Nutrition is Key
Why the Campaign to Stop America's Obesity Crisis Keeps Failing
As my students were taking their Scantron testing today and I was very actively proctoring this assessment, I discovered this article in Newsweek magazine. Obesity has been a hot-topic in our nation as of late. On May 14th the mini-series "The Weight of the Nation" premiers. Some of you may have seen Jamie Oliver's television series that looks at school lunches in LA. It isn't new information that our nation has an issue with healthy eating habits. This article focuses on the fact that while exercise is important to maintaining a healthy body, healthy eating is essential. Obviously I am a huge advocate for working out and being physically fit, but having a poor diet is counter-productive to the good I am doing for my body. Prior to the beginning of this calendar year, I lived in the mindset of exercising so I could eat whatever I wanted. This worked fine for me, I think mainly because I was in my lower twenties and still had a decent metabolism. At the end of 2011, I decided to take a real look at my nutrition along with my workout habits. Cutting out or at least cutting down on certain things in my diet has given me a much healthier, physically fit body. My energy levels have increased, I have lost weight and inches, and I feel so much better. Could I be doing more? Sure, we all could. I feel like I have found a pretty good balance of healthy eating and still treating myself to delicious yet unhealthy foods. I haven't had red meat since the beginning of the year (this was almost an unintentional elimination), I eat lean white meat daily, I rarely eat breads and pastas and if I do, they are whole grain not refined white flour based. I eat a whole lot of fruits and veggies throughout the day, which does take some getting used to because of the added fiber. Eating healthy is an adjustment, but it doesn't have to be bad or boring. One thing I like to think about is if I can pronounce the ingredients in my foods. If you take a look what you are putting in your mouth and you can't pronounce the majority of ingredients, re-think it. I can pronounce apple, banana, carrot, celery, turkey, chicken, bell peppers, etc. Think about it!