I may not be right all the time but….

I often have friends, coworkers and family dispute my views on healthier food choices and making positive changes in your lifestyle.  I am ok with, I admit, I do not know it all and I am not always 100% right.  All I can do is share what has worked for me and those result are undisputable!

Here are my thoughts, if you disagree with me fine, then tell me where we disagree, or better yet, show me what does work?  I am always happy to hear about new ideas and viewpoints, BUT if you do not practice them yourself then what is the point of telling me I am wrong?  People often site Doctors, news reports or online articles with their arguments.  What you have to do is take an overall look at what does works.  There is plenty of conflicting information out there, but if you can just believe that natural foods in their natural state are best then you agree with me on 80% of the approach!  The other 20% may relate to things like eating meat and dairy, outside of that what else is there to debate.  Processed and refined foods are inherently unhealthy, fake foods are seem to never be good, and the best thing to drink is always water!  If you dispute these things then there is little hope for you to get healthier.

What most people do not think about is the hidden agenda behind many of the health messages out there, which are usually rooted in selling something.  Diet books, diet pills, diet foods, diet seminars, workout videos, etc…..it is all about selling something.  I am ok with selling an idea but it must be the right one.  There is no magic cure/pill, or super food; it is all about a balanced approach.  Our healthcare for profession for example is full of overweight people.  Doctors are trained to curing illness and provide emergency care but they are taught very little about diet and prevention.  There are those who do not correlate diet to our overall health, this is a huge issues because Doctors prescribe medicines all day long, but that only helps the symptoms and rarely cures the chronic disease.

One of the other huge factors working against us is our own Government.  As a nation, we subsidies farmers to grown lots of products, which some of these in mass quantities are not necessarily the best foods for us.  As we subsidize and grow more of the products they have to find a way to get rid of them, and where does it go?  School lunches, hospitals, government run institutions, fast food industry, etc.    Therefore, if the government makes unhealthy foods cheap then they are not helping the general population and certainly not the poor.

I will admit I am learning new things all the time and continue to come across conflicting information.  It is easy to find negative feedback to a positive approach and vice versa.  Everyone has an opinion, what I suggest as look at that individual, evaluate their motives and do not rule out ideas that are not the norm.  Our society is growing more and more obese every day, so do you think societies message are correct if that is the case?

If you want to improve your health then start somewhere, do not sit back and do nothing because you are confused or overwhelmed.  I did that for years and stayed Fat!!!!  Implementing healthy foods into your diet is easy (fruits, vegetables, water) and you will see results, reducing the processed foods will also show results – these are two simple steps to help you begin your journey.

Whether you change your lifestyle overnight or gradually improve it, I encourage you to start today.  You only have one body, one life to live so go out and make the best of it!