Foodlicious!
by Izzi F.
Food!
Surprise, surprise our body needs food to continue working! You didn’t guess that did you? Yet, for a girl, it is often easy to forget it as we look at pictures of lean and skinny celebrities who tout their weight loss or weight maintenance on a new diet. Often, those diets include eating only a certain amount of food, calories, or omitting a food group from their daily diet. Girls can look at that and say, ”I can do that if they can….I can lose that weight”. Next thing, you know you are turning down sweets….then a side dish such as rice….then the main course like lasagna…we tell ourselves that turning down food is good for our bodies! It will make us lose weight! Yet, in truth, our body needs food to run. Without food, even sugar, our body will become broken down and weak. So yes, I am telling you to eat food!
Why do we need food? Well, our body is like a car: it gets a certain number of miles to the gallon. If you put more fuel into your tank than you need to drive, you will have extra fuel left over, which is stored in your body as fat. The opposite happens when you don’t fill your tank up with gas-when you stop eating nutrients- the gas tank gets empty and tries to salvage any gas that it can. It stops running and becomes weak, tired, and listless.
I am not telling you to go out and eat all the doughnuts you can lay your hands on, but remember to eat your important fuel such as your fruits and vegetables…am I starting to sound like your mom yet?! One does not have to omit all sweets from his or her diet. Instead, one can eat sweets in moderation. Limit yourself to one cookie instead of two, skip the brownie today so you can go out on the weekend and eat sweets without worrying about the calories. If one goes without sweets, then one may succumb to the temptation and binge on sugar-which is ten times worse than eating sweets in moderation.
Why should we eat our fruits and vegetables?
Bananas.
They are high in potassium and contain three grams of fiber.
You may ask yourself what is fiber and why do we need it?
35 grams of fiber is recommended per day. This sounds hard! Yet, not really since a raisin weighs about 1 gram. Fiber is the indigestible part of fruits, seeds, vegetables, and whole grains. Fiber is basically a super-hero. It helps regulate your blood sugar, maintains bowel regularity (which is important!), and improves your immunity so you won’t get sick. This is the super-hero part-fiber actually controls hunger! In fact, fiber increases the feeling of fullness which will help you lose weight in a healthy manner and it will help you maintain your ideal weight.
You can find fiber in oatmeal, pasta, breads, carrots, oranges, peaches, apples, and whole grain. Fiber pops up in a surprisingly large amount of food!
Potatoes
When you eat potatoes with the skin on they contain almost half a day’s worth of Vitamin C, and they are a good source of potassium.
What is potassium? Potassium is very important because it transmits nerve impulses, builds muscle (which we all want!), and helps your heart to continue beating. It is also important for your metabolism of carbohydrates and proteins. In addition, it keeps our brain functioning, which is important for deciding which lip-gloss to buy!
You can also find potassium in bananas, apples, salmon, tomatoes, potatoes, and broccoli.
Carrots
You don’t have to be related to the rabbit family to eat a few carrots a day! Actually, rabbits have it going for them because carrots are the richest source of beta-carotene which helps fight against cancer. Carrots also help the heart, eye sight, blood circulation, skin, and lungs. Wow! Basically, carrots help to bring out your natural beauty!
In fact, beta-carotene packs quite a punch! It boosts immunity, protects against sunburn, and helps to prevent asthma and depression!
So, YES, you do need food! Don't let other people tell you that you need to go on a diet or you shouldn't eat a bowel of ice-cream. We all deserve some comfort food once in a while! Eat sweets in moderation, and remember to eat your fruits and vegetables because they will make you gorgeous!
