In our world today, eating real, whole foods sounds foreign to most people. Eating these nutrient-dense, heart healthy foods in order to fuel our bodies properly is considered “dieting” in our culture, yet these foods are actually delicious and benefit our health in so many ways.
Processed foods became popular in the 20th century, and the new American diet has greatly shifted towards eating ready-to-eat meals and pre-packaged snacks. These meals and foods may be convenient, but they are also terribly affecting many people’s health. Nowadays, even things like pre-packaged, processed hamburgers have sugar in them. That makes no sense! Why do we need sugar in a hamburger?
We are still yet to realize the extreme affect the food we choose to eat has on our body, and even our mind. While the foods we eat on a daily basis tend to be filled with way too many additives and preservatives, real foods are heart healthy, high in fiber, good for your gut, high in healthy fats, and contain many antioxidants. The food we eat is not only for enjoyment or to be seen as a certain number of calories. Instead, what we put in or bodies is used as “fuel” for it to perform its best. Therefore, the better food you put in your body, the better performance you will get out of it.
This is my opinion on it, yet Franziska Spritzler states a very similar idea in her Healthline article, titled “21 Reasons to Eat Real Food”. As she explains, “Real food is food that is as close to its natural state as possible. It is primarily: unprocessed, free of chemical additives, and rich in nutrients.” She adds, “Unprocessed animal and plant foods can help provide vitamins and minerals you need for optimal health…Eating patterns — like the Mediterranean diet — based on whole, unprocessed foods have been shown to reduce your risk for heart disease, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome.”
Something we should strive to do is eat and drink foods in their most natural form. For example, we should try to eat oranges and apples instead of drinking orange juice and apple juice. These concentrated fruit juices are full of sugar and have way less actual fruit in them than you think. The best drinks we can drink are water, obviously, as well as raw milk.
On the other hand, eating these junk foods daily increases disease risk, promotes bad dental health, and tends to cause over eating. These foods may taste good in the moment, but the lack of nutrition you get from them doesn’t actually fill you up. After eating these things, you will most likely still be hungry and feel very unsatisfied from what you have eaten.
We also don’t realize how terrible most drinks are for us. Most cans of soda contain over half of the amount of added sugar we should consume daily, from ONE soda! Even sports drinks like Gatorade and Powerade, that people see as “healthy” since many athletes drink them for electrolytes, have so much sugar in them. The first two ingredients are literally water and sugar!
Many times, instead of things being sweetened with added sugars that are terrible for us, we should try using natural sweeteners as an alternative. We can use things like honey, raw maple syrup, and monk fruit, which taste great, and aren’t full of added sugar and unnecessary ingredients.
Embracing a real foods diet benefits our bodies, and even our brains, greatly, as we nourish them with a multitude of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. In a world where it seems like ingredient lists are getting longer by the day, this is one of the absolute best things you can do for your health. As we eat these nutrient dense, heart healthy foods, we will begin to realize how much better we feel, perform, and even look, just by fueling our bodies properly. So, while eating smart is not easy, choosing to fuel your body by eating real foods instead of “junk food” will affect your overall health, and maybe even your life, in numerous, positive ways.
The Golden Thread 
Leave a comment