Good Eating Habits -- Seven Myths to Avoid
by Sheila Ffloyd
Your body can be thought of as a precision machine. It comes with thousands of intricate parts that combine to make an amazingly functional team. Like any machine, your body needs regular maintenance and fuel.
Bodies need fuel with the right mix of nutrients to run at maximum efficiency. Good eating habits will improve your overall health, but it is also necessary to dig through the poor information that most of us hear about.
There are seven big myths about good eating habits, and here we address them:
1. "It is best to work out on an empty stomach." A definite myth. Your stomach's rumblings are an attempt to tell you something, not to get you to go to the gym! If you ignore tummy rumbling, you are forcing your engine to run without fuel. Have a light snack, even just a piece of fruit, before you undertake anything physical.
2. "Energy bars and drinks are good meal replacements." Wrong again. While these can be fine on the fly or in a pinch, meal replacement bars and drinks are no match for a properly balanced diet. In order to get the antioxidants you need, reach for fruits and vegetables for a boost of vitamins, fiber, minerals and fluid.
3. "Breakfast is not that important." Mom was right about this, as breakfast is the most important meal of each day. Eat a healthy breakfast to give your body the charge it needs to meet your busy schedule. If you skip breakfast, your low fuel start will leave you feeling sluggish and hungry throughout the day.
4. "A low-carb diet has all the nutrients you need." Myth. Low-carb diets are okay for temporary weight loss, but they are poor when it comes to overall good health. Our bodies need carbohydrates to survive, and for storing energy and creating muscle tissues.
5. "Eat what you want, when you want." If only life were that easy. Just because you're making some good food choices and exercising regularly, doesn't necessarily give you license to eat everything you want. Balance is the key. You can't eat only cheese and no fruit or vegetables and expect to lead a healthy life.
6. "Cut as many calories as you can." While losing weight does involve cutting calories, you should never run on too short a fuel supply. Trim your calories wisely, and aim for a healthy weight loss of one or two pounds per week. If you start to drop weight too quickly, add a little more food to bring your daily calorie count up.
7. "Skip soda and alcohol." This is no myth. Good eating habits go hand in hand with good drinking habits. Water, milk, and juice will always be the best beverage choices for active bodies. Drink often, and not only when you feel thirsty. By the time you begin to feel thirst, your body is already close to running on empty.
A solid understanding of a healthy diet will lead you to make good eating habit choices. It is not that complicated, and when you change what you eat, you will have made a big step toward overall wellness enhancement. Fuel up with good food, and keep that motor running for smooth performance down the road.
Sheila Ffloyd contributes regularly to various popular online magazines, on health plan and health and wellness product themes. You are welcome to reprint this article - but get your own unique content version here.
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