I found this quote a couple of days ago and I love it. It really goes a long with what I have been reading in my book and talking about in this blog.
I read an article today that is a perfect example of how an unhealthy diet can affect your body. There is a story about a 17 year old girl who collapsed recently after eating basically nothing but chicken nuggets for the last 15 years making its way around the internet currently. (You can read it here: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/01/26/stacey-irvine-chicken-nugget-diet_n_1234217.html)
She claims that every since eating chicken nuggets for the first time at 2 years old, it became her favorite food and she never wanted anything else. So for the last 15 years she has had chicken nuggets every single day and has excluded fruits and vegetables from her diet. Well, it finally caught up with her because she collapsed at work and was rushed to the hospital. They found she had some breathing problems, anemia and swollen veins in her tongue. This story is living proof of how eating badly will slowly kill you.
Food is a powerful thing. Eating the right kinds can keep your body healthy and strong, inside and out. At the same time, eating too many "bad" foods can weaken your body and even cause sickness, such as gallbladder disease! A balanced diet is always the best way to go. You should eat a little bit of everything, basically. Even junk food is okay in small amounts; moderation is key!

Another way to help your body get the most out of what you eat is to chew! If you don't chew your food well enough, it makes it more difficult for your stomach to break it down which in turn makes it more difficult to pass through your small intestine leading to bloating, indigestion, heart burn or acid reflux. When food isn't digested properly is can spend too much time in your intestine and which leads to a build up of bacteria that can cause a number of negative effects on your body. Chewing is also important because it starts the digestive process. Your mouth contains an enzyme called alpha-amylase and it is responsible for breaking down food as you chew. Believe it or not, your teeth do not do all of the work. When you don't give the food enough time to be broken down by this enzyme, your body can't absorb as many nutrients from it as it passes through your digestive tract. So you are robbing yourself of all the good things that food as to offer when you chew too little, too fast and swallow it practically whole. So take time and enjoy your food, that's the best part of eating, after all.