Getting Your Family’s Health On Track With Good Old Diet and Exercise

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I have a feeling you and I share a similar goal as parents – we want our children to be healthy and happy. I’m sure you’ve seen a lot of internet fads when it comes to trendy diets or quick and simple workouts; maybe you’ve even given a few of them a try but are still a little dazed and confused? What is the ‘right’ diet combination? Should you be feeding your kids so-called “superfoods”? Is gluten really so bad? How much is too much saturated fat? It is no wonder everyone is going crazy, slamming their laptops shut, and reaching for the nearest bag of potato chips.

Food Is Either The WORST or The BEST Thing You Can Do For Yourself

One perplexing bit of nutritional information circulates around something I thought everyone was okay with coffee. A study published in Ophthalmology & Visual Science by a research team led by Jae Hee Kang found that too much coffee can actually lead to eventual development of glaucoma, and in the meantime can reduce your vision. Well, that is alarming.

But wait! Another study was done by Chang Y. Lee of Cornell University found that drinking coffee can promote healthy retinas, thereby increasing your eyesight. Get that folk? According to science, coffee can either help you see better, or make your sight worse. Excellent.

Eggs: The Not-So-Incredible, Edible Cancer-Causing Food?

Harvard Health Online wrote an article talking about how incredible eggs are for our health. Fair enough, they have been seen as a healthy food for quite some time. But it flies in the face of another Harvard University study that claims consuming eggs too often can actually cause a deadly form of cancer. Their online publication must not have gotten the memo.

Or maybe they were just looking at the study that came out of the University of Alberta. According to their findings, eggs can – you guessed it – help to prevent various cancers thanks to it’s high concentration of antioxidants.

So, just to recap: coffee may hurt or help your eyes, and eggs may prevent or cause cancer.

If you want to scramble your brains over another controversial food topic, try googling “Is brown rice good or bad?”

Regardless Of The Mixed Messages Being Sent Out There…

These above studies show direct contradictions in studies about food and show that more research needs to be done to work out the specifics and find why both can somehow be true at the same time. But they don’t even begin to cover all of the questions people have about the food they eat, or what they feed their families.

The bottom line is this: good, real, fresh food and regular activity will always be the best preventative forms of medicine you and your loved ones can practice. A diet high in fats, sodium, and sugar, combined with an increasingly sedentary lifestyle are causing a serious health crisis in people of all ages, across the globe. A lot of people don’t really put their backs into getting healthier unless it is a New Year’s resolution or some serious ailment slaps us in the face.

If you’re one of the many who are confused and tired of figuring out the food industry and health crisis’ we’re facing today, maybe cut back on the googling, the processed foods, and the “Netflix and Chill-ing” and do the basics. We have to eat well, with plenty of vegetables, good fibers, and lean proteins. Read your foods nutrition labels (eat fewer foods that require nutrition labels) and learn what to avoid. Get up off your couch, get away from your computer, go for a walk at lunch, play sports with your buddies, hike, and swim on occasion.

We need to live like healthy human beings again. We need to start learning about natural items that can be added to our diets to improve our health. It might not be the sexiest idea, and it won’t always make for good social media clickbait. But it is simple, it is true, and it is the best diet advice that can be given.

kevinjonesjj
Kevin Jones is a freelance writer, researcher and fitness instructor/consultant. He had helped hundreds of people find ways to become more fit and healthy through a balanced life focusing on an individualized approach to their nutrition and fitness. In addition, Kevin has written extensively in the fitness and health industries, including writing for companies such as a ICON Fitness brand NordicTrack. Connect with Kevin online; LinkedIn - Twitter