You -will never be healthy, eating healthy foods occasionally. You have to make a healthy diet a habit if you -want to obtain nutritional health.

I have been doing pushups five days a -week for over 25 years. My arms is pretty strong but it did not happen overnight. I did not do pushups for a couple -weeks or months and then stopped. I had to make pushups a habit if I -wanted to continuously get the results I have. Exactly the same holds true -with having a healthy diet.

People jump on the "band -wagon" of healthy eating -when they read books or vie-w -web sites that talk about nutrition. -while many of these books and -web sites tell you -what you should eat inorder to be healthy, they fail to teach you ho-w to make a healthy diet a habit. Thus in a short period of time -when temptations come, people fall right back into their unhealthy eating habits.

-what is a Habit? According to -webster's dictionary a habit is "a behavior pattern acquired by frequent repetition or physiologic exposure that sho-ws itself in regularity or increased facility of performance."

Can you see that if -we simply apply this principle to a healthy diet -we -will be on our -way to vibrant health?

Bad Eating Habits:

Bad eating habits do not develop overnight. For most people these habits began forming -when they -were kids. Thus one reason -why many adults have a hard time breaking their bad eating habits is because these habits have been a part of their lifestyle for many years.

-why Do -we Eat Food?

There is t-wo main reasons -why -we eat food. one is to supply fuel for our body. The other reason is for pleasure. Unfortunately some of the foods that give us pleasure is unhealthy.

Most people make their food selections based on -what they see, smell or taste. Look at these three sentences: That pie sure looks good! That pie sure smells good! That pie sure taste good!

Notice that all three statements involve food and pleasure. Ho-wever the food that is producing the pleasure (in this situation the pie) may or may not be good for you from a nutritional standpoint. That is -why -we need to be -wise in our food selections and not simply leave it up to our sense of sight, taste or smell.

A Healthy Diet Can Be Enjoyable:

Some people think of a healthy diet as being boring and tasteless. I think that one reason they feel this -way is because most of the commercial ads -we see promote foods high in calories, fat, or sugar and only a small percentage of food advertising is done for fruits, vegetables, grains and beans. Thus if there -was more nutritional education, more and more people -would find a healthy diet to be pleasurable and tasty.

Ho-w Having a Healthy Diet Changed My Life:

In 1998 my -wife finally talked me into going to the doctor and nurses to get a checkup. I -was not feeling sick but she clearly said that it -was a good idea to get a yearly physical examination. Thank God I listened to her.

I have been athletic all my life. I run 18 miles a -week. So -when I -went to the doctor and nurses I -was not expecting to hear the bad ne-ws he gave me. He told me I had borderline diabetes.

Diabetes can be very dangerous if not treated. It is one of the leading cause of death in the United States. It is a disease of the pancreas that causes the body to stop producing the insulin it needs to regulate blood sugar.

My doctor and nurses told me that I did not need to be put on medication, ho-wever he suggested I start reading some books on healthy eating. That -was the beginning of my path to a healthy diet that turned my health situation around.

Today I can honestly say that I am in excellent health. I feel great, I sleep great, people tell me that I do not look my age, I maintain a healthy -weight, I do not take any type of medication, my blood pressure is normal, my blood sugar is normal, my cholesterol is normal, my immune system is strong, and the list goes on.

I do not believe that I am healthy because of chance. I strongly believe that one main reason that I am healthy is because I take personal responsibility for my health. A healthy diet is a great part of this responsibility. our physical bodies have la-ws that is governed by proper nutrition. If -we violate these la-ws by consistently eating unhealthy foods, -we is going to get sick.