Promote: “to help (something) happen, develop, or increase”.
Just how exactly do you go about promoting health?
Well, the doctors always say to eat right, exercise, and get enough sleep.
But eating right. Yeah that’s a tricky one isn’t it? Seems everyone has their own idea on how to ‘eat right’.
Is it really that hard?
The hardest part seems to be getting people to understand that what we eat, really does make a difference in our health. Our food really, truly, does matter. It’s not just there to indulge our late night cravings or to fill an empty tummy.
Many people ignore this fact, (or they simply don’t know) and fill up on just about anything. As long as it tastes good and fills their tummies, they don’t seem to care.
Price – that’s another big factor on how people eat. It cost less now to feed a family of four from a fast food restaurant than it does to buy healthy food and take it home to cook. Which brings up another factor: time and convenience. Fast food is quick and easy – AND cheap. Bingo we have a trifecta.
But they’re forgetting something. The price, taste, or convenience just doesn’t matter.
What SHOULD matter is WHAT we are eating.
Promoting Health by Eating The Right Foods
Our food’s one and only purpose is to give our body the ingredients it needs to operate, to grow, to be strong, and hopefully to fight off disease. But we have to have just the right mix of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals to do that.
So, simply put, our food either Promotes Health (by giving our body what it needs), or it Promotes Disease (because our body doesn’t have what it needs to help fight off illness).
This is what matters.
Look at this plate of Veggies and Hummus.
What do you see?
I see freshness.
I see vitamins, fiber, protein, minerals, and antioxidants. I see a tasty, health promoting snack that I know will be delicious and good for me.
Plant foods, specifically fruits and vegetables are at the very top of the list of foods promoting health. They are naturally full of all the ingredients our body needs for strong, healthy cell growth.
Is it any wonder more and more doctors and health agencies are telling us to load up on fruits and veggies? They are not only fat-free and have very few calories, but they are also very nutrient dense – meaning you’ll be sure to fuel your body with exactly the high-octane premium fuel it needs.
Now look at this picture. What do you see?
Do you see a health promoting food? Or do you just see a tasty looking, gooey, pepperoni pizza?
I see grease, tons of saturated fat, and artery clogging cholesterol. What I do NOT see is vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, or even fiber.
The processed white flour dough has been stripped of any nutrition whatsoever so it’s basically empty calories. The processed meat is full of preservatives (nitrates) and artificial colors that have been linked to colon cancer. And the cheese is high in saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium which are all ingredients for heart disease. The protein in cheese (casein) has also been linked to prostate and breast cancer.
This is NOT a health promoting food, it’s a DISEASE promoting food.
It will fill your belly, it will probably taste very good, and it can be purchased cheaply and quickly. But it gives your body absolutely NOTHING in the way of nutrients that it needs.
Promoting Health or Promoting Disease
This is how I look at food now. Does it promote good health? Or does it just fill me up with empty calories, or worse promote disease.
Sounds kind of simple when you look at it this way doesn’t it?
And this is why I am Vegan.
A whole foods, plant-based, Vegan diet is the absolute best way of promoting health.
All of the foods I eat fill me up with vitamins, macro and micronutrients, fiber, and yes – even protein.
Does this mean I just eat salad every day? Not hardly. I’ve learned to cook in such a way to bring out the best flavor in all my foods, and in combinations that are not only visually appealing (they look good!) but also taste fantastic.
Need proof? Here’s some of My Recipes. Judge for yourselves.
Remember, there is absolutely nothing in meat, dairy, eggs, or oil that you cannot get from eating plants, even protein.
Where do you think the cow get protein? Other cows? Nope. They eat plants of course.
Go Veggie, Go Plant-Based, Go Vegan – Go whatever you want to call it.
Just eat plants.
Image Source: Veggies: Flickr/Jennifer, Pizza: Flickr/rfduck