For some, the process of trying to lose weight or get fit can be a daily struggle. We live in a country that has a huge advertising industry that advertises unhealthy food as harmless with neon signs at every fast food joint and decorative wrappers. Because of this, Americans must go out of their way to educate themselves on what it means to be ‘fit’ and how to live a healthy lifestyle. Only three percent of Americans meet the standard for a healthy lifestyle and 38 percent succeed in having a healthy diet.
Most common dieting and eating misconceptions occur when shopping or trying to decide what food to buy and what to avoid. For example, the public assumes all granola bars are good; this is not true. Ingredients like standard fruit juices and dried fruits are full of added sugars and preservatives. Though these things may appear healthy on the outside, they are damaging on the inside. Diets prescribe a strict plan for what you can eat, cutting out anything remotely bad for you and ignoring some food groups entirely. Most diets that work this way don’t actually work. Chances are, if you’re only dieting to lose weight, you’ll lose everything but weight. Graduate Kayla Riley works hard to be a part of that healthy percentage.
“Crazy diets are unrealistic,” Riley said. “Those are the reason people fail at dieting.”
Some strict diets do have their benefits, and they can be good for quick, temporary weight loss, but if you don’t continue the diet forever, the switch back to your normal lifestyle will offset all weight loss. Unnecessary guilt can stem from the stress if you “cheat” on your diet or fall off the wagon for a day. The bottom line remains that strict diets are unrealistic. Sophomore Gwen Lovely’s mother, Ms. Lesley Lovely, works as a nutritionist and has tried to instill in her the proper way to avoid diets and things that are bad.
What, might you ask, can you do? Strive to live healthier. Take it in stride; there are plenty of simple ways to get on the path to overall wellness.
“Diets may not work for every person the same way,” Ms. Lovely said. “However, health is a big concern because it can lead to things like diseases.”
Eating healthy doesn’t have to be hard. Dieters don’t have to give up every single thing that has sugar and they don’t have to eat like a rabbit. Simple things can go a lot further than one may think. Removing soda from a diet or even drinking less of it can be one of the best examples of this. Tea works as a great substitute for coke and also functions as a cleanser that can provide a jumpstart to your immune system. Smarter snacking works as one of the best ways to turn a small change into a big result. TV-watching snacks are one of the largest culprits for weight gain, but they don’t have to be. By snacking on things like berries, or vegetables and hummus, people can still have something to keep you occupied without it being detrimental.
“Eating natural foods and staying away from processed ones can make a difference,” Riley said. “Fuel your body with food that will make your energy last longer.”
Working out can be one of the best ways to keep yourself healthy. People don’t have to be a regular “gym buff” to do it. Small workouts throughout the day or even little changes like taking the stairs or riding your bike rather than driving down the street can help. HIIT workouts, or high intensity interval training, are a great way to squeeze in a really beneficial workout in minimal time without any added equipment.
“I try to exercise a lot with yoga, strength training, things like that,” Riley said. “Set realistic goals and reward yourself; it’s so worth it.”
