Best Healthy Diet – This Is A Matter Of Facts !

Since the beginning of time, parents have been looking for the best healthy diet for themselves and their children. This information is just the right "fit" for everyone and their extended family.

The definition of the word diet is a regimen of eating and drinking. Everybody already has a diet. It is either a good (nutritious) diet, or it is a bad (unhealthy) diet. Diet is not something that anybody can 'go on.' It is something that is already characteristic of our eating behavior.

The next statement may seem simplistic but it is not intended to offend anyone. People inherit weight problems. Okay. Not inherited? Well, let's see. Our parents bought our food, and prepared it a certain way. Then, they often put more than one serving on our plates and told us to eat it all.

In the South, menus often grouped certain foods together such as red beans and sausage, rice, coleslaw, cornbread together with banana pudding for dessert. Another typical southern meal was beef, or pork roast, rice, gravy, green beans, steamed carrots, green salad, homemade yeast rolls and apple pie with ice cream for dessert.

At a very young age, children began expecting certain foods on certain holidays. Many southern families traditionally celebrated Easter which included ham, mashed potatoes, peas & carrots, green salad, sliced bread and yellow cake with chocolate icing for dessert.

Many children reared on a farm ate diets that were abundant with high-fat dairy foods such as whole milk, coffee cream, whipping cream, cottage cheese, eggs, and real butter. Living on a farm also meant that various cuts of pork, beef, and chicken were plentiful. So, weight problems were, in fact, inherited from our parents.

Today, parents need to divorce poor eating behavior and re-marry sound nutritious eating habits. Then children will inherit optimum health and nutrition. This change in eating behavior is best described by a short story about a young girl who was reared in the South who inherited weight problems. Perhaps, some people can understand her plight.

In 1974, a young woman who had been reared on a farm was married and had three children. She and her husband made the decision not to have any more children. There was something that this young wife and mother had inherited that, at some time in her life, could cause her death if it was not addressed. She was a college graduate with three children under the age of 5, a career, and stress that she had no outlet for. She had always been 'heavy' as people tactfully described her. She had begun using food for comfort. One day as she went to pick up her children from the day nursery, she heard her older son call a little boy "fatty." She immediately told him,

"That's not nice, son. You apologize, this minute."

That day, she and the children got home okay. She sat at the kitchen table looking through the daily mail and she recalled what her son had called the other little boy, fatty. She could feel a ground swell building upward in her chest. Her eyes were burning with tears, and, before long, she was sobbing bitterly. She weighed 275 lbs. and she feared that if she didn't lose weight, that the day would come when one of her children called her 'fatty." It felt as if her spirit had been broken. The problem was, in fact, her weight. She couldn't remember a time in her life that she was not overweight.

The next day, she checked out a number of books on health, diet and nutrition. One of the library books had a chart in it. She was 5'7" tall, had a medium frame and she saw that she should weigh 147 lbs. She was not only overweight. She was what the book called 'morbidly obese.' That meant that her weight could kill her!

She knew she had to make some serious, life-long decisions about what she was eating, how she was fixing it, what time of day she ate and why. She was desperate to reach her ideal weight and keep it there. This was not going to be easy, but she purposed in her mind that she was not 'going on a diet,' but she was going to discover a different way of eating.

She loved her parents deeply, but they had let her down when it came to teaching her what nutritious living really was. She had to discover what her best healthy diet was. The few paragraphs below are just some of the things she discovered in her journey.

READ FOOD LABELS - Manufacturers are required by law to print their contents. These labels are required reading for people who want to be healthier.

LEARN SERVING SIZES. Example: On a typical loaf of bread, the serving size is 2 slices. If a person wanted a regular sandwich, 2 slices is the exact serving size; however, if a person wanted a 'Dagwood' sandwich, which is made with 3 slices of bread, is more than the correct serving size.

Calories from fat: The label shows 1 tsp. = 120 calories, and the total calories from fat were 100 calories. 100 calories were fat calories! This should be used very sparingly or not at all.

Sodium and Potassium: These two elements in a body are related to our body's water weight. The closer the two elements are, the better the optimum water balance in your body. If the label lists sodium only, and no potassium, a body may begin to retain water, which causes swelling.

Dietary fiber: Fiber is necessary to keep nutrients moving through our digestive system. The higher the number, the better our digestion is.

Sugar: The label shows how many grams of sugar that food contains. Our bodies metabolize sugar and it is used as energy. Many people use sugar substitutes or artificial sugar. In fact, and some canned soft drink manufacturers include sugar substitutes in their drinks. Many people decide to cut back on the amount of sugar they use instead of using substitutes. Research continues and some health authorities have expressed concern about the way some sugar substitutes are broken down and used by our bodies.

Having a good understanding about what appears on food and beverage packages can lay an excellent foundation for optimum health and nutrition. These are just a few of the things that people need to know if they expect to reach their best healthy diet.

Oh, and by the way, are you wondering whatever happened to the young woman in the short story?

She succeeded in her quest for her best personal nutrition and weight loss? That was 39 years ago. It took her a little over a year to reach her ideal weight. The road was a little lonely at times, but she is still making good choices about nutrition. Now, she is in the business of helping others who want and need to lose weight and remain healthy. In fact, she wrote the article that you are reading right now. She and her husband are in their 60's. He is a marketing consultant and a nutrition coach. Their children have blessed them with 20 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren with another on the way!

By K.Kay

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