to test this theory is to try it yourself. If you can make a six month commitment to exercise and to eating a healthier diet, you will see that this new habit can be equally tough to break.

But before you plunge head first into such a commitment consider this simple truth. You’re not entering the healthy body equivalent of the monastic life. You’re not joining a Franciscan order and taking a vow of poverty. Giving up corn chips, and cheese doodles, and weekly plates of cheeseburgers and French fries is not all that dramatic, particularly when you come to realize that there are plenty of healthy dishes that actually are delicious as well.

If you think a vegetable curry served over a bed of rice sounds unappetizing, you would be shocked to see how unappetizing a cheese and sausage pizza would sound to you after six to twelve months of eating healthy food.

What you have to remember is that we are all by our nature creatures of habit. You’re not going to ditch cheeseburgers on Monday, and forget they ever existed come Friday. But in time your tastes and habits do change. One amazing change to watch yourself make is what happens when you successfully step away from sugar packed sodas and desserts. After just a few months your sense of sweetness changes dramatically.

If you, for example, are a regular Coke or Pepsi drinker, you can’t imagine how sickeningly sweet these products taste to someone who is only accustomed to tasting nature’s sweet treats, like honey, fruits, and vegetables such as corn, peas, carrots, or tomatoes.

Stay away from Coke or Pepsi long enough and in less than half a year you’ll be astounded by how unappealing these products and all their cousins taste.

Unless you summon the courage and take this giant leap forward you’ll never really know, but junk food is really repugnant to people who don’t eat it.

This same truth holds for regular exercise. Think of it as the simple law of physics you learned as a child, a body at rest tends to stay at rest and a body in motion tends to stay in motion. Give yourself the love and patience to do a regular exercise routine over a six to nine month period, and whatever exercise you choose: swimming, walking, running, rowing, tennis, and more; you’ll find it very hard to break that habit.

Even when you have a stress related injury you’ll look to keep going by shifting your workout but you won’t want to end it altogether.

You’ve got to show yourself the care and support to allow this process to take the time needed for real change to take hold. Once you do, you’ll never go back. As for your appearance, well that’s the bonus, you’ll look better, feel better and get more out of life. Enjoy the new you. It’s reason to celebrate, with a protein shake, of course.

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Posted in Diet & Fitness, Wellness