Now that the weather has warmed up and plants have begun to grow, it’s the perfect time to celebrate National Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Month and remind ourselves why a healthy diet has multiple benefits. Eating well and including fresh fruits and vegetables may seem expensive, but you can make it fit your budget…and eating a healthy diet will end up saving you time, money, and your own well-being down the line.
- Improve your mental health. Have you ever eaten a huge, greasy meal (pizza, Chinese, that hot dog eating contest you won) and felt sluggish afterward? That’s your body trying desperately to digest all of that food and deal with the fats, cholesterol, sodium, and other unhealthy components you just added to it. Eating a healthy diet (low in sugar, processed food, and trans-fats; high in lean protein, fruits, vegetables, and fiber) helps keep your brain healthy and functioning by giving those neurons the good support they need to keep firing. In fact, a healthy diet improves memory and cognitive functioning (the ability to think and process), staves off depression, and improves your overall energy level, keeping you happy as well as healthy.
- Get the skinny on eating well. Want to lose a few pounds? Lower your cholesterol? Stave off diabetes? Improve your heart health? Live longer? Following a healthy diet can help you accomplish all of that. Most processed food offers little in the way of nutritional value, and fast food ranks even lower. You really need to eat “the real thing.” Fish contains oils that improve heart health, but eating a Filet-o-Fish sandwich once a week doesn’t count, as it’s not made up of the same healthy components. Even buying frozen or canned fruits and vegetables and adding them to your daily meals will help improve overall health. Check out this website for tips and advice.
- You can find the time. So many of us lead such busy lives that we claim we simply don’t have time for sit-down nutritious meals. And while your schedule may make it tougher (who has time to cook for an hour — or even half an hour — every night?), you can find ways to make some healthier choices. Buy fresh fruits and vegetables when you can. Even big chains like Walmart have a pretty good selection, and it’s just as easy to throw an apple or a banana in your lunch as it is a bag of Doritos (and they won’t get crushed as easily). If you take an hour on the weekend to prep and chop veggies and meat and put them in containers/Ziploc bags, you’ve got healthy options you can put together quickly.
So take a little time and make some changes to your diet. It doesn’t require a huge, one-time overhaul; every small step you take toward a healthier diet gets you that much closer to a healthier, more energetic, happier you.
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