Diet is whatever you eat, it’s not something that you go on and go off of, it’s not cheating, it’s not depriving, diet is food. The foods you choose to eat can help keep you healthy or make you sick. Not all food causes disease and not all food stops disease. Food choices play a large role in your overall health. Food fuels our cells, it either helps to generate healthy cells to feed the body or degenerate cells to harm the body. The general health of your body depends on the way you choose to eat.

Disease is illness within your body that causes your body to lack ease. Dis-ease can range from a mild cough or cold to a full-blown illness in which your body needs treatment in order to fight off whatever is attacking it. The foods we eat and the environment we live in can greatly increase the negative effects of disease or greatly improve our body’s ability to fight disease.

It’s not that cut and dry but the basics are that if we eat well and live a clean life, we can expect better overall health than if we simply ate and breathed without care and quality.

The foods we choose to eat, when choices are healthy, whole foods, will help regenerate healthy, strong cells which in turn will help us fight off simple cold and flu symptoms and help us stay stronger during major illness. Foods that contain chemical additives and preservatives clog up our cells, gunk up our blood and intestinal tract and weaken our immune system among many other things. When our body is fed a chemical wild-storm, it cannot fight intrusion as easily as it was made to do. We become sluggish, stressed, moody, our sleep is interrupted, our digestion is off, and we have cravings that we can’t seem to satisfy. All this and more is your body begging for nutrition. We are an overfed, under-nourished nation; all because of our food choices.

Eating to nourish isn’t as difficult as it sounds. Eating whole natural foods without the addition of processed, boxed, frozen and canned convenience foods is fast and easy and a whole lot more beneficial. Start slowly by ditching one item a week or a month – replace that item with one (or more) healthy food choices. Baby-step your way to limiting take-out, candy/junk food binges, and unhealthy lunches and over-sized portions.

When you learn how to eat healthy and to fuel your cells properly, you don’t ever have to diet. You don’t have to deprive yourself of self-indulgences, you won’t feel guilty or cheating. Balance is key.

Learn what true whole foods are, learn what works best for your body instead of the latest diet trend and learn why you have cravings and how to combat them.

Here’s to your happy, healthy year ahead! Contact me if you would like help getting yourself on track and into a new healthy relationship with food and good eating and living habits. Dawn@initiatewellness.com