Weight Loss VS Healthy Living

Weight loss is achieved by simply consuming fewer calories than you burn. One can be thin, or can lose weight, without being healthy. Following a fad diet might lead to weight loss but at what cost? You may very well be depriving your body of key vitamins, minerals and nutrients it needs to function properly.

The fact is, there is still a lot we don’t know or understand about our bodies. For example, manufacturers create synthetic vitamins in a lab and pass them off to us as an easy to swallow pill. Done, all the vitamins we need! But is it? Is it those specific individual vitamins that our bodies need or is it a combination of all the other vitamins, minerals and nutrients in the food those vitamins are found?

You can lose weight eating just about anything, as long as calories burned exceed calories consumed. Theoretically we can lose weight on the Krispy Kreme diet as long as we don’t eat an excess number of calories. We’ll probably be starving because those donut calories are going to add up fast! But you will most likely suffer from malnutrition, be dehydrated and overall unhealthy.

Being vegan or vegetarian doesn’t make you healthy. Individuals on these “diets” can still eat fried and processed food. Potato chips are vegan, but that doesn’t make them part of a healthy lifestyle. I’m not suggesting someone not be vegan, if that’s a personal choice you’ve made then I 100% respect that. But when making food choices focus on the right kinds of foods.

Health, according to the World Health Organization, is “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity”. By living a healthy lifestyle, we can avoid many of the diseases plaguing modern day society – heart disease, diabetes, even cancer. In Dr. Michael Greger’s book How Not to Die he discusses how many of today’s top killers can be reversed or even prevented by making the right food choices. His advice is plain and simple – avoid processed food and eat more fruits and vegetables. Solid advice we can all live by.