7 Myths About Good Eating Habits

Your body can be thought of as a precision machine. It comes with thousands of intricate parts that combine to make an amazingly functional team. Like any machine, your body needs regular maintenance and fuel.

Your body needs to be fueled with the right nutrients in order to run at its maximum capacity. Following good eating habits is important to your overall health, but you also need to be able to sift through the layers of poor information.

Below, you’ll find some myth busters on good eating habits:

1. “It is best to work out on an empty stomach.” A definite myth. Your stomach’s rumblings are an attempt to tell you something, not to get you to go to the gym! If you ignore tummy rumbling, you are forcing your engine to run without fuel. Have a light snack, even just a piece of fruit, before you undertake anything physical.

2. “Energy drinks and bars make good meal replacements.” Ooops, another myth. In a pinch, or when you are traveling, they might help, but meal replacement bars or drinks are nowhere near equivalent to proper food. You need antioxidants, fiber, minerals, vitamins, and so much more, so grab some fruit and vegetables for the boost you need.

3. “Breakfast is not that important.” Mom was right about this, as breakfast is the most important meal of each day. Eat a healthy breakfast to give your body the charge it needs to meet your busy schedule. If you skip breakfast, your low fuel start will leave you feeling sluggish and hungry throughout the day.

4. “Low-carb diets offer all the nutrients you need.” While low-carb diets can be beneficial for weight loss, they are not great for all-around good health. Your body needs carbohydrates to store energy and develop muscle tissue.

5. “It’s okay to eat what you want, when you want it.” Not true my friend. That’s too easy. Regular exercise and frequent good food choices will help, but you have to maintain both, forever, for the wellness benefits to add up. That does not mean “all or none”, but rather seek the balanced diet that we hear so much about. Bread and cheese for three nights straight won’t cut it.

6. “Cut as many calories as you can.” While losing weight does involve cutting calories, you should never run on too short a fuel supply. Trim your calories wisely, and aim for a healthy weight loss of one or two pounds per week. If you start to drop weight too quickly, add a little more food to bring your daily calorie count up.

7. “Skip soda and alcohol.” This is no myth. Good eating habits go hand in hand with good drinking habits. Water, milk, and juice will always be the best beverage choices for active bodies. Drink often, and not only when you feel thirsty. By the time you begin to feel thirst, your body is already close to running on empty.

A solid understanding of a healthy diet will lead you to make good eating habit choices. It is not that complicated, and when you change what you eat, you will have made a big step toward overall wellness enhancement. Fuel up with good food, and keep that motor running for smooth performance down the road. Columnist Sheila Ffloyd is an author for numerous web magazines, on exercise fitness and fitness weight loss topics.