We are what we eat, really!

What we think and what we eat are two ways, we become the person we are; If we eat healthier food and think positive thoughts, it is generally can be assumed that we will be healthy and positive compared to someone who is doing opposite. Some times what we eat and what we feel tend to be connected as well. You may find yourself eating sugary and high fat food, when you might be stressed, angry or bored. I know, I have been there. If we are happy in heart as well in mind, we tend to eat better, exercise better, sleep better. Our health is connected to what we feel inside. If one goes out of balance, so does the other.

Here are a few ways to keep our life in balance, specially is health. As it is been said often, prevention is always better than cure. Let’s take care of our body and health as it is only one we got; Here are 7 simple ways we can start being healthier.

1. Avoid or limit Sugar. I have been sugar free on and off for past 1.5 year. It was very difficult in the beginning as lot of things I did not think of had sugar in it, such as medicines, baked goodies, some savory snacks too. I will write more in details about my sugar free experience in later post.

2. Eat locally grown, home grown and organic food and vegetables. There are lot of farmer’s market, local CSA, which is short for Community Supported Agriculture, which helps local farmers and people who want to eat healthier. For more information and finding location near you check out CSA link here .

3. Eat in season. Now we can have some vegetable and fruit such as tomatoes through out the year, which may seem natural but it was not so 10 years ago. You will know the difference when you eat organic, local and in season vegetable or fruit Versus what is mass produced, really try it once.

4. Eat less meat or no meat at all. While being life long vegetarian it is easy for me to say to be a vegetarian or even vegan, eating less meat has a few advantages for almost everyone for their health and environment as well. Check out Environment Benefit of vegetarian diet and Easy ways to give up meat for more information.

5. Limit your intake of processed food. What is processed food? According to About.com, processed food is food that have been altered from their natural state for safety reasons and for convenience. The methods used for processing foods include canning, freezing, refrigeration, dehydration and aseptic processing. While some processed food might be good such as freezing in season veggies, making clarified butter, many processed food are not so healthy or created equal such as canned foods with lots of sodium, refined flour bread and pasta, sugar laden cereal, processed meats, processed frozen dinners, chips, cookies, are to name a few. We can limit or reduce the amount of processed food we eat.

6. Say no to GM, or Genetically modified food. There is lot of controversy about GM food, on good and not so good sides both. One thing is for sure, in US, we are eating over 70% of food that is genetically modified and worse of it all is, we are not told of which ones are GM food so we can make a choice weather to eat GM food or not. I believe in Europe there is GM label so people can choose before buying. In Asia, many countries are saying no to GM for people (some are GM crops using it for animals or clothing still). Top Genetically modified food are soybeans, tomatoes, corn, potatoes, rice, sugar cane among other non food crops such as cotton. There is no best way to know right now which is GM food for sure but I hope it changes for better in near future for us and next generation. For more information on buying non-GM food, check out Non-GMO shopper’s guide . (This is not not an affiliate link, no links on this post are aff. links)

7. Cook at home, now with food tv, cookbooks, videos, and food blogs, there are so many resources to help all of us, great, simple meals in minutes. Check out some good recipes for you to try it at home.

Cucumber Sandwiches and Tomato basil cream Pasta from Lauren of Vegan Yum Yum blog.

Burrito Bowl and Brown rice Dosa, aka Crepe from Vaishali of Holy cow earth vegan blog.

Mezgaldi Onion bake and Pesto baked potatoes from Kay of Kayotic Kitchen Blog.

Asparagus Risotto and Pea and Mint soup From Sala of Veggie belly blog.

Spicy Black eyed peas and Eggless Chocolate cake from D and K of Chef in you blog.

Hope you enjoyed this information. Do you think we are what we really eat and why? How do you stay healthy? Sure, would love to hear your opinion.

Zengirl

Image source: healthylegacy.org