Wednesday, March 28, 2012

You Are What You Eat Part 1: The Skinny on Diets

ByKelcie Owens

What is a diet anyway? According to Webster's New World Dictionary, the first mentioned definition of the word "diet" is "what a person or animal usually eats and drinks; daily fare." The secondary understanding of this word, still listed under the first definition, is " a special or limited selection of food and drink, chosen or prescribed to promote health or a gain or loss of weight." The first understanding is so much simpler, isn't it? In the broadest sense of the term, a diet is simply what we ingest. The second understanding, however, is highly individualized. Specialized diets manipulate the things individuals ingest to promote a more desirable outcome physically and/or mentally. This is the definition that is most synonymous with the word "diet" today.

How can you tell if any one diet is for you? After all, there are so many different ways to eat! The truth is, in order to find this out you must learn how to combine the two understandings of what a diet is and make it work for you. A diet should be simple. It's just nourishment you put into your body, right? Not exactly rocket science. However, everyone is different and different diets affect individuals, well, differently! So the key is finding a diet, or way of eating, that works for you and your needs while keeping it simple enough that it becomes apart of your daily routine and you are able to stick with it. How can this be done? It is helpful to think of healthy eating as a set of guidelines, or principles, rather than hard-set rules. That way you can tweak the generic idea of what a healthful diet is to what works for you.

There are two things you know when it comes to yourself. You know what you like and you know what you don't like, and you also know what you should and shouldn't be doing when it comes to your health. These two concepts do not have to be disharmonious. When it comes to your way of eating, do not punish your body by either making it eat healthy foods that you do not like just because you feel like you should or by eating junk food you crave just because you like it. Simply figure out what kinds of healthy things you like and include these in your diet, and also figure out how to prepare not so appealing foods that are healthy in a way that appeals to you. In other words, there are a lot of spices and ways of preparing food out there. Get familiar with them!

All of this is simple enough, right? Well, not exactly. Noticed that I used the vague term "healthy". What exactly is healthy, anyway? Old Webster to the rescue again! The word "Health" is defined as "physical and mental well-being; freedom from disease, pain, or defect; normalcy of physical and mental functions; soundness." So, healthy foods are any food that promotes and helps maintain physical and mental normalcy and soundness, eaten in the proportions and with the frequency that also encourages your well-being. Simply put, it's stuff you put in your body that keeps it running smoothly and feeling great for a long period of time. So, what are these foods? Wouldn't we all like to know! This is controversial ground I'm hitting here, but I'm going to strive to answer this question based on what I've researched and learned in the next article I compose.

You can find this and other articles similar to this on my blog http://pinchpennywellness.blogspot.com/

Article Source:http://EzineArticles.com/?expert

View the Original article

No comments:

Post a Comment