Good Mood Food

Foods must be easily digested in order to be beneficial to health. Cold foods tend to be harder to digest than warm or hot foods. Cold beverages can slow down the digestion process and can make your meals harder to digest. It is also very important that food be chewed very well before swallowed as the mouth is the first stage in digestion journey.

Keeping the intestinal tract healthy is essential to proper digestion and your overall health. Probiotics are friendly bacteria that contribute to intestinal tract health. Many traditional foods such as miso, pickles, sauerkraut, yogurt, and beer or wine provide probiotics.

An adequate diet will provide enough vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients for energy used during the course of the day. Try to get adequate amounts of energy from food high in nutrients rather than from supplements unless your nutritionist tells you differently.

A balance in the diet must be achieved by eating a variety of foods daily. Try not to fill up on foods that are high in one vitamin or mineral and ignore others that are equally important. Remember that a diet that is balanced for one person might not be balanced for another person. Experiment and find what balance of foods is best for your health. Modern advances in DNA swipping or hair sampling now allows you to know exactly what and how your system is digesting foods. These companies charge up to $300 to give your a 30 page report that specifies what exactly your body needs for optimal health.

There are certain foods that must be used in moderation such as high fat, cholesterol, and sugar items. Processed foods and foods with a lot of sugar substitutes such as as all refined sugars aspartame and neotame should be avoided as much as possible. Not only are they full of dangerous toxins that are detrimental to your health, they are hard to digest and eliminate.

Two types of essential fatty acids are important to our health. Linoleic acid is provided in sesame seed oil, sunflower seed oil, hemp seed oil, and safflower seed oil. Alpha Linoleic acid is found in hemp seed oil, organic soybean oil, flax seed oil, and ground flax seeds.

Changing a diet for the benefit of health is always a challenging endeavor. No need to go exteme or be hard on yourself for making "mistakes". Slowly begin to change your diet and notice the way you feel. Have fun experimenting with different foods. Enjoy making a healthier you.

February is the month that Beehiver blog will cover nutrition and massage. Come back when you want. Comment as you wish.