Practically an Herbivore!

Wednesday night I went to a very informative, wonderful Relief Society meeting.The focus was on fitness and nutrition, following the theme "If ye are prepared ye shall not fear..." Ha! I was totally focused because fitness and nutrition are two things I have been very interested in because of their long term positive effects on the rest of one's life. I learned a few new things! Being healthy improves one's quality of life, thus making life more enjoyable and exciting. It also allows one to have the energy to be more productive on a day-to-day basis. (Who doesn't want that?)

To explain my title I have a million things to say, but I will just focus on a few things in this post. First, read food labels. This is so important in the world today. How often to you pick up a product in the grocery store and you don't know what half of the ingredients even are? This is not good. We should know what we are eating. The other day I opened a bag of walnuts and was happily eating out of it when I decided to look at the ingredients. Of course, the number one ingredient was walnuts, but there was also .02% BHT. What? I looked it up and was fairly appalled at what I discovered. BHT is used to prevent fats from spoiling, but it is also linked to cancer. Yes, there was only .02% in those walnuts, but I would rather have just the walnuts when I grab a bag of walnuts. The moral of the story is: Know what you eat. BHT may not be the worst thing out there, but if you don't know what you are eating, then how can you know that you are not eating something far worse on a daily basis? (A good way to know what you are eating is to cook from scratch. Don't buy all those pre-made dinners, or pre-packaged foods. I'm not saying its a sin to do that (I still do), but its a fail-proof way to know exactly what you are eating.)

Another tip: If it doesn't have a mother and didn't come from the ground, don't eat it. That sounds pretty hard to do, right? Right. But we all learn one step at a time, so don't fret, just "keep swimming" like Dory from Finding Nemo says. Integrate healthier eating habits a little at a time into your daily diet. All at once could be very bad for your health, anyway.

Tip #3: Having a fit body is not only attractive, its healthy. Staying physically active can prevent Alzheimer's disease and keep your brain sharp through the years. It also helps to prevent injuries because it keeps your body strong and ready for the pressures of every day life. It helps to curb stress and depression and all sorts of other things. Keep up the physical activity! And very importantly: HAVE FUN WITH IT!


Last tip: Drink LOTS of water. By LOTS I mean at least 1/2 your body weight in ounces per day. Our bodies are made up of about 75% water. Did you know that drinking a sufficient amount of water can prevent illnesses and has countless health benefits?! Drink that water like there's no tomorrow, got it? You'll be glad you did.

To finish, what I learned caused me to come to the conclusion that eating fresh fruits and veggies as our main diet, staying physically fit, and drinking water like our life depends on it (which it does!) is the best way to start living a healthy lifestyle. Personally, I have always had the hardest time eating anything healthy and drinking enough water, but I was totally re-motivated to continue my quest for healthier living at this meeting!