Feeling horrible lately...maybe related to diet.

Question
Hey expert,

I'm a 17 year old male and I probably shouldn't be concerned with all of this stuff just yet, but I think I need to make some serious changes.

I've been fatigued, frequently dizzy, and just been feeling horrible for the past few months.

My health teacher at school says "You eat such a crappy diet that if we were to open you up your heart probably looks like that of a 60 year old". I do eat pretty poorly.

My current diet consists of:

*Sometimes home cooked meals
*Eating at random times of the day
*Fast food
*Starbucks (recently I tried to stop starbucks altogether and had symptoms similar to meningitis from caffeine addiction...had starbucks and everything went completely away)
*I try to eat fruits and vegetables, but this rarely happens
*I try to drink water but I've only been averaging about 2.5 bottles of water per day...except today i've had more.

I'm trying to feel my best and I've already been examined by a doctor. Sometimes my bones even feel pinched or in pain (which could also be related to my crappy lifestyle). I'm trying to improve. What are some nice, easy things I could do to feel my best and maybe even look my best.

I'm not by any means overweight or anything. I'm 170 pounds and 6 foot tall.

Thanks,
Nick

Answer
Dear Nick,

Thank you for contacting allexperts.com.  I must say you sound like a very intelligent young man and I am very glad that you are concerned with your health and wish to improve it.

First of all, I can see that you have an understanding of the importance of food as it relates to being healthy and vigorous.  Good for you!  So many people never make that connection and are relatively clueless when it comes to understanding that food is the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT factor in creating and maintaining health. After all, it is food that keeps us alive and supplies our body with all the nutrients necessary to repair damage or fight off disease and infection.  The fact that you are experiencing pain and fatigue indicates to me that you are not getting the proper nutrients that you need.  Because you are young, this may not cause long-term damage, but as you get older, if you do not revise your eating habits, it will certainly lead to increased problems.  It is good that you understand this and are seeking advice on how to improve your eating habits.

The worst thing you can do is to make too big a change at one time.  I can give you a long list of things that you should incorporate into your diet, but you are used to eating once way, and change is never easy.  If you attempt to do too much, too soon, you will become unhappy with the changes and not stick to them, and even worse, you will give up the idea of improving your eating habits because of disappointment.  So, let's look at this from a practical point of view.

Since you are still growing, I would say that the most important thing that you can do right now is to increase your calcium, your vitamin A, vitamin C and vitamin D intake.  Since we cannot improve your diet over night, I very strongly encourage you to buy some good quality supplements to provide some of these vital nutrients in the mean time.  By good quality I mean the type of vitamins that you purchase at a health food store rather than a discount store such as Walmart.  Purchasing a good multi-vitamin would be very beneficial to you.  But you should not pay less than $25 for a 30 day supply.  A mulit-vitamin should supply sufficient levels of vitamin A but you should buy separate supplements for vitamin C, D and calcium.

After you have established a routine of taking your supplements to provide the nutrients that are vital to help keep you healthy, you need to make the effort to include one new food in your diet each week.  Whether it is one piece of fruit per day, or one new vegetable per day or eating more grains and beans per day, that is up to you. But you have to try to introduce new, healthy foods into your diet slowly.  Also, as you are doing this, you really should try to REPLACE the unhealthy foods such as fast foods, with healthier choices.

I know that giving up fast food is tough.  I have a real problem with it myself.  Hey, those fast food places do not make millions of dollars for nothing.  That food TASTES GOOD! and it is satisfying.  Believe me, I could eat at McDonalds every day with no problem myself, but I have to remember that my body needs good food, and even though it tastes good, fast food is not good for you.

It is a big temptation to eat at fast food, also because it does not require any preparation time.  You're hungry, you go to Taco Bell.  It's easy.  But if your mother does not prepare meals, or if you do not live at home, then you have to learn how to prepare food yourself. It is kind of fun actually, and lots of men really enjoy cooking for themselves and for other people.  All you need to do is buy a good cookbook, find out how to use measuring tools, find out about ingredients and follow directions. It is not rocket science.  Maybe you have a friend whose mom or dad are great cooks and they would be willing to show you how to get started.  Maybe there is a class you can take at school that will give you the basics.  

Also, eating raw foods is a good choice, and does not require any special cooking or preparation skills.  Salads can be purchased practically everywhere these days (even McDonalds) and they are better than eating processed fast food.  Making your own salads gives you the option of creating a masterpiece which contains ingredients that you like.  You can include mushrooms, sprouts, nuts, etc., and many other healthy items.  Trust me, once you begin eating more fresh foods and less processed foods you will see that you feel so much better and have much more energy than you ever had before.

In closing, I do want to mention some of the things to avoid eating which are supposed to be healthy, and the first thing is dairy products.  The milk producers of this nation are a strong lobby in Washington and they have sunk billions of dollars into advertising and promoting their products.  Milk is not good for a body!  It forms mucus which causes problems and it often contains a lot of chemicals and other foreign substances.  No where in nature does any animal drink milk after it is weaned except for humans, and despite what you hear, the calcium contained in milk is virtually unusable due to casein protein which binds the calcium and prevents the body from assimilating it.  Do some research online about this and you will see for yourself that dairy products are not good.  I would avoid them.  If you wish to increase your calcium through your diet, you can do this by eating more beans, dark green leafy vegetables and taking a calcium supplement.

Other dietary considerations are to reduce drinking commercial sodas.  These products contain a lot of chemicals and do nothing to benefit you health-wise.  Drinking coffee is not a good idea if you are sensitive to caffeine which apparently you are.  If you have trouble drinking water, as many people do, just squeeze some lemon juice into it which gives it a bit of a flavor and makes it easier to drink.  The added bonus to this is that lemon juice makes the body more alkaline which is highly beneficial to health.  If you still cannot get the water down, then try making up some green tea and drinking it (unsweetened), with a little lemon for added flavor.  Green tea has many health benefits also.

The most important thing is that you make your changes slowly and learn to modify your behavior and eating patterns in a way that is easy to maintain.  Little by little you will find that as you make these changes your health and vitality will soar.  Do not be intimidated by your friends who might "make fun" of changes in your eating habits.  If you order a salad instead of a Big Mac at McDonalds, you can always say something like...."All that grease gives me the runs" or "I've got a headache and I'm just not that hungry and it just doesn't sound good to me right now".  You don't have to disclose that you are working toward eating better.  Often well-meaning friends will not support your efforts because they do not want to face their own poor diet issues.  Once you start looking and feeling better, people are going to ask you what your secret is!

Also, please stay away from diet drinks and other artificial stimulants. Even though they may give you more energy for the moment, the long term effects are not good and they can be harmful to the body.  

Keep thinking about ways to improve your health and work toward those goals.  Feel free to contact me any time you have a question.  Best of luck on your journey to getting healthier!

Please check out my blog at http://everydayhealthandwellness.blogspot.com for more interesting articles.

Tasha

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