20. Eat, Drink and Be Merry
Now that I’ve covered many issues about foods, this chapter dis-
cusses how to further implement this understanding into your daily
life. Topics such as snacks, shopping, cooking and food preparation
and other eating and drinking issues are in this chapter. Healthy food
should be tasty, easy to buy and prepare, and most importantly, every
meal and snack should be a joyous occasion! While many people take
great pride in the car, entertainment center or front lawn, it’s most
important to take pride in your health.
Food should not only be healthy, but festive — among the top
pleasures in life is a delicious, satisfying and healthy meal. Too many
people have lost their natural inclination for this sensation. We
should eat, drink and be merry if we want to live long and healthy
lives. That does not mean we should abuse food and drink. Instead
we should know what and how much to eat and drink, and our mer-
riness should be genuine. At one time, people instinctively knew
what to eat. Today, large corporations spend billions of dollars telling
us what we’re hungry for. And it works. But the responsibility you
have is to your body — making it healthy and maintaining it for a
long and wonderful life
Snacking Your Way to Health
Thus far we’ve discussed what to eat, and how to balance it, but
there’s yet another component to healthy eating habits that can make
a positive difference in your health — how often you eat. Specifically,
eating more frequently, or snacking between major meals, can
improve your health in many ways. In fact, perhaps no other single
dietary habit can make a more positive difference in your health than
healthy snacking.
In our society, snacks are generally seen as an unhealthful addi-
tion of unwanted calories and fat, and something to avoid. This can