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The right kind of nutrition is the fuel that keeps us active and healthy. Unfortunately the pace of life today doesn't allow many to eat right and that translates into the diseases so rampant today. Sugary breakfast cereals, fried foods for lunch and steak and potatoes simply don't add up for nutritious meals.

Our bodies require the right kind of nutrients that can only be found in fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. For optimum health, food has to supply all the major vitamins and minerals necessary for good body functioning. Without those nutrients we tire easy and become prone to the viruses, pathogens and diseases that invade every day.

Eating right is on the minds of many but the choices are limited. Buying veggies from the supermarket certainly is a step in the right direction, but those veggies lack many of the nutrients necessary as they come from farms whose soil has been depleted from over-farming. Add to that are the chemical treatments, the herbicides, pesticides and coloring used to keep food looking fresh on the store shelves. They don't do your body and health much good even if you do follow a good diet. For example, many fruits, such as cherries, peaches, pears, apples, plums and grapes are chemically treated. Washing them is an absolute necessity, but many of those chemicals stay in the skin which you consume. Buying organic is a good solution as long as you live in an area where you have ready access to fresh produce which is not possible for many people.

Highly processed and refined junk food is convenient but consists mostly of empty calories and holds little in the way of nutrition. You may not be aware that drinking one soft drink can suppress your immune system up to 50% for up to 6 hours after drinking it. This means you are open to getting sick. Most people already have compromised immune systems so that soft drink only worsens your health.

Despite what the media portrays, eating a right diet is difficult. You would need to chow down 17 bowls of spinach today to get the same nutrients as one bowl gave a hundred years ago, Is it a wonder that so many don't even meet the RDA requirements for good nutrition? With the lack of essential vitamins and minerals in our food supply today, supplementation is an absolute necessity.

Even if you watch everything you eat, supplement regularly, your smoking, drinking, lack of exercise and stress levels can leech out any nutrients you've put in. Nutrition is important, but without healthy choices in the way you live, you won't see many benefits.

Nutrition is especially important considering that our environment, from the air we breathe to our water supply is polluted. Without proper nutrition our bodies have little ability to remove some of the toxins that only build up to dangerous levels as time goes on.

Does this mean that you can't have a burger with all the fixings? Chowing down a juicy grilled burger on occasion is a pleasure, but it should never be a daily affair. But we eat fast food at all times during the day. If you hope to stay energetic with a clear mind, stuffing a burger during your lunch break at work will not guarantee peak performance.

There's a right time to enjoy a sinful treat now and then and your body can compensate for it. Nutrition comes from what you eat and you should be eating fresh fruits and vegetables daily. Nutrition comes from saying no to the lifestyle that is making you and many others sick. Nutrition means a longer and happier life.

Learn more about this author, Mario Carini.
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