What you eat can affect your overall health for better or worse. While some foods can improve your wellness, others can actually harm you. How you currently feel could have a link to what you have been eating. For example, some foods can actually reduce inflammation, while others can exasperate inflammation. And, although inflammation is typically good short term, it’s painful when it becomes chronic. If you’re dealing with chronic pain, adopting an anti-inflammatory diet may help provide pain relief. You can apply this idea of healing foods to various ailments.
Finding balance in what you consume
Sometimes being low in certain vitamins can lead to symptoms. For example, when you’re low in B vitamins, you may feel more fatigued. If you’re anxious, it might be a magnesium deficiency. Our bodies need certain nutrients to perform at its best. You wouldn’t put soda into your car and expect it to run well, would you? Our bodies need the right fuel to survive and thrive. Without the proper fuel, we can suffer, mentally and physically. That’s not to say that everything can be linked to what we eat, but rather what we eat can have an effect on our overall health. It could aid in reducing symptoms or it could exasperate problems we’re dealing with. Eating the wrong food may even cause some negative symptoms to arise. Did you know? Eating too much fast food may lead to: high blood pressure, weight gain, insulin resistance, headaches, depression, acne, dental issues, heart disease, and more.
Pinpointing your food triggers
What should we be eating then? If you suspect that you’re running into health issues because of certain foods, you should try to determine your triggers. If you are allergic to the protein casein in dairy, you could experience rashes. Lactose and gluten issues can both cause digestive problems (among other things), and so on. There are a lot of common triggers out there that can cause symptoms to flare up. If you suspect you have a food trigger, you can try an elimination diet with common triggers to figure out if you should be avoiding any of those foods.
Boosting your overall health
If your main focus isn’t to figure out if you have a food trigger, but rather to improve your overall health in general, then consider what your goals are. Are you simply looking to lose weight, trying to cut back on sugars, boost your immune system, or reduce inflammation in your body? Different foods will provide different nutrients to help your body heal. When you know what your goals are, you can focus on the diet that best fits your needs. Overall, a healthy diet will include lean proteins, good fats, complex carbohydrates, fruits, vegetables, and greens. You want your diet to be well balanced with protein, calcium, omega-3s, probiotics, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. When you feed your body the right foods you’ll feel better overall.
Eating right with a health condition
This idea applies to those with certain health conditions as well. There are diets specifically designed for people with cancer, kidney disease, heart disease, autoimmune disease, etc. If you do have a health issue, you may want to see a dietitian to find out what you should be eating in regards to your condition. So, you know what foods can boost your health, and which ones can exasperate your condition. Of course, this isn’t in place of medical care, but in addition to.
The first step to feeling better with food is to consider what symptoms you’re dealing with and/or what your goals are. Your next step is to find the right foods to meet those needs and adopt a diet plan that works for you. What you eat really can impact your health. You can reap the benefits or the consequences of your meal plan.