by Donesha M.
Living a healthy life consists of consuming a variety of healthy foods, being physically active, and taking care of your body.
The Body
The digestive system breaks down and turns the food you eat into energy so that your body can function. The digestive system starts in the mouth. You break down the food with your teeth (chewing). The enzymes in your saliva helps to break down your food and turns them into smaller particles. Once the food is broken down, it is then able to travel down the esophagus and into the stomach. The stomach does three things: stores foods/liquids put into body, breaks down foods/liquids, and sends them off to the small intestine. Food usually stays in the stomach for about 2-3 hours. Carbs are stored for a short amount of time while fats and proteins are stored longer. The nutrients from the food are transported and absorbed throughout the body when the food is sent to the small intestine. If whatever you consume can not be absorbed, it is sent to the colon as waste material.
Eating Healthy
The things you put into your body determines how healthy of a life you live. Eating healthy is very important because the way you eat impacts your life and medical outcomes. Eating healthy includes eating the correct variations/proportions of foods to get the correct amount of calories your body needs to complete day to day activities. Eating foods like vegetables, fruits, proteins, dairies, and grains are good for you. Your body needs foods to complete day to day activities. Eating foods like vegetables, fruits, proteins, dairies, fibers and grains are good for you. Proteins give your body energy, endurance, build/fixes body tissue, produces hormones, and enzymes. Fibers ensures that your blood sugar is stable and you don’t want your blood sugar to be too high or too low.
Eating healthy could lead to a longer life. When you eat healthy and manage your habits, health issues pertaining to your eating habits will not be a problem. When you take advantage of what you eat, you have more control over medical outcomes, stress, weight gain and medical cost.
Dieting
Dieting to lose weight is not a bad idea, but your diets should always be balanced to insure that your taking proper care of your body. Switching adjustments to new foods too fast or too much could lead to a unhealthy unbalanced diet. The body can’t function properly when certain foods are cut off and cut on too fast. When your diet is consistent, losing weight would be a safe, stress free process. Dietary supplements are other ways to lose weight or replace foods to still get the nutrition needed. Just An Idea… Instead of always dieting and using supplements, eating healthy is a safe way to lose weight or get nutrients.
Prevention
Living a healthy lifestyle could prevent medical conditions such as:
- Heart disease (caused by foods that are high in cholesterol.)
- High blood pressure
- Type two diabetes
(HBP) High Blood Pressure - also known as Hypertension, is the measurement of force of blood pushed against blood vessel walls.
Normal-Less than 120 over 80
Prehypertension-120-139 over 80-89
Stage 1 HBP-160-159 over 90-99
Stage 2 HBP- 160 & above over 90 & above
High blood pressure can be caused by being over-weight/obese, lack of physical activity, too much salt, too much alcohol, stress, or a family history of HBP.
Type Two Diabetes - (non-insulin dependent diabetes) affects 90%-95% of the 26 million Americans with diabetes (statistics from WebMD.) Either you pancreas can’t make enough insulin or the body does not collaborate with the insulin well (insulin resistance). When the body is insulin resistant, it stop the glucose from getting to the body cells. Type two diabetes could cause dehydration, a heart attack, stroke, and could lead to a diabetic coma.
Physical Activity
The are so many benefits when you live a physically active lifestyle. Being active can help to:
- Control your weight gain/lose
- Reduce risk for heart disease
- Reduce risk for type two diabetes
- Increase your ability to complete day to day activities
- Make bones/muscles stronger
Amount Of Physical Activity
Children/Adolescents- At least 1 hour or more of physical activity a day. Get out and play some soccer, basketball, a game of tag or run a race!
Ages 18-64- 2 hours and 30 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic activity and muscle strengthening activity. 1 hour and 15 minutes of vigorous intensity aerobic activity. Try some water aerobics, jogging, bike riding, tennis, basketball, mowing grass, etc.
Children/Adolescents- At least 1 hour or more of physical activity a day. Get out and play some soccer, basketball, a game of tag or run a race!
Ages 18-64- 2 hours and 30 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic activity and muscle strengthening activity. 1 hour and 15 minutes of vigorous intensity aerobic activity. Try some water aerobics, jogging, bike riding, tennis, basketball, mowing grass, etc.
Living a healthy lifestyle is very important. Get up and get active, manage your eating habits, and take a trip to the doctor. It never hurts to have a check-up here and there just to see where your health stands. Ask your doctor questions about your body, it never hurts to want to know things about what’s going on inside of you.
Take A RISK
Challenge yourself to make good choices about your life!" We can make a commitment to promote vegetables and fruits and whole grains on every part of every menu. We can make portion sizes smaller and emphasize quality over quantity. And we can help create a culture - imagine this - where our kids ask for healthy options instead of resisting them."
-MICHELLE OBAMA
References
INFOGRAPHIC: THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM:
Aspirus Wausau Hospital, Digestive System: http://www.aspirus.org/ourServices/index.cfm?catID=1&subCatID=2&pageID=43
Harvard Health Publications Medical School: http://www.health.harvard.edu/plate/healthy-eating-plate
Center of Disease Control and Prevention:
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