Fueling your body …

March is National Nutrition Month, and little is as important for our physical bodies as the nutrition we choose for fueling it.

Most of us choose poorly and develop bad nutritional habits, not realizing that what we choose to eat daily are some of the most important decisions we make for ourselves that day. One t-shirt worn by employees of the Sprouts grocery stores reminds us that “Every meal is a choice.”

Why is nutrition so important? Because it literally is fuel for our physical bodies! The World Health Organization notes, “Nutrition is the intake of food, considered in relation to the body’s dietary needs. Good nutrition – an adequate, well-balanced diet combined with regular physical activity – is a cornerstone of good health. Poor nutrition can lead to reduced immunity, increased susceptibility to disease, impaired physical and mental development, and reduced productivity.”

Many people, especially American’s are very stubborn about their dietary habits and resistant to changing them, even if doing so is good for them. But if you want to provide your body with good nutrition — the fuel it needs the way it needs it — consider the following three components to your dietary intake:

CONTENT
As badly as some want to deny or ignore it, what you eat matters! Every time you have a meal or snack, you’re answering the question of whether or not you’re giving your body what it needs and what is “good” for it, or doing the opposite (it will ALWAYS be one or the other).

VOLUME
The average American has a daily dietary (caloric) intake that exceeds what their bodies need (often resulting in being overweight and/or obese and impacting fitness and health in various ways). In other words, the portions of our meals are much bigger than what we need, and what is good for us.

QUALITY
If we’re filling our bodies with dietary sources loaded in sugars, salt, and preservatives, we’re actually pouring into our bodies things that have a serious potential to eventually harm us, whereas eating organic and natural foods are “clean” and safe(r) sources for providing our bodies with the nutrients they need.

Years ago, I studied and trained to become certified as a Personal Trainer, Fitness Professional, and a Fitness Nutrition Specialist because many of the counseling clients I worked with were significantly physically deconditioned. Their poor fitness and/or health directly affected their mental and spiritual health, so skills were needed to be able to address the physical condition — including the nutritional habits — of people in order to effectively help them change their lives.

Scott Free Clinic wants to encourage you during the month of March to respond to this designated “Nutrition Month” to examine your own eating habits and be honest with yourself about whether you’re fueling your body with the content, volume, and quality of food you need, or if you have adopted poor dietary habits that need to change.

Chances are, you’ll have some habits that need to change!

In 2019, you can easily find a plethora of resources to help you learn more about good nutrition, and what kind of changes you may need to make. Some resources include:

“Goggle it.” Not everything you find on the internet is reliable or helpful, but you can find a wealth of resources relating to good nutrition just by doing a search for it.

Talk to a professional. Your family physician can be a start, but dieticians, nutritionists, and other specialists in the field can easily be contacted and offer expert guidance specific to your body, fitness, and health.

If you want to go deeper, there are numerous books you can get to teach you anything you want to learn about nutrition.

Access to sound and reliable information is not an issue when it comes to nutrition, the bottomline question is whether or not how you’re fueling your body is important to you.

It should be … is it?

Scotty