Are You Guilty of These Bad Eating Habits?
If you turn on the television, on almost any day of the week you’ll see a program or newscast talking about America’s bad eating habits. You may also see television programs talking about how we are what we eat. No one denies there have been bad eating habits exposed. The question is, once the habits have been exposed what can you do about them?
One of the worst bad eating habits is consuming junk food, especially in large quantities. How many times have you seen movies showing people eating whole cartons of ice cream or buckets of fried chicken and the trimmings when they are depressed? Sadly, Hollywood isn’t all fictional characters in fictional situations. Many people do have this type of eating problem.
It seems everyone is busy these days. There isn’t enough time to sit down and enjoy a healthy breakfast. For those who are rushed in the morning, their recourse may be to skip breakfast altogether. After a full-night’s sleep your body needs something to get your metabolism going. A healthy breakfast before you start your day will do just that.
Another eating habit which is unhealthy is eating on the run. How many times do you run out of the house without eating breakfast? You may take a few minutes to pull into a drive-thru to get a biscuit and coffee. Not only is this not healthy due to the amount of fat in fast food breakfasts, but eating and driving isn’t a good combination because of the possibility of accidents.
Processed food is easy and in many cases less expensive than fresh. Because this is the case, many people depend upon processed food to feed their families. When you’re eating processed foods you’ll be eating chemicals you can’t pronounce rather than simple whole foods. Doctors are beginning to understand how devoid of nutrients these processed foods are and they have begun recommending that they not be used.
Along with processed foods, consuming too much sugar is another problem many people face. For some people this comes in the form of sweetened soft drinks. Others eat candy or baked goods which are laden with sugar and may also be high in fat.
What about not eating your vegetables? Many young children have to be coerced or cajoled into eating vegetables. If you’ve never liked vegetables very much, you may still choose not to eat them. However, vegetables are full of vital nutrients so you’ll want to get more of them into your diet.
The last bad eating habit which needs to be exposed is eating too late in the day. Some people have jobs requiring them to work swing shifts. They don’t have much choice about when they eat their meals. For many more people, however, the tendency to eat late in the day has more to do with having the munchies than being required to eat at odd hours. When you eat too much right before turning in for the night, you aren’t able to work that food off and it can cause weight gain.
If you think about it, the above bad eating habits, exposed or not, are ones many people contend with on a daily basis. Recognizing bad habits and owning them is often the first step in overcoming them. Now that you know what bad eating habits to look for, what can you do to turn them into good eating habits instead?
