Do you know what eating healthy is? I want to know...

What does nutritious mean? What average person understands what it means to eat a balanced diet, healthy food, food that has nutritious value? The number of such individuals is probably much less than I would like there to be, but today's society is at fault for that. In our fast moving society, the percent of people that have an understanding of nutrition or at least some knowledge about what it means to eat healthy is scars. Nutrition means nothing unless you understand and care about what its value is.

Food and eat. Those are the two main terms that people use and understand to talk about nutrition. Food is something we eat to satisfy our hunger, it is something we enjoy, for its taste, for its texture, for the way it makes us feel once we eat it, for the way it looks and attracts us to itself. Food is something we share with our family, with our friends and neighbors, something we share with the world. Even though we all eat different things, we all share the fact that we eat food and we need it to function properly, but that's where the similarities end.

In order to share food with others, we gather together. We have parties with family, lunch dates with co workers and friends, get togethers with our loved ones. Why do we eat together and not alone? We eat together because we enjoy it. We enjoy other peoples company, we enjoy the experience of eating more when we are around other people. Eating food is an experience of fun and enjoyment until it becomes work. If we don't have grand ma to cook us our favorite meal, we have to turn to plan B. When people eat alone, they form habits, usually unhealthy habits. We rush, we become passive and tend to give ourselves to engineered food. Food that is fast to prepare, easy to eat on the go and easy to carry around. There is no time to cook or wait for a meal, so we eat what we can get. When grand ma isn't there to shove the veggies and fruits into our mouth, we go eat junk food instead.

From my experience and understanding, in order to eat healthy, an individual needs to have specific goals, a task in mind. It is people that have goals and needs for eating healthy that understand and care about the value of nutrition. Athletes for example have the need for a good diet, in order to perform at their best. They need to be lean, muscle building. They want and need to be fast, always energetic, strong and good looking.

When it comes to the average person, very few stride for goals like athletes do. Some want to look thin, others what to loose weight, yet others want to have a muscular, lean and strong looking body. In other cases, sick people need to eat right because it helps them rebuild their body back to normal. In most cases however, people tend to not think about what is right or wrong for them. When they eat, they want to enjoy it. Its very passive and easy to go for that donut, for the ice cream, the pizza and the chocolate. These are foods that have been engineered to taste good, foods that have been designed to be eaten on the go, made fast and easy to get used to. Unless u have a task in mind, why eat healthy?

However, from observations and experience, I can understand why it is so hard to eat healthy. Take me for example. Even as a healthy eating individual, one that eats his veggies and fruits, eats lean meats and whole wheat products, I still tend to go for the easy and be passive whenever I can. Sometimes it takes someone to peel an orange and start eating it in front of me, for me to have that desire to want to eat one too. Why is it so hard for someone that knows about nutrition and eats healthy to peel and orange and eat it, knowing it is good for them?

Very simple. Our minds are build to think about what tastes good first, before we think if its good for our bodies or not. When that orange gets peeled by someone else, my desire to want to eat one too grows, however I would have not done it myself. Why does it take someone else to eat an orange before I think about eating one? Because to peel one and eat it takes work! Our fast moving society has turned us away from a healthy diet, because we have become lazier, we work too much for the money, there are too many choices of food, too many choices of good tasting food, and a lot to be desired.

In order to eat healthy, no matter whether or not you know anything about nutrition, there needs to be a goal, and you need to make eating food an experience rather than a task. When we eat with others, especially with family (and grandma who knows how to cook healthy food), we eat more healthy unconsciously. When mom is there to peel the orange for you, or wash the apple and slice it for you, you will eat more healthy. We need to understand that nutrition is something that does not require your knowledge of scientific terms like carbs, protein, fat, but rather an experience of enjoying food, of course the right kind of food.

When we don't have a goal to stride for, when we have no reason to eat healthy, when we don't want to eat with others or have no understanding of nutrition, we fail at eating healthy. In other words, living a life to the fullest rather than a passive life alone, will bring nutrition to you. Not necessarily without your own input, but its a good starting point. Enjoy!