Four Largest Dietary Problems

The four largest Dietary Problems, are contributing to the reasons that we are an overweight population. Most of these problems do not involve food, but other habits, behaviors, and emotional eating. There are four dietary problems, that I regularly see:

1) Not Enough Fruits and Vegetables

• People do not eat enough fruits and vegetables. The American Food Guide Pyramid, suggests that people eat between 2-4 servings of fruit, and 3-5 servings of vegetables, every single day! Most people do not meet their quota, or even come close. Do you eat fruit at every meal, and 2 or 3 servings of vegetables, at lunch and dinner? Most of you include a token vegetable every now and again. You think you eat vegetables and fruit, but when you journal, you see that there is a lot of room for improvement.

2) Too Much Sugar!

People eat too much sugar which is contributing to the growing epidemic of obesity, and diabetes in our culture. The average person eats over 157 pounds of sugar /corn syrup, per year. That is a little over 13 pounds of sugar, that we are eating each month!

Sugar has a huge list of health consequences on our body including:

• suppressing your immune system
• kidney damage
• a rise in your triglycerides
• anxiety
• crankiness
• difficulty in concentrating
• increased levels of insulin and blood sugar
• tooth decay
• arthritis
• periodontal disease
• drowsiness
• migraines
• lack of energy
• overeating

These are just a few of the effects of sugar on your body. Join me in walking down the cookie aisle and saying, “Poison, poison, poison!”

3) Skipping Meals

• Skipping Meals. Many people skip meals, because they are too busy to eat. They substitute coffee, soda, sweets, power bars, or other snack foods available for their missed meal. These foods offer almost no nutritional value, and simply spike their blood sugar. Take the time to buy healthy grab and go items. Never leave home without a healthy snack pack!

4) Eating an Unbalanced Diet

• Eating an Unbalanced Diet. People eat too many simple carbohydrates, processed foods, toxic fats, and fast food that offer little nutritional value, but high sugar and fat contents. They are not skipping meals, but eating poor meals. Their blood sugar is imbalanced, metabolism slows down, fatigue increases, and they gain weight!

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As I look at these four dietary problems, there is a simple theme that keeps reappearing. People are eating way to much sugar, processed foods that break down to sugar, and fast foods that include sugar and fat, whether they are planning to or just grabbing food for the meals that they skipped.

You must begin to eat a balanced diet, and develop healthy diet habits, if you want to lose weight and be healthy. It is not rocket science and a few lifestyle changes can bring success as you figure out, "what is a healthy balanced diet?"