What You Can’t Live Without: Get the Facts on Optimum Nutrition

As the rate of chronic (meaning ‘incurable’) diseases rise every year, the planet faces extinction, and our bodies and lives become filled with aches and pains, more and more people are taking a long, hard look at what they eat. Optimum nutrition is the vital ingredient if you want to live a high quality, pain free, and disease free life not just today but down the road.

A life filled with exercise that boasts the perfect ‘ripped’ body will soon crumble if the insides don’t match the outside. For this, there’s just no other way than striving for optimum nutrition.

But this optimum nutrition can be elusive if you don’t know where to look or have been brainwashed into forgetting what truly good, natural nutrition is. Don’t worry; it’s certainly not too late.

When considering optimum nutrition the mind can wander; is it that package of fruit snacks labeled ‘organic’ in the health food store? Could it be the frozen bag of peas that cooks in just seconds in the microwave? Or is part of optimum nutrition those new ‘healthy waters’ lining the grocery stores shelves with promises of energy, stamina, and robust health? (And wasn’t water already pretty darn healthy?)

There’s no doubt it can become confusing and even overwhelming to know what the best way to obtain optimum nutrition is. We are sent so many mixed messages by not just the media but also from the government with its dietary guidelines and recommendations. It's information overload. But relax; just like so much today we’ve really just overcomplicated it all and if you listen to your body and your instincts you’ll discover you already know what to do.

What the Healthiest Cultures Know

When the healthiest cultures in the world (who incidentally have the happiest and longest lives) are closely looked at there are a few things they have in common. One of the most important ones to note is that they don’t follow a set of dietary guidelines set forth by their governing bodies. No, they simply follow their own instincts and what has been handed down from generation to generation.

They don’t use scales or know their body fat index nor do they spend huge amounts of monies on the foods they choose to eat. They have the optimum nutrition, the natural nutrition that is life giving; that which we in the West need to model.

Listen to the One Who Knows Best: Your Own Body and Instincts

One of the best ways to learn what to eat is to first eat and then listen to the subtle messages your body sends you about that food or meal. Do you feel sluggish, achy, tired, and irritable after you eat a certain type of food or meal? The first signs that the body isn’t getting the nutrients it needs are as quiet and easily ‘brushed off’ as these.

Fatigue, insomnia, depression, moodiness, aches and pains, headaches, and the other body problems that plague many people day after day are the first signs that something is wrong. If you ignore these signs it’s inevitable that down the line the body will surely send you stronger signs as it becomes loaded with toxins and devoid of nutritional stores it desperately needs.

The best way to reach optimum nutrition is to eat the most natural, least processed foods you can on a daily basis. Choose foods that are grown without harmful chemicals and unnatural substances. Get your food locally and connect with the farmer who is growing that food. Eat foods that are seasonally available and opt for foods that haven’t been shipped thousands of miles before they reach your table.

Although the world of convenience has brought about many incredible benefits our eating and state of health have suffered greatly. Modern technology has its place but if you want to achieve optimum nutrition (and thereby optimal health) it has no place in your food.

Think about traditional eating habits (just 50 years ago) and model them. It may take a bit more time and effort but the payoff is huge!