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This is a guest post by Dr. Nick Zyrowski, founder of NuVision Excel. Dr. Zyrowski works with busy professionals across the country to skyrocket their health and performance naturally. Dr. Zyrowski has helped busy professionals reverse many conditions that are thought to be irreversible, such as diabetes, arthritis, and leaky gut. Our Orleatha Smith also had an engaging conversation about the importance of making better dietary choices on his radio show. We brought him back to talk about how getting out of the drive-thru and into the kitchen can transform your health.

I truly believe that health is one of our most precious assets. We are able to care for our families, maintain our careers, be present, and ultimately enjoy life because of our health. With amazing health, we can age gracefully, avoid sickness, and have an incredible quality of life. Looking at health from that vantage point, it’s apparent that health isn’t a want; it’s an absolute must!

Like a precious gem, we have to make time to polish our health, specifically making time eat right. I can tell you, as someone who works with many busy professionals, eating good quality food is often times the last thing on you list. Many busy people find themselves grabbing their meals from the drive-thru, eating food that is destroying their health.

Drive-thru is a Bad Deal

From a clinical perspective, this grab-and-go phenomenon is destructive to one’s health.  There are hundreds of studies linking commercial foods to cancer and heart disease.  I’ve run and analyzed hundreds of lab results, and I’ve see why 1:2 people are dying premature from heart disease, or why 1:3 people are developing cancer.  Their food choices are an imprisonment, a sentence to suffer unnecessarily from one chronic illness or another.

But every once in awhile isn’t bad, right?

WRONG!

Let’s look at French fries, for instance.

French fries are loaded with trans fats or hydrogenated fats. The half-life of trans or hydrogenated fats is 51 days.  That means that after 51 days, only half of the negative effects of this bad fat have been processed.  The body needs an additional 51 days, or 102 days total, for the body to remove the majority of the trans fat and it’s subsequent negative effects.

What I’m saying is, it takes over 3 months for your body to process and remove the trans fats from your system.  In the meantime, this poor quality fat is known to slow nerve transmission, decrease focus, increase hyperactivity, decrease immunity, and increase the risk of cancer, heart disease, and diabetes.  Is one order of French fries really worth it?

You Are What You Eat

Would you feel comfortable being in a tall skyscraper all day that was built out of Elmers glue and toothpicks?  Probably not.

Like a skyscraper, your body will not be strong if it’s made with poor building materials.

Your body creates billions (yes, billions) of new cells every single day. The food you eat is the building material used to construct new cells. In order to have a strong, healthy body, you must be building your cells out of quality products, not junk.

I want to help you and your family live a better life.  Getting out of the drive-thru and into the kitchen is one of the best ways to avoid the junk and get the proper building material into your body.  If you want to thrive and not just survive, then it’s time to get into the kitchen.

5 Awesome Benefits of Getting Out of the Drive-Thru and Into the Kitchen 

1. You connect with your health.

I find that many people who seek my help are very disconnected from their bodies. They don’t realize that their poor meal choices are making them feel sluggish, anxious, depressed or maybe even sick. An example would be the person who grabs a big mac, fries, and a coke for lunch. Then he or she is exhausted all afternoon with heartburn. So they grab the tums for the heartburn and a coffee for their lack of energy. All the while, they could have avoided this whole scenario by simply connecting that their food choice ruined their day.

Getting in the kitchen and making your own meals allows you to more easily connect the dots and realize which foods skyrocket your energy and focus and which make you feel terrible.

2. You control the ingredients.

When it comes to modern foods, they are full of preservatives, food dyes and all sorts of processed ingredients. When you eat fast food, it often takes a scientist to comprehend the contents of the sauces and dressings. As mentioned above, this will destroy your health over time. When you cook for yourself, you can make the choice to use better, fresher ingredients. Instead of the pseudo-cheeseburger from the local drive-thru, you can make delicious meals with a variety of greens, quality protein, good fats, and healthy carbs like the sweet potato.

3. Save Money

I hear it all the time that eating healthy is so expensive. The fact is that most people who are eating convenience foods are spending way more money than those who are eating homemade meals.  Take for instance the example of a family of four eating at McDonalds (compliments of simply Shellie):

Now consider two simple, yet much more nutrient-dense meals that can be made at home for less than half the price.

As you can see, eating on the go just doesn’t make sense financially. You can also compare buying frozen, pre-made meals at the grocery store to buying the ingredients fresh and making the meal yourself.  The list of ingredients in a pre-packaged meal is a mile long, where as a hearty soup or stir-fry takes less than 10 fresh ingredients and can be made for under $15 for a family.  If you’re a single person, like many of the business professionals I coach, that’s ok too. You can make a pot of soup for dinner one night, and take leftovers to work in a thermos throughout the week.

4. Exercise your Brain

Maybe getting into the kitchen scares you a bit.  Some people have never cooked in their life, and don’t know where to start.  But that’s ok. Learning a new skill is amazing for brain plasticity. In order for use to maintain a sharp brain that can fight off Alzheimer’s and dementia, we need to constantly try and learn new things, according to countless research studies in the area of brain plasticity.

Researchers have also found that those who go through life on the same old daily routine and never explore new territory with their brain are more prone to diseases that affect the brain. A great way to exercise your brain and maintain plasticity is to get in the kitchen and learn cook. Concocting new recipes in the kitchen forces us to learn and push our minds to do things it has not done before.

5. Feel Better & Lose Weight

Losing weight is extraordinarily difficult if you’re not watching the quantity and quality of food your consuming. Eating out all the time and trying to maintain a fit healthy body can be very challenging, if not impossible.  By using fresh ingredients and avoiding the sugar, high carbs, and trans fats typically found in your drive-thru options, you’ll begin to notice you’re feeling better. Your body won’t be weighed down by the garbage food. Most people who avoid the drive-thru notice clearer skin and decreased bloating too!  And what’s more, it becomes much easier to lose weight and stay fit when you’re making better choices in the kitchen.

It just makes sense to make better dietary choices.  If you need help getting started, then you’re in the right place. The reason I recommend 20 Dishes to my clients is because, no matter how busy you are, how much you know about cooking, and what your budget is, 20 Dishes can help you plan your meal choices for the week so you can eat (and feel) better.