Note: This post was written by a student in the spring of 2018
Living a lifestyle that is truly healthy
is not commonly achieved in the world today. Many people attempt to stay
physically active and challenge themselves mentally as ways to stay healthy.
However, the most important factor to living a healthy lifestyle is choosing to
have a wholesome diet and make wise nutritional choices. Does something as
seemingly insignificant as what a person eats in a day ultimately affect their
overall health and mental function? This is something often overlooked or seen
as irrelevant to a person’s well-being, despite the major effects unhealthy
eating can have on someone’s vital organs and hormonal levels. The food that
someone consumes in a day and how they fuel their body affects their energy,
mood, and ability to focus. However, a well-balanced diet is not always a part
of people’s lifestyles. As people continue to choose foods that give no
nutritional benefit, they might think the harm and results to their bodies will
be minimal. Most people don’t realize until it is too late that these choices
result in permanent bodily damage. A person’s choice to eat whole foods or home
cooked meals as opposed to processed and fast food significantly impacts how
they feel emotionally, mentally, and physically.
There are many unfortunate things
that can result from choosing unhealthy foods as meals or snacks on a daily
basis. A common disease that results from continual intake of fast food and
other junk foods is obesity. Obesity is the result of someone eating more
calories than their body burns off. This can lead to the risk of more
life-threatening diseases such as diabetes or cancer. This also results in
difficulty of movement and completion of average day-to-day activities. Daniel
Keren (2005), in his article “Meeting the Challenge of Obesity”, interviews an
endocrinologist who attributes the increase of obesity in people of all ages to
fast food restaurants that have menus primarily filled with meals that are high
in fat and large in portion sizes. Additionally, the American Psychological
Association (APA, 2018) stated, “Obesity is also frequently accompanied by
depression and the two can trigger and influence each other.” These studies as
well as others reveal some of the risks and unfortunate side effects fast food
and unhealthy eating can have on how humans function and feel emotionally as
well as physically.
Other conditions that can result
from an unhealthy lifestyle are Premenstrual Syndrome, anxiety, and depression.
Many girls who experience extreme symptoms before beginning their menstrual
cycle are diagnosed with Premenstrual Syndrome. A study conducted by Electronic Physician explains that
“decreasing consumption of salty or high-caffeine foods, and eating low-fat
high-fiber food improves symptoms [of PMS] by decreasing estrogen level” (Mohebbi,
Akbari, Mahmodi, & Nasiri, 2017). Similarly, the results of an experiment
covered in an article for Atherosclerosis
revealed that those who ate an unhealthy diet had different levels of anxiety
and depression than those who consumed healthier foods (Bonnet et al., 2018). Though
diet may be disregarded as something that can help or worsen PMS, anxiety, and depression,
it can have a strong influence over the intensity of the symptoms experienced
in these diseases.
The way people eat also affects
their mental function. Fueling the body with food that is high in protein,
healthy fats, and vitamins provides the mental strength to think clearly and
comprehend information. Those who rely on junk food and caffeine to give them
what they need to function will eventually crash due to consuming nothing of
nutritional and sustaining value. A study conducted by J. Zahra and colleagues (2013)
revealed that school children who ate junk food on a daily basis experienced
mental and physical challenges. As Eva Selhub (2015), a writer on the Harvard
Health Publishing website, explained, “like an expensive car, your brain
functions best when it gets only premium fuel…unfortunately, just like an
expensive car, your brain can be damaged if you ingest anything other than
premium fuel.” When humans fuel their bodies with substances with little to no
value, brain cells are slowly damaged and the ability to function in a way that
is mentally, physically, and emotionally healthy is compromised.
Though there is evidence of people
who have diseases or health issues that are linked back to unhealthy diets,
many will argue that there are plenty of people who have unhealthy diets and
are perfectly fine. However, those who are making unwise eating choices might
not see their health decline in ways such as weight gain or other physical
issues until they are older and their metabolism has slowed down. A writer for Healthline
explained that some of the effects of long term constant intake of fast food
can be difficulty of breathing, dental issues, risk of high blood pressure, skin
breakouts, and much more (Pietrangelo, Carey & Holland, 2017.) People who
constantly eat unhealthy foods are likely to experience these side effects as
their bodies react to the unwholesome meals being consumed and internal damage
slowly occurs. This damage might not become evident immediately, but someone
feeding their body nothing but unhealthy substances is unlikely to walk away
with a perfectly healthy body (Selhub, 2015). Ultimately, whether it is obvious
to the person or not, those who do not provide their body with the nutritional
values it needs will have underlying health issues and will be more likely to
develop illnesses and diseases.
Healthy eating is vital to maintain
a lifestyle that is wholesome and strong. Someone can be active and in shape, and
challenge themselves mentally on a regular basis. However, they are not truly
healthy unless they have taken the action of improving their diet and feeding
their body the nutrition that it needs. Ultimately, those who eat a diet that can
provide the energy, mental capabilities, and emotional stability a person requires
to function will live the healthiest and happiest lifestyle.
References
American Psychological Association. (2018).
Mind/body health: Obesity. APA.org.
Bonnet, F., Irving, K., Terra, J., Nony,
P., Berthezène, F., & Moulin, P. (2005). Anxiety and
depression
are associated with unhealthy lifestyle in patients at risk of cardiovascular
disease. Atherosclerosis, 178(2),
339-344. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2004.08.035
Keren, D. (2005). Meeting the
challenge of obesity. Kashrus Magazine,
26(1), 134-145.
doi:http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.ololcollege.edu:2048/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=6&sid=985d108e-3bbc-48d8-b4a0-ecead8e78471%40sessionmgr4010
Mohebbi, M., Akbari, SAA., Mahmodi,
Z., & Nasiri, M. (2017). Comparison between the lifestyles of university
students with and without premenstrual syndromes. Electronic Physician, 9(6),
4489-4496. doi:10.19082/4489
Pietrangelo, A., Carey, E.,
Holland, K. (2005-2018). The effects of fast food on the body. Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/health/fast-food-effects-on-body#1
Selhub, E. (2015). Nutritional
psychiatry: Your brain on food. Harvard Health
Publishing. https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/nutritional-psychiatry-your-brain-on-food-201511168626
Zahra, J., Ford, T., & Jodrell,
D. (2014). Cross-sectional survey of daily junk food consumption, irregular
eating, mental and physical health and parenting style of British secondary
school children. Child: Care, Health and
Development, 40(4), 481-491.
doi:10.1111/cch.12068
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