Health Benefits of Good Nutrition

What is the best defense against sickness? What is the best way to fight the common cold or flu? Many will say plenty of rest, drink alot of fluids, take your medicine and follow your doctor's advice. While these things may be helpful there is something else you can do which will likely help you prevent from getting ill in the first place. Consider it "preventive medicine."

So what is this "preventive medicine?" You can be healthy and avoid illness simply by eating the right foods, avoiding the bad foods and doing the right kinds of exercise. Not only will the health benefits of good nutrition help you lose weight and unsightly bodyfat but it will help you build and boost your immune system.

Science has shown us that there is a link between being overweight and how your immune system functions. The reports tell us that when you consume more calories (eat too much) than your body can burn off in a day then you create an imbalance within your immune system. This imbalance leads to poor function of the immune system so it can't fight disease when it has too. This leaves you prone to catching the flu or a cold or something more serious.

Another way to look at that is that if you are overweight you will get sick more often because your body will not fight off viruses and bacteria as effectively as someone who is not overweight and has a healthy, strong immune system. If you avoid the heatlh benefits of good nutrition you are really doing more harm than good for yourself.

You can see that the benefits of eating healthy foods reaches far beyond losing weight. Wouldn't it be nice to feel healthy every day and to avoid getting sick several times a year? You can achieve all that you want to regarding your weight loss goals in addition to building a healthy and stong immune system just by eating better!

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Peter Harris is a health care professional and author and writes frequently about diet, exercise and nutrition.

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Obesity and Health Risks

When it comes to nutrition, it's easy to spend a lot of time worrying about what to eat. But how much you eat puts as much of a stamp on your long-term health as picking the right kind of fat or choosing the right mix of vitamins. How much you weigh (in relation to your height), your waist size, and how much weight you've gained since your mid-20s strongly influence your chances of:

-dying early,

-having, or dying from, a heart attack, stroke, or other type of cardiovascular disease,

-developing diabetes,

-developing cancer of the colon, kidney, breast, or endometrium,

-having arthritis,

-developing gallstones,

-being infertile,

-developing asthma as an adult,

-snoring or suffering from sleep apnea,

-developing cataracts, or

-having a poorer quality of life.

Although researchers are quibbling about just how many people die each year as a direct cause of excess weight and what it costs our health-care system, excess weight takes an enormous toll—all the more worrisome, given that we are in the midst of an obesity epidemic.

If your weight is in the healthy range and isn't more than 10 pounds over what you weighed when you turned 21, great. Keeping it there—and keeping it steady—by watching what you eat and exercising will limit your risk of developing one or more of the chronic conditions noted above. If you are overweight, doing whatever you can to prevent gaining more weight is a critical first step. Then, when you're ready, shedding some pounds and keeping them off will be important steps to better health.