Body for Life

For about the last week I was reading sections of "Eating for Life". There was lots of good information in this book. From the beginning of the book to page 77 Bill (the author of Eating for Life and Body for life) it is an actual book and talks about how we can become more healthy and eat better. From page 80 to 338 there are 150 healthy recipes on what to make for meals. One of the chapters I found to be most helpful was chapter six. In this chapter Bill talks about the "Right Recipe". The four main ingredients that make up this recipe are: Right Foods, Right Amounts, Tight Combos, Right Times. For this post I will talk about the Right Foods.


As far as eating the right foods goes, most of us probably can guess what some of these foods are. These would be high quality, essential nutrient. One way you can figure out whether or not a food is high quality is comparing the nutrients to the amount of calories. There are six essential nutrients. These nutrients are: protein, Carbohydrates, essential fats, vitamins, minerals, and water.

Proteins are very important because they contain all nine essential amino acids like: histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine. These are so very important to get by eating your proteins because your body can't produce them by itself. Proteins are also the building blocks of muscle. As you are deciding on what to eat for dinner, remember to choose a variety of proteins each day. For example, you might want to try chicken, lobster, cottage cheese, lean beef, turkey, eggs, or fish. Variety is what keeps proteins good for you.

Carbohydrates, even though we are sometimes made to believe they are bad for us, are our main, and immediate, source of energy. Some carbs are bad for you but all are. Carbohydrates that come from good nourishing foods such as brown rice, oatmeal, potatoes, yams, pasta, barley, apples, berries, oranges, whole-grain breads, and pitas. As long as you get a good variety of healthy carbs, you will feel better and will be getting your needed source of energy.

You might think it sounds crazy to have essential fats. When I was reading Eating for Life I was confused on what this meant. Essential Fats are nourishing fats found in fish oils , healthy vegetable oils, and dark-green leafy vegetables. There have been studies done and it has been shown that 95% of all Americans are malnutrition in getting enough essential fats. This obviously shows that essential fats are not fats you would find in your candy bar.

Vitamins and minerals help regulate everything from your muscles to your mind. Vitamins are organic and are produced naturally in plants and animals. You literally can't live without them. Minerals, however, are inorganic and are not produced by plants or animals. They can be found in other sources though. Some of these sources would be calcium in milk, iron in red meat, and potassium in bananas.

Finally, did you know that 70% of the earth is made up of water, and well over 70% of water makes up your body. Water helps produce energy, detoxify our bodies, regulate body temperature, build new cells, and lubricate joints, along with thousands of other functions. We are always losing water(about 10 cups a day!) That is why we must replenish our thirst and drink water whenever we are thirsty or eating. If we don't get enough water our body can suffer quite a bit, until we get up to losses of seven percent which can be fatal! It's a scary thought so let's not even go there and just stay healthy.

If you don't get enough of each of these six basic nutrients you wont feel or look well. You also might get sick. Some of the common signs and symptoms you will see if you aren't getting the essential nutrients would be low energy, depression, insomnia, aches and pains, and constant cravings for "something". We need to be careful what we eat. It can really make all the difference.