It is easy to say that making better and healthier food choices can be considered more expensive and harder to maintain than eating quick and easy highly processed foods, when in fact the overall better lifestyle that can be lived by switching to a healthy alternative way of eating far out weights the small inconvenience of time spent or cost. It is believed that choosing healthy food alternatives to avoid things like saturated fats, high fructose corn syrup, food additives, and GMOs is more worth the hassle and extra cost than the possibility of developing lifelong health issues and future medical bills. Highly processed food has several different downfalls if they are eaten on a regular basis, including but not limited to high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer. It is important to eat healthy because it can help prevent, reduce, or even reverse health issues, maintain a healthy body weight which can contribute to living a better lifestyle and could also lead to a fit and active life and make the body feel good which can produce more energy for fun energetic tasks or even daily mobility and activities.
Healthy food alternatives can help prevent, reduce, or even reverse health issues because swapping things like high fructose corn syrup for healthy alternatives such as honey or stevia sweeteners. Avoiding added sugars like HFCS can help lower the risk of obesity, type two diabetes and heart disease. In order to help prevent, reduce or reverse health issues such as these making the choice to have more water than sugary soft drinks, more fresh fruit instead of fruit juices or canned fruit and look carefully as food labels to make sure a food item is not packed full of unnecessary sugar. Saturated fats are another processed food that can be easily alternated with options such as olive oil or coconut oil. Eating a regular diet with a moderate amount of “healthy fats” can help prevent cardiovascular disease which could lower the risk of blood cloths that lead heart attack or stroke. Even taking a closer look as some other products such as bacon or whole milk will open a wider range of items that can be alternated with healthier choices to reduce the amount of saturated fats in everyday consumption. Changing from pork bacon to turkey bacon can reduce the amount of saturated fat by more than 90% as well as choosing reduced or low-fat milk instead of whole milk.
Healthy food alternatives can help maintaining a healthy body weight which can contribute to living a better lifestyle with the possibility of becoming more active. The struggle with a healthy lifestyle always seems to fall under the category of not staying fit when in fact, achieving a healthy lifestyle is only 20% activity and 80% nutrition. Yes, nutrition is the hard part but if getting on track with a healthy alternative way of eating, not just going on some crash diet, but changing the way food is looked at and eaten every day without having to give up the favorite foods, could actually be the way to start an active and fit lifestyle.
Healthy food alternatives can help make the body feel good which can produce more energy for fun energetic tasks or even daily mobility and activities. Facing the daily struggle of being tired or hitting that 2 o’clock wall in the afternoon feeling like not having energy to do the things that are fun and adventurous. Even something as simple as rolling out of bed in the morning with the aches and pains or feeling like no sleep was had can be rough to deal with. Having a well-rounded diet that doesn’t have to be monitor at every meal or counting the calories and macros consumed can have major benefits to energy and mental state.
Buying healthy foods is more expensive and harder to maintain on a budget of not only money but time as well. Choosing healthy food alternatives gives a chance to still enjoy the good and favorite foods of most, while being able to prevent, reduce, or even reveres health issues, help maintain a healthy body weight which could lead to more fun and adventurous activities, all while making the body feel good to have more energy and promote a healthy mental state.
Although less processed foods tend to be on the more expensive side it is for good reason, cheap additives are not in the healthier options and yes they do that a little more time and effort but the hassle and extra money is worth it when it comes to the longevity of s life. Balancing the books between but fast foods or highly processed food are more than likely to come out closer or even with healthy alternative options than most would think. So all things considered, making the chance to a healthier alternative way of eating and thinking of food could be not only beneficial to the overall wellness of the body but the mind as well, while preventing, reducing or reversing lifelong health issues so body weight can be maintained and have more energy.
