In our life, we somtimes do not care much about the effects of food to our hralth. Though we understand that there are some certain types of foods which are not good for health such as heavy eating habit, we don’t pay attention to the illnessses that we ca get. For instance, comsuming too much fat foods can result in ebesity, or saturated fatscan cause arteriosclerosis, heart attack and stroke.

Foods that can contribute to the growth of diabetes are white bread, pasta and rice.

Let’s look at six aspects of your diet that can affect your health in a positive or negative way:

Antioxidants
Organic vs. non-organic foods
Good and bad fats
Glycemic level
Your digestive system
Cooking techniques

1. Antioxidants

Many substances in our food attack and damage our DNA, which can cause faster aging (because the cells can’t regenerate correctly) or even cancer. Antioxidant-rich foods (e.g. berries, red beans, artichokes) can help to protect your cells and prevent these processes. Some foods even help your body to create its own antioxidants.

2. Organic vs. non-organic foods

Fruit and vegetables that were grown organic taste better and contain more nutrients because they were given their time to grow. Vitamins are essential to keep our body functioning and to keep our immune system strong. This will not only keep us healthier but also slow down our body’s aging process. In addition, organic foods are free from health-harming chemicals and contaminants.

3. Good and bad fats

Fat is not our enemy. Yes, too much fat causes problems like overweight. But our body needs fat. There are good fats that heal, and bad fats that make us ill. Saturated fat (mainly in animal products) increases the bad cholesterol level. Vegetable fats, on the contrary, are mainly unsaturated which is much healthier. Olive oil even lowers the bad and raises the good cholesterol level, preventing coronary disease.

4. Glycemic level

A high or strongly fluctuating blood sugar level is unhealthy. Refined foods like white bread or rice, and especially sugar, quickly push the blood sugar up but are absorbed rather fast. Eating large amounts of these simple-carbohydrate-foods increases your risk of diabetes. Grains and whole grain products, on the other hand, which are rich in complex carbohydrates keep your blood sugar fairly constant.

5. Your digestive system

It’s crucial to keep your digestive system performing at its best. If it doesn’t, you feel uncomfortable, detoxification works insufficiently, and nutrient absorption is disturbed. This can lead to a lack of vitamins and minerals which will cause a weak immune system. Eating many high fiber foods, like fruits, vegetables and whole grain products, can help to keep your digestive system balanced.

6. Cooking techniques

The health benefits of food lie not only in what you eat, but also in how you prepare it. Overheating oil in your pan, for example, can produce health-harming substances. Frying chips in oil will add lots of unhealthy fat to the healthy potatoes; it would be much healthier to oven-bake them with a bit of olive oil or without fat. Cooking vegetables in water, especially when overcooking, makes them lose many nutrients, whilst steaming retains most of them.

This should give you an idea of the importance of our food for our health. If you eat the right amount of the right things, prepared correctly, you can prevent many illnesses, feel energetic and grow old in health. If you eat the wrong things or too much of them, or prepare foods in an unhealthy way, this will have a negative impact on your health.

The good thing is that you don’t fall ill because you eat unhealthy once. Trouble starts when your body is exposed to health-harming substances over a long period. It’s never too late to change your diet. If you are not ill yet, you might be able to prevent illness. If you have fallen ill already, still change your diet! For if you start eating healthy, you can achieve improvements of your symptoms, giving more quality of life, or slow down the progress of your disease.

Related Eating Healthy Articles

Eating healthy is especially important in this day and age. There are so many different diseases that can be caused by unhealthy eating, from cancer to diabetes to stroke. Eating healthy helps you to lower your risk of disease, increase your productivity, have more strength and have more energy.

But, what is healthy food?  If you want to eat healthy the first thing you have to do is understand what types of foods are healthy and what types of foods aren’t.

Healthy foods or a healthy diet will consist of several elements.  There is protein, which is the building block of muscles.  There is fat, as well.  You need a balanced intake of omega 3, omega 6 and omega 9 fatty acids to have a healthy diet.  There are vegetables.  You need all sorts of vegetables, especially green vegetables that are especially fibrous.  There is also fruit. Fruit provides vitamins for your diet.  Whole grain food, such as oats, rice, pasta and breads are also known as an important part of a healthy diet.

Drinking water is another important part of a healthy diet.  If you drink large amounts of soda, you might consider switching out some of your soda drinking for water drinking.  Contrary to popular belief, drinking soda does not cause you to become dehydrated, however it is as not as effective at keeping you hydrated as water is.

Knowledge is only half the battle of eating healthy, however. Once you know how to eat healthy, the next step is being willing to do it. It’s easy to think about all of the wonderful ways you can eat better and feel better, but it’s another thing entirely to actually do it when you’re sitting at the dinner table.

One thing to be careful of, however, is that research into health food is always ongoing. One day, researchers will declare that eggs are bad for you because they are full of cholesterol. The next day, another set of researchers will tell you that eggs aren’t bad for you at all because they have “good” cholesterol.

Having said that, it’s important to pay attention to these kinds of things over time. The fact of the matter is that most foods have the potential to be at least a little bit unhealthy. The trick to eating healthy is to know the various risks involved, know your own body and metabolism, and to design a diet that works for you.