Eat REAL Food, Appreciating God's Bounty for Our Health

Wake up each day, determined to fill your body with healthy, REAL food -- that which is from the earth, or very lightly processed. It’s not filled with preservatives and chemicals—names we don’t recognize and are also hard to pronounce. The more you prepare your own food, the more control you have of your own health.

A few pointers . . .

• Eat whole foods (fresh vegetables and fruit, whole grains, beans, legumes, lean meats, nuts, seeds, avocado, and fish).

• Limit processed foods—those that come in a box, can, bag, or jar with a barcode.

• Fill your body with as much color as nature—poppy red peppers, pinky-red raspberries, evergreen kale and spinach, royal purple plums and beets.

• Consume five or more servings fruits/veggies each day; a serving is about the size of the palm of your hand.

• Plan your meals and snacks so you avoid convenience foods.

• Increase fiber so you feel fuller.

• Choose whole grain pasta, quinoa, and brown or wild rice.

• Choose whole grain breads over white varieties.

• Avoid processed meats, refined sugars and flours, soda pop, and vegetable oil, as well as fried foods and high fructose corn syrup -- all foods associated with cancer risk.

• Reduce sodium intake (avoid at all costs), a benefit that comes with making more of your meals, and relying less on packaged and take-out foods.

Finally, say grace before every meal or snack. Appreciate the bounty God has given us. Treat your body like the vessel God intended it to be.