Eating Healthy - What Does It Mean?

bymydeas

66 followers

3 years ago

A lot of people here know they should be eating healthy, we see everyone posting it on their blog posts. But, what does it mean?

I am writing this because I had a bad reaction to restaurant food over the weekend. I am allergic to something in eggs. So, I avoid eggs at restaurants because I don't know what kids they are using. I can eat some eggs, but not all of them. I react less to natural brown eggs with minimal processing. The cleaning solutions and stamps that they use on eggs, can leach through the shells and get absorbed by the eggs. In most cases I will have a very bad reaction to eggs. It is just best to avoid them.

I ordered rice, I should not have had a reaction to rice. There should have been no preservatives and there should not have been any eggs. It was just plain rice, or so I thought. I began getting very dizzy and having difficulty breathing, the symptoms from my injury went out of control from the inflammation, and I was pretty out of it. Yep, they made the rice in a pan that they had used for eggs!! So, I am on day 2 of recovering and my list of acceptable restaurants has just gotten smaller.

So, what does eating healthy mean?

Eating healthy means listening to your body, it means reading labels, it means doing your research, and it means making good choices. Some common things that people don't think about are preservatives and food dyes in their foods. These have become so common in food, people don't really think about how they will affect your body and they are difficult to avoid.

Did you know some preservatives block your body's ability to absorb important vitamins and minerals, like iron. This can lead to anemia and prevents your body from functioning properly. If you did not know this, you should be reading labels and doing research on the preservative that you find on those labels.

Did you know that food dyes can also cause anemia along with many other issues such as depression, acid reflux, and a number of other things? If you didn't know this you should be doing your research. Some people are highly sensitive to these and it is starting to be accepted as an allergy.

Preservatives and food dyes can stay in your system for long periods of time. This means that they actually build up in your body. You don't just digest them and get them out of your body in a 24-hour period. If one of these is in your system for 30 days, imagine how much it can build up over that amount of time if you eat it every day. Blocking the absorption of much needed vitamins for 30 days can't be healthy for anyone.

Our bodies need certain minerals and vitamins to function properly. There is a delicate balance that our bodies require and too much of something can cause problems. Preservatives and food dyes are often made with things our bodies should not have. Heavy metals such as arsenic and lead are not things that humans should be actively eating as a main source of their diet. Sadly, most foods contain them so you have to really try to balance what you eat to avoid getting too much of these kinds of things in your body.

Meat has been brought up over the years and there is quite an argument about this. I am not vegan, but vegan foods do help prevent egg allergy issues in restaurants. I am not vegetarian, but vegetarian options are great when you don't want to eat meat. I love both of these options on most days. Too much meat in your diet can cause inflammation in your body and a few other issues. If you have nerve damage, you will probably notice it more. So, I balance according to what my body needs.

If your body is craving a vegetarian meal, then why not eat a vegetarian meal? Your body knows best which vitamins it uses the most and which ones it needs to replenish the most. There is nothing wrong with your body saying "I don't need the vitamins from meat today." There are some people who don't eat every day because they don't need to replenish their vitamins very often. There are some people who do better if they have small snacks through the day and only one big meal. There are people who run through all of their vitamins and need to eat everything from every food group to replenish their vitamins. There are people who need snacks with empty calories to keep weight on because of an illness or simply because they can not get enough calories for their body. There is nothing wrong with any of that.

Everyone's body is different and what is healthy for one person may not be healthy for another. But, I think we can all agree that humans probably should not go around chewing on cars and licking rocks and drinking plastic or swallowing Tide Pods. So, we can probably agree that we should consider what other things we are putting in our bodies and decide accordingly. Some things, are not edible and we shouldn't try eating them.

So, stay out of the trend hype where people are fighting with each other and listen to your own body. Environmental changes and activity affect how our body functions every day. Your vitamin needs will change every day because of that. Try not to deprive your body of essential vitamins based on a recipe plan someone tells you to follow or because of what is a popular trend. Too much of anything can be bad for your body and not having enough can be as well.

Balance, research, listening, and making good choices for yourself are key to eating healthy. Being open to new ideas is also important. There is a lot of good food out there that is healthy.

Have a great week everyone! :D