Understanding How Your Eating Habits Affect Your Health

The foods you eat play major roles in your health and well-being. Consider these facts to understand how your eating habits affect your health.

Food is so much more than something that delights your senses and fills your stomach. Each item you eat either nourishes or hurts your body. And while most people know the importance of eating a balanced diet, not many know why a healthy diet is so important. We just know that we feel better, healthier, and more confident when we eat healthy foods. But there’s more to the story.

Here’s a behind-the-scenes look to help you understand how your eating habits affect your health.

Food Sends a Message

Every morsel you eat sends a message to your body and gives it fuel to function. Sometimes that message is a positive one, boosting your metabolism, your mental functioning, and even your complexion. Other times, the message is negative and causes your body to become sluggish and ill.

In short, your diet profoundly affects your mental and physical well-being. The foods you eat can help or hinder your immune system, bone health, cognition, memory, sleep, heart, and overall brain development.

Food’s Effects on Your Physical and Mental Health

Prevents Illness and Disease

Food can be a hero or a villain in the fight against illness and disease. Consuming a consistently unhealthy diet can put you at greater risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, stroke, and some forms of cancer.

Alternatively, eating healthy meals—paired with exercising—mitigates the risk of developing these ailments by keeping your blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol, and weight under control.

Improves Skin

Believe it or not, your diet affects your skin. Processed foods, refined carbohydrates, and sugar play major roles in causing inflammation. In turn, this inflammation can worsen skin conditions such as acne. Dairy-rich foods are also known to trigger acne responses.

Consuming a balanced diet will soothe inflammation in your body and reduce acne. Additionally, eating foods rich in antioxidants fights free radicals from UV exposure, mitigates fine lines and wrinkles, and improves your overall skin texture.

RELATED: Eating Beautifully: 5 Foods That Make Your Skin Glow

Tips for Improving Your Diet

If your diet is a fairly unhealthy one, try not to stress. You can take some steps to improve the way you eat. Consider replacing unhealthy foods and beverages when you can, and follow these simple tips:

• Eat more fruits and vegetables
• Drink more water
• Consume less salt
• Eat foods with minimal saturated or trans fats
• Cut down on sugar
• Reduce your portions

By improving the way you eat, you’ll notice a difference in your physical health, your mental well-being, and even your skin’s texture and appearance. Food truly is a powerful thing!