Nutrition 101

The cornerstone of good health is good nutrition. Here's 35 ways to improve your nutrition and thus, improve your health. p.s. This will also save you a lot of money as well.

1. Ditch soda pop. This is expensive sugar water and the carbonation leaches the calcium out of your bones.
2. Ditch coffee. Some people would be comatose without coffee but it's worth a shot. If you are addicted to this stimulant you will probably have the mother of all headaches while you detox.
3. Drink water. This is the only beverage you really need.
4. Avoid alcohol as well. You're liver will thank you for it.
5. Eat five vegetables and three fruit in their natural form (ie: an apple, not apple juice) each day. Most people don't get this much vegetation in a week but it will greatly improve your health, especially your digestion.
6. Switch to whole grains only. Whole wheat bread instead of white bread, brown rice instead of white rice, bulgher instead of processed noodles.
7. If your great (or great great grandmother) could identify a food item it's probably good to eat. Back then they didn't have the processed foods that make up the typical American diet.
8. Bake/cook from scratch--you'll know what your meal is actually composed of.
9. Toss the white sugar and corn syrup--use honey and maple syrup instead.
10. If you must have dairy, go with yogurt. Most adults don't digest milk very well.
11. Try to eat more fish and wild game.
12. If you must eat beef, pork, and chicken, raise them yourself (ideal) or buy them from a local farmer (good too) and stay away from the factory raised variety.
13. Toss anything with partially hydrogenated oil. It will give the product a shelf life of like forever--not good for you.
14. Eat a wide variety of foods.
15. Cook your food in a cast iron pan--the iron that is absorbed in the food is good for you.
16. Eat more ethnic foods, the more "real" (ie: braised chicken feet for the calcium it gives you) the better.
17. Go easy on the salt, Americans get plenty of salt in their diet and don't need a heavy hand on the shaker.
18. Pay attention to how food is prepared. Baked is better than fried. Steamed is better than boiled.
19. Cut out daily dessert. A fatty, sugary treat is not necessary every day and should be saved for special occasions.
20. Eat less. Unless you are doing physical labor 15 hours a day, 5000 calories each day is not needed.
21. Avoid fad diets. Of course you will loose weight when you cut out all carbohydrates but eventually your health will suffer because the body needs carbohydrates.
22. Use spices--it peps up your food without calories or salt.
23. Plan ahead and make healthy snacks for the family instead of opening up a bag of chips.
24. Eat raw food each day--raw nuts, vegies, fruits, etc.
25. Build meals around salads, vegetables, and grains instead of around meat.
26. Eat out less often. Restaurant food is usually loaded with fats, sugar, and other items to make it taste better, at the expense of your health.
27. Eat in a pleasant atmosphere then take a walk after dinner--it helps your food digest better.
28. Limit your diet then expand it slowly in order to determine if you have food allergies. Many people are unaware that they are allergic to wheat, dairy, eggs, etc. They just suffer with the side effects and think it is part of growing older.
29. Bring your own healthy food instead of picking up fast food on your way to work or on long trips.
30. Avoid highly processed foods--a twinkie can last for years.
31. Shop at stores that receive daily shipments of vegetables, fruit, meat and fish. Stores that only get deliveries once a week mean that the produce and meat won't be the freshest.
32. Avoid canned soups and sauces--these usually contain massive amounts of salt along with copious amounts of corn syrup as well.
33. Read the labels if you do buy canned or packaged foods. If the first few ingredients are sugar and salt, that's a bad sign.
34. Avoid "sugar free" and "fat free" items. These usually include aspartame and other chemicals not found in nature--and that shouldn't be found in you.
35. Avoid foods that have been irradiated or chemically altered. Fruits and vegies should be grown organically instead of covered with pesticides.