Your Mirror: The Report Card of your Health
Being physically healthy enables you to have a better outlook, including in your relationships. You only get one body, so taking care of it is important. By knowing your body, and your family’s health history, you can start to figure out what is “normal” for you.
The “Mirror” tells us all; we live in a world of selfies and of social media, a world that encourages us to evaluate and monitor how our bodies look to the world. Yet it provides only an outward reflection and not inward. Awareness of one’s health cannot be set aside as each individual has the opportunity to decide to take an active part in our health. As difficult as it is, we are bombarded with unhealthy food choices and these are what are commonly referred to as “highly processed foods”. Processed foods are often high in sugar, fat and empty calories. Consuming lots of these foods has long been linked to an increased risk of a wide variety of health problems that can lead to heart disease or an early grave, such as obesity, high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, cancer and depression. Any one of these is more than sufficient to outwardly alter your health in your mirror.
Processed foods make up close to 70 percent of the U.S. diet. Frozen fruits and vegetables count as processed, but this is still a sobering statistic. Why is processed food so addictive? Dopamine, the reward and pleasure chemical that is released during sex and drug use, is released upon eating processed foods. This dopamine makes food much more rewarding to your body than the simple biological need to eat. The exact opposite occurs when consuming natural, unprocessed foods such as carrots and strawberries. Cutting down on processed foods is the first step to improving Your “Report Card” and Dr. Aaron Bardwell at Beyond Health and Wellness Center can help you in making this transition. Take the first step and contact the office today. You’re here now due to your interest or concern.