“Diet” is a word which is only second to that of exercise when it comes to being hated by many people. And this comes as no surprise, because a starvation diet makes you feel irritable, tired, hunger pains and a whole lot more unpleasant feelings. But, here, we aren’t talking about a diet to lose weight. We aren’t talking about a diet that you will go on to lose weight and then come off later.

What is important to accomplish through a diet, is to train your body to eat healthily. You need a diet that is actually a way of eating, and, not a temporary thing but a permanent thing. Although that sounds even worse, dieting is something that is simple to do healthily even if you can’t live without certain foods. You can do it even when you are in too much of a rush and don’t have time. And, you can do it with lots of flavors that you will enjoy.

Don’t think about a diet that’s taxing, troublesome, limiting or boring. Think of your diet as being free, open, full of taste and adventure, with all of the comfort that you want and need, too.

In the way of your body, healthy food is just as important. If you consume the wrong foods all of the time, your body will not be able to perform as well as if you gave it the highest quality foods.

• Without nutrition, your body can become ill faster and with greater intensity.
• Your body does not heal as quickly from injury.
• Your blood pressure rises, your heart rate increases to unhealthy levels.
• You are more prone to limitations physically as well as mentally.

All sorts of problems arise from not eating a healthy diet of food. But, what is healthy and why is it healthy?

• Vegetables are one of the highest nutrient rich foods out there. They provide antioxidants to a high level that helps to heal your body, improve your physical fitness from the inside to the out, and they are very low in calories meaning you can eat more.
• Fruits are sweet so they can solve the sweet tooth. They also provide you with antioxidants and all types of nutrients that give your body the fuel it needs.
• Whole grains are also an important product of a healthy diet. Unlike “white” foods, whole grains give you so much more health. They don’t cause you to gain weight like others.
• Choosing simple differences from bread to pasta to potatoes allows you to get the tastes that you love but without the added calories, fats, and sugars that can cause you health issues.
• Water intake is also very important. Those that do not get enough fluids end up having a body that retains water rather than having less. The body goes into dehydration mode, causing you to keep in all the fluids that you can. Consuming enough water means that your system is hydrated, you’re eating less and that you aren’t getting as many calories from other liquids.
• Some say that meats are important parts of the diet, too. I am a vegan and I get all my protein from vegetable sources - and there are plenty. If you are a meat eater, nevertheless, you need protein but you shouldn’t want to get it from fatty meats. Improving your diet to just lean meats will allow you to cut down on the intake of cholesterol which will ultimately clog your heart minimizing blood flow to the rest of your body.

If you don’t do anything else, improving these five areas is all you

may need to do. The good news is that, often you don’t need a lot

of work to make them happen.

Improving Health Risks

Another very powerful tool in your arsenal which you have when it comes to diet fitness, is that of improving your health through the foods that you eat. Your weapon is that of antioxidants!

Antioxidants are substances that may protect your cells against the effects of free radicals. Free radicals are molecules produced when your body breaks down food, or by environmental exposures like tobacco smoke and radiation. Free radicals can damage cells, and may play a role in heart disease, cancer and other diseases.

Antioxidants are found in many foods. These include fruits and vegetables, nuts, grains, and some meats, poultry and fish. An indication to know whether antioxidants are in the foods that you are eating is to look at the color of the food. The darker, richer and brighter the color is, the more antioxidants are in it.

Antioxidants can help to transform your health. They can help to repair damage to cells throughout your body and thereby make you look and feel younger. They can help to unclog your heart’s arteries from cholesterol. And, they help to remove toxins from your body which means a reduction in risks of cancer.

Using antioxidants for your overall health is a key factor in improving your health! While you can get many of them through supplements, you should instead consider getting them from whole foods as they are richer as well as tastier that way!

Overall Diet Fitness Plan

Here are the tips that you need to get your diet fitness plan off the ground and allowing you to improve your health considerably!

• Eat more fruits and vegetables. Visit your favorite recipe sites on the web and look for vegetable recipes that aren’t rich with sauces, butter or creams. Add one new recipe to your diet each week.
• Start looking for leaner cuts of meat. Remember, meats that are high in saturated fat are clogging your heart. One good switch is with ground meats. Don’t reach for beef, but replace at least part of it, with ground turkey or pork. You won’t notice the taste difference. Eat more fish, chicken and pork over beef.
• Reduce portion sizes. No food in one sitting should be a larger quantity than the size of your palm. To help you to not feel hungry, eat a bit slower.
• Visit the website of the American Heart Association to get heart healthy recipes. Try to look for ways to improve your current recipes through replacing butters, salts, unhealthy foods, with foods that are better for you. Look at your grains. Replace white rice and pasta with whole grain. Replace white bread with whole grain bread.
• Remove soda from your diet completely. This single movement alone will improve your health considerably. It adds weight to your body and it causes all types of health risks later in life.
• Look at labels. Learn to read labels so that they tell you what’s in the foods you eat. Reduce the amount of fat, cholesterol, and sugars in the foods that you eat.