Why is Nutrition so Important?
In short, because nutrition is how the body survives. If you have poor nutrition, your body will be weak, frail and have a lot of health issues. If you have good nutrition, your healthy, rarely sick, and probably pretty strong.
Think of nutrition as the fuel you put in the vehicle you drive. If you put the wrong fuel in the gas tank, your vehicle will run poorly. If you put diesel (for instance) into a gas tank designed for unleaded fuel, your engine will cough, sputter and, eventually, just stop. An engine designed for unleaded fuel will not run on diesel. The same is true for an engine designed to run on diesel and you add unleaded fuel to the tank. Unlike an engine, you won't blow up. And yes. If you put the wrong fuel into the tank, you run the risk of blowing up the motor.
Now then. Why is nutrition so important, and, what's the big difference between good nutrition and...just eating whatever?
If you ask those questions you didn't read the part (above) about putting the wrong fuel in your gas tank. Just like that engine, if you keep putting / eating fast food, no fresh vegetables or fruit, fried everything, tons of canned cheese, you will get a very small amount of nutrition from all that food, but most of that food is causing a lot of problems that may not be obvious - yet!
Then, one day, all the signs of eating that "whatever" food appear and you are on your way to the hospital - or at least going to visit your doctor because you feel really, really bad.
Your body is "designed" to "run on" good nutrition. You can "survive" on that "whatever" stuff for a while. But each person is different. Some people can eat that "whatever" junk and, although they are by no means "healthy", they survive well enough to avoid the doctor. But some people eat that "whatever" food for only a couple of weeks and have serious physical ailments. And for those of us who eat a healthy diet all the time, if we were to eat that "whatever" food for just one day, we'd be pretty sick the next.
Why would you eat that "whatever" food knowing it will harm you? Yes, it takes good. But doesn't the fact that "all" the flavor is man-made chemicals derived from...who knows what - make you want to stop eating that stuff?
Don't try to convince yourself you are one of those who can eat that "whatever" garbage and survive for most of your life. You don't know! And neither does any doctor. The only way to tell is to do extensive testing to find areas of your body that are nearing a point of failure. Don't kid yourself. Just because you haven't "noticed" something is wrong does not mean there is nothing wrong.
Eating that "whatever" food will raise your bad cholesterol. Eating that "whatever" food will make your heart work far too hard. Eating that "whatever" food will force your body to consume whatever muscle you have so that, eventually, you can't walk or do more than simply raise your arms. You can't carry anything, walk more than 10 feet, or listen to a conversation because it's too confusing to concentrate.
Yes. Even your brain is compromised when you eat that "whatever" food. Take a look at the homeless you see wherever you live. They look and sound pretty "lofty"....not quite sane. You would be correct. When you do not eat enough healthy food, your brain begins to malfunction.
It's Too Expensive to Eat Healthy
There is only 1 general reason that makes eating healthy an expense you cannot afford - you do not know how to cook. If you cook and "rarely" go out to buy a meal, you save a LOT of money! You could make your own bread. The savings are huge! And, you can make your bread just the way "you" prefer once you are adept at making bread (HINT: do NOT use a bread maker). When you cook everything from scratch it takes longer than throwing some pre-packaged junk into the microwave. But, the flavor is worlds better, it is cheaper, and you can make enough to have leftovers. The benefits FAR outweigh the negatives.
So learn! It's not difficult to follow a recipe. Start with something simple, like a melted cheese sandwich on a griddle (or pan or any surface where you can control the heat). Make oatmeal. Add a banana and some Cinnamon, NO butter, NO salt! Put the proper amount of water in then heat it on the stove or microwave. Oatmeal is actually very healthy for you and has very few Calories - about 150 per serving. It fills you up and has no fat. Even better, oatmeal will act like drain cleaner to your arteries and help clear out bad cholesterol.
There are many simple and easy to prepare meals for breakfast, lunch or dinner. All you need to do is look. And if you don't know where to look, Garrison Body had the answer - Men Cook.
Learning to cook will save you more money than if you at at all the fast food places all the time. Prove it to yourself without spending a dime. Think of what you usually buy at the drive through. Look at the prices (which are going up). Write down what it costs you for your average meal.
Now go to a "good" grocery store. Not the local gas station quickie "whatever" food because that food is LOT more expensive than if you would go down the street to a nice grocery store. Find the same food you purchased at the drive through. Write down the cost of purchasing "however" the food is packaged. The reason is, even though your 1 meal was what you purchased, when you purchase in the store you are purchasing "several" meals at the same time because the package makes more than 1 serving.