We aren’t thin, we have always struggled with our weight, but our bodies need healthy food to function. We save a ton of money on doctor bills and medication by letting food be our medicine and sticking with natural things that are as close to the way God made them as possible. Good food can actually heal your body. And there are diet changes that help you have more energy. This is an important part of your Health and Fitness goals.

What did your great-grandparents eat? Just simple food, without chemicals. We call it real food. We need several servings a day of fruits and vegetables to stay healthy. Different foods have different vitamins and minerals and we need all of them to stay well. We need to pay attention to nutrition because it’s a big part of our wellness wheel. It’s just as important as exercise on our fitness journey.

If you look at a typical plate of food from a restaurant, the food groups are not well represented. There is usually a large portion of meat, a large portion of bread, and maybe a small number of vegetables as an afterthought. We need meals with vegetables. And we need to try to avoid glyphosate. Even healthy snacks are important in a well balanced diet.

Importance of good nutrition

I always liked to get the two-meat combo at a BBQ joint. So, my plate was half filled with meat and a quarter filled with bread, usually Texas toast. Toss some fries on that and maybe some baked beans that are covered in sugary sauce and you don’t have a very well-balanced meal.

I love to eat junk food; it’s been hard for me to change. But my wife stays diligent in trying to put our health first and she always encourages me to try to do better. I love her for that.

Healthy actions

Over time, we have added a ton more variety of fruits and vegetables to our diet and cut out a lot of chemicals such as additives and preservatives, and we are enjoying better health than we did in our twenties.

We are at the age where most of our friends are on multiple medications, but our cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood work are all really great. We get a clean bill of health year after year since changing our lifestyle except for our weight. We are working on portion control and slowly losing weight to get to our healthiest selves possible.

Nutrition and wellness

Every step we take toward a healthier future is a big deal. So, we try to celebrate each accomplishment.

So, what constitutes healthy eating?

We need a variety of nutrients so we try to eat a rainbow of fruits and vegetables every day. We also try to eat a small portion of protein and a small portion of whole grains at every meal. And by portion, we mean one serving. One pancake, one piece of whole-grain bread, or one serving of crackers. Not a plate full. A serving of protein is 4 ounces, not the 8-12-ounce steak you get at a restaurant meal. You can learn to like vegetables, I did it and you can too. We also need healthy fats every day for brain function and overall health. You can make these changes with a few healthy food swaps. And don’t forget there are a lot of empty calories and wasted chances to add nutrition to our diet in what we are drinking. Choosing healthy drinks is important!

A great way to avoid a lot of unhealthy eating is to eat at home. My wife works really hard to cook healthy homemade food for us as much as possible so we can avoid processed food. She does meal planning, buys cookbooks for me to flip through and choose meals I might like to try, and she makes healthy food taste good with her magical touch. I’m grateful for her. She even makes us healthy homemade bread, and it’s amazing!

If you want more of my weight loss story and how I grew up on little Debbies and soda and learned how to change my health and life through exercise and nutrition, check out this nutrition guide. It has some basic dos and don’ts that my wife and I used for me to lose 120 pounds and be on no medication at age 55. There are also some sample meal plans in there. It was a long process, not a quick fix, but if I can do it, so can you!

Importance of nutrition

There are several things she does to make it easier. She batch cooks. So, she might make a big pot of soup and freeze half of it for later in containers. Then she serves it left over for another day or two. This way we can have really healthy meals for multiple days from one big effort from her with cooking. Also, meal prep planning helps a lot.

This batch cooking saves a ton of clean-up time because you make the same mess if you cook one pot of spaghetti or 4 times that much.

She also saves a ton of money by cooking healthy food. Cooking dried beans in the crock pot all day is healthier than using canned. She cooks a big pot full and freezes them, so we avoid the chemicals in canned beans and get all of the nutrition from fresh. Most simple ingredients are far less expensive than the processed junk you can buy in the middle aisles of the grocery store.

She even grinds her own flour and makes us homemade bread. It saves us a ton of money. She can make a loaf for about seventy-five cents. Dried beans are far less expensive than canned as well. You can see that if you do this with 50 different foods, you would be saving a lot of money over time.

If you don’t like fruits and vegetables, check out how she has helped me and a ton of her daycare kids learn to like them by learning to make homemade food really flavorful with her homemade spice mixes and extracts, and by roasting vegetables to bring out their wonderful flavors. She has a ton of tricks that help food taste better and I’ve even learned to love a few really healthy things like broccoli since she came into my life. Also, these Healthy smoothies for weight loss are delicious! Check out these superfoods for health! Or this rainbow diet plan to make sure you get all of your nutrients in a day.

So, remember, 4 ounces of protein, one serving of whole grains, and fill yourself up on wonderfully healthy fruits and vegetables, and your health will thank you for it. You’ll be experiencing far more wellness in just a few weeks. And as we age, we want to live well, not survive with tons of ailments. Healthy food and good nutrition are the best ways to do that. And it’s simple to make food like this 2 ingredient tilapia recipe. You don’t have to spend all day in the kitchen to do it. (For inexpensive protein ideas, check these out).

Natural wellness

For us it’s helped us have fewer headaches, less acid reflux, have tons more energy, helped us think more clearly and be in better moods, give us more interest in life, and helped us to get stronger and have more stamina so we aren’t falling over-exhausted by the end of each day. This way of eating saves us a ton of illness treatments and medications and makes us feel and live better every day.

• Tips for How to Eat Healthy When you Hate Cooking
• 20 Easy High Protein Dinner Ideas to Make
• Check out this rainbow diet meal plan for ideas on how to get a variety of nutrients daily.
• If you’re on a budget, check out these cheap nutritious foods to keep in your diet.
• Here are some great ideas for meals you can cook in bulk and enjoy over time.
• Check out how to balance macronutrients for weight loss.
• Try these weight training ideas for beginners to help you burn the calories you eat too.
• Check out these healthy breakfasts to help you lose weight for ideas to start your day!
• And healthy lunches to help you lose weight as well.
• Remember to set Fitness Goals to keep you on track too.
• Try these organic Banana Walnut Oatmeal Cookies for a sweet treat that’s healthy too.
• Fit Over 50, Older Adult Wellness
• 22 Healthy Snacks from a Vending Machine
• Healthy High Protein Breakfast Ideas to Start the Day
• Simple Breakfast Ideas, Quick and Healthy
• Quick Breakfast Ideas for Healthy Mornings

Now, what did the ear of corn say when all of it’s clothes fell off?

Aw shucks! Ha ha ha ha.

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