With what else but optimum nutrition for health, productivity and longevity!

Anyone who eats well, has lots of energy, exercises, and has regular annual medical checks is usually a smart and highly motivated and effective person.

Now present me a person who lives on junk food, doesn't exercise, and has no concept of taking care of their health, and surely I will show you a weak, sick and ineffective person - one who actually believes that the whole world is out to get them - when in actual fact they are plotting against themselves with the worst dietary habits and lifestyle. Negative energy plentiful... Solution? Food and the best nutrition.

Optimum nutrition my friend! Feeding your body with the best possible variety of foods that contain all the nutrients in quantities that your body requires for health and maintenance. The key word here is variety. A mono-diet consisting of the same types of foods is not only boring, but cannot give you all the essential nutrients you need. Gosh can you imagine having to eat only say five types of foods? Even Jamie Oliver (one of the popular chefs to date) would run out of ideas of how to prepare them in the most interesting, edible and nutritious way.

It all sounds good but where do I start and how do I sustain this so that it doesn't end up in the trash bin of unfulfilled resolutions? I would say go easy at first and incrementally increase your healthy food choices while you increase your exercise time.

It is not a myth; a good diet can and will improve your energy levels, prevent disease or help you manage most of them, and improve your immune system thereby allowing you to fight infections. 

But best of all, I really treasure the fact that optimum nutrition improves one's mental acuity, clarity of thought, mood and concentration.

It is also not just old folks' tales when our grandparents told us what we regarded as mumbo-jumbo regarding brain food. They were so damn right. It has actually been proven beyond reasonable doubt that good nutrition improves intelligence. Don't think it is too late to start; this is one of those rare cases where indeed you can 'teach an old dog new tricks'. So go for it right away.

By the way of all the nutrients that have been discovered as essential for human health and development, most of them are actually vitamins and minerals. That is why increasing your fruit, vegetable, nuts, and legume intake is highly recommended as most of these micronutrients are found in these. 

A word of caution on supplements, it is always best to get nutrients from foods, but if you must take supplements, resort to food based types that are easily and better absorbed. Otherwise you are literally just flushing your hard earned money away with some others.  Your body is very unique and that is why standard 'diets' that are promoted by the fast growing industry of dieting do not always work. So designing an eating and exercise plan that suits and works for your is very important. Here are a couple of tips to start you off:

* Slow down and pay attention to your food when you eat. When you wolf down food, you very effectively bypass the intricate set of "I am full" signals that the digestive system is designed to generate. Eating at a slower pace gives your stomach and intestines time to send these messages to the brain; and

* Be creative with low-calorie options to show you really care. If you really love your family and friends, don't love them to death - literally- with calories they don't need. Cut down fat, refined starches, sugar, processed foods and red meat.

Do yourself a favour going forward please, starting today; make a pact with yourself to eat better, exercise and take care of your good self.

God gave you that beautiful body, mind and spirit, so nurture them and they will give you the best years of life. Start today and live your best healthy life.
monitornutrition@yahoo.com