Using Food As Fuel Is Key to Healthy Eating Habits

By Nettie Irvin Reeves

What do you see when you look in the mirror? Do you see someone who has tried time and time again to lose weight still aren’t happy with the way you look? Have you tried diet after diet only to stick with it for a limited amount of time before giving up and reverting back to your old habits, only this time gaining more weight than when you started? This, unfortunately, is the story of most of our lives. With more than a third of Americans overweight, and Charlotte being the 14th fattest city in America, it’s no wonder we are dying of heart disease and diabetes at an alarming rate. But you don’t have to. There are some practical things that you can do to help you eat healthier and move your body to become the healthy person you are meant to be.

Since the mind, not the mirror, is the judge, I want you to start thinking in terms of health. Yes, it is all good to look good and that’s what everybody seems to want. But what’s more important is the way you feel. It’s high time you start thinking about food as a way of life and not life itself because what you eat will directly affect the way you feel. Food is available to provide fuel for your body just as gas provides fuel for your car. You wouldn’t keep filling up the gas tank when it doesn’t need it, would you? Then you shouldn’t keep filling up on food unless your body needs it. Don’t mistake other emotions and/or desires for hunger. Get in tuned with your inner self and pay attention to what you are feeling and why. And when you are hungry, it’s important to eat the foods that will fuel your body, not anything you can get your hands on just because it is termed “food”. In other words, be as particular about the type of fuel you put in your body as you are about the type you put in your car. Along with exercise, your body will become that fine tuned machine able to withstand stress, pain and sickness. In other words, you will be healthy and happy.