How healthy is your everyday diet?

By: Emma C.

 

 

Candy. I bet your favorite candy popped into your head just now. The sweet and savory flavor of the candy is almost too good to be true. Yet the question is, do you even realize how bad it is for you? I’m sure you knew it was unhealthy, but how bad was it really? People every day consume an unhealthy amount of foods that are bad, some without even knowing. Do you know how much unhealthy delectables you ate today? My guess is that it was an unhealthy amount.

A study showed in 2017-2018 throughout the world around 42.4% of people are obese. Each day that percentage is probably rising, and that’s not a good thing. From 1999 to 2000 through 2017-2018, the amount of obese people increased from 30.5% to 42.4%, and the amount of severe obesity increased from 4.7% to 9.2%. Being obese can affect you in many ways, some leading to bad health issues. A study showed that the estimated annual medical cost for obesity in the US was a whopping $147 billion in 2008! The medical cost for obese people was $1,429 higher than average weight people. The health issues that you can get from being obese are diabetes, high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, more of a likliness of death and more. I’m positive that you wouldn’t want any of those to happen to you. It’s even said that more than two in three adults are either overweight or obese, and about one in six kids are too! If you don’t want to become obese then I definetly recommend having a good diet.

In the end, how much does having an unhealthy diet really affect you? Having an unhealthy diet can lead to many health issues and many more bad things in the future. “In the United States, the top leading causes of death are related to chronic disease, which comes from having an unhealthy lifestyle,” says Alicia Galvin, a healthy diet promoter. Having an unhealthy intake of foods with trans fats, sugar-based products, refined carbs, vegetable oils, and processed low-fat products are poor for your health. Trans fats can be linked to serious diseases such as heart disease, and while processed low-fat products are often disguised as healthy food options, they usually contain too much sugar, which makes them taste much better. In 2016, researchers found that diets with a high glycemic (meaning that the glycemic index measures how fast and how much a food raises your blood glucose levels) load may trigger increased symptoms of depression. Also, a higher intake of red or processed meats can lead to an increased rate of death, which nobody wants to happen.

“Over time, when you make healthy decisions about food, you are at a lower risk for cardiovascular disease, certain cancers, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and even anxiety and depression. You will have more energy, feel better, and may even be in a better mood on a daily basis,” says Samantha Heller, a senior clinical nutritionist at NYU Langone Health in New York City. Having a healthier and more nutritional diet will lead to you having a much better lifestyle and more benefits for you in the future. To improve your diet, the important vitamins and minerals that you should eat more of are magnesium, iron, potassium, calcium, and just all vitamins in general. With diets rich in vitamins and minerals, they let you have a lower risk for mental health disorders. The AHA (American Heart Association) also states that dietary fiber helps improve blood cholesterol and lowers the risk of heart disease, stroke, obesity, and type 2 Diabetes. According to the National Cancer Institute, foods also high in antioxidants are said to reduce the risk of cancer. These types of foods include berries such as blueberries or raspberries, dark leafy greens, pumpkin, carrots, nuts, and seeds. All of these foods will help to improve your diet on a daily basis.

“What I promote to clients is a whole-foods diet, meaning, eat foods as close to their original form as possible,” says Alicia Galvin. Eating more whole-foods or natural, unprocessed foods containing around only one ingredient will help you to have a healthier diet. People should aim to consume whole-foods 80 to 90  percent of the time. The benefits of a whole food or a minimally processed diet include lower rates of heart disease, cancer, and type 2 Diabetes. According to a study by the Institute of Nutrition Sciences in Germany, the natural compounds of phytochemicals, which helps to get rid of bacterias and can be found in fruits and veggies, can help reduce the risk of cardiovascular and other diseases.

If you’re looking for better and more healthy options to eat, try eating more fruits, vegetables, legumes, meat and fish, nuts and seeds, eggs, dairy, healthy starches, herbs and spices, and drink water instead of sugary drinks. These types of foods will help to improve your diet by a milestone. Just look at all the health benefits too! There are also different diets you can go on like the DASH diet, MIND diet, Mediterrainian diet, going vegetarian, plus more. Eating healthy also improves your brain function and physical performance. Comparing data from the Nurses Health Study shows that women who followed a healthy lifestyle pattern were 80% less likely to develop cardiovascular disease over a 14-year period compared to all other women in the study. A study similar to this, the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, showed that similar healthy choices were beneficial in men, even among those who were taking medications to lower blood pressure or cholesterol.

As a person, you don’t want any of these health risks, and “The foods we choose make a difference,” says Michael Greger. I’m sure by now we all have heard the phrase, “You are what you eat.” If that were true I would want to be  something that wasn’t cheap, fake, nor unhealthy, and I’m sure you would too. The next time you see that candy that you love, try to resist the temptations and think about how healthy you really are eating.