3 Reasons to Improve Your Diet

Eating habits – they can affect you big time over the holidays if you don’t have the right mindset.

While we need to appreciate the value of enjoying food and not be shamed into avoiding anything that’s on the table, there’s also a real lesson in understanding why improving your diet throughout the year (especially if it’s not that healthy right now) yields big benefits. With that said, here are three important reasons to improve your diet and roll into the new year feeling great:

You’ll feel better: Which do you generally enjoy more: a big burger with fries, or a salad? While most people might admit the greasy, fatty option is preferred, there’s a follow-up question: Which makes you feel better (physically) afterward? Poor dietary choices tend to make you feel full and bloated, impacting sleep and your desire / ability to exercise.

You’ll look better: We’re not talking about your weight, although dietary changes for the better often result in weight loss or at least less body fat. We’re talking about your skin, hair, nails, etc. – all of which look better as your diet improves. Eating processed, refined, low-nutrient foods robs you of the vital minerals and vitamins your body needs to refresh, restore and repair.

You’ll pay it forward: Absolutely no one who eats healthy keeps silent about it. They talk to friends, family and loved ones about how it’s impacted them – and how it can do the same for anyone who joins the cause. Why? Because once you adopt healthier eating, you realize the profound benefits and wonder why everyone isn’t enjoying them, too. You become a voice for healthier eating and recruit others.

The obesity and disease crisis in the U.S. underscores the reality that it’s hard to eat healthy. The fast-food and food manufacturing industries don’t help, with new processed, added-sugar, refined, fatty foods available seemingly every day. But it doesn’t take much to get started if you give eating healthier a chance. What’s more, your doctor can help assess your current diet and help outline dietary changes that work for you, your health – and your happiness.