Top 10 Ways Your Diet Affects Your Health

It’s no surprise that we are what we eat. We’ve known this for years; it has become the sort of “banana in, banana out” mind-set, which basically means that what we put in is what we get out. If you put in junk you will get junk out. As simple as this concept is, obesity still ranks as one of the top killers in America, and many other countries in the world. In fact, obesity is still on the rise in most first world countries. We have condensed hundreds of pages of information for you, and come out with our list of the top 10 ways your diet affects your health.

Wellbeing Is Reduced With A Poor Diet

Over the last 50 decades, the food industry has profoundly changed the way we eat. When we eat more processed, sugary foods that are high in fats and sodium, we reduce our mood as well as our life expectancy. Depression, and even dementia, is affected by the quality of our diets across the course of our lives.

Immune System Depends On A Healthy Diet

Our immune system largely relies on us to provide it with the boost that need it needs to thrive and fight off infections and disease. Diets lacking in vital nutrients can impair the activity and production of immune cells and antibodies.

Energy

Your energy levels increase exponentially when you follow a healthy, balanced diet. Nutrient-rich foods help maintain and boost your energy levels, consuming too many sugary and fatty foods in one sitting can cause you to feel overly full. When we feel overly full we lose the desire to do anything for the next few hours and we may even need to take a nap to recover!

Chronic Diseases

Our risk for developing chronic diseases in our lifetime largely depends on our diet. Increased consumption of processed, sugary foods that are high in fat, can lead to the development of heart disease and diabetes. Both of these chronic diseases can kill you, and untreated diabetes can lead to vision problems and even blindness over time. If you are struggling to see, an Eye Doctor SLC can guide you through the vision testing process. Some studies have proven this time and time again; we have to be mindful of what we consume and how much of it we consume. Diabetes can also cause damage to your feet and increase your risk developing of sepsis. For this reason, diabetics need to check their feet daily, amongst other checks to ensure they are not suffering from diabetic complications.

Increased Risk Of Cancers

Some studies have shown that diet directly affects the development of 30 to 40% of some cancers. Phytonutrients found in fruits and vegetables work together to lower cancer risk. Many of these lower the risk of damage caused by oxidants. If your diet is high in sugar and fat, you could be putting yourself at risk of developing cancer. There are many ways to treat cancer these days, including new and promising developments in this field, but ultimately prevention is better than treatment.

Killer Salt

Most of us are well aware that too much sodium is very bad for us. Your sodium intake plays a major role in affecting your heart rate and blood pressure. Too much sodium from salty foods will cause your body to retain water in an effort to dilute your blood volume. This puts strain on your heart, causing it to pump faster and work harder. The CDC recommends a maximum of 500mg of salt per day – the average American consumes over 3400mg daily!

Maintain Your Weight

A healthy diet, rich in unprocessed foods and good fats (like avocado) are essential for maintaining a healthy weight. Being overweight, or obese, limits your well-being and shortens your life expectancy. It can also lead to pain and inflammation, which wreaks havoc on our bodies.

Bad Diets Cause Inflammation

Inflammation can be a good thing and it does serve a purpose, like fighting off infection. The problem comes in with bad inflammation. Bad inflammation is caused by poor diet and lack of exercise. Inflammation is the root cause of many chronic illnesses and diseases, such as arthritis, gout and asthma. Reducing your pain and inflammation levels will go a long way in improving your overall health and wellbeing, as well as your mood and mind-set.

Mental Focus

A healthy diet, rich in fruit and vegetables, wholegrain foods and fish is essential in maintaining mental fortitude and focus. Fish is among the healthiest foods on the planet, it is packed full of important nutrients, such as protein and vitamin D. Fish is also one of the best sources of omega-3 fatty acids which are vital to your body and your brain. Fish has been proven to lower your risk of heart attacks and strokes and is considered one of the most heart-healthy foods that you can eat. A new study even goes so far as to show that eating fish could reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s for some people.

Life Expectancy

Your diet has a direct impact on your overall life expectancy, as well as your general mental well-being. A healthy diet, rich in life-fuelling nutrients, is all you need to give yourself the best shot at living well into your old age comfortably and with no major health complications. Following a healthy lifestyle and sticking to a diet rich in all the right food groups, can increase your life expectancy but up to 20 years! That’s 20 more years with your friends and family and who would want to miss out on life’s precious moments all because of a stupid cheeseburger?

The bottom line is, if you look after your body – it will, in turn, look after you. Everything in moderation, a decent level of daily water consumption and a happy mind and body in return – that sounds more than fair to me!

*collaborative post

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