Abstract
Eating healthy is important for many reasons, it will promote intellectual development in children and adolescents prevent major health problems from developing and ensure a long and healthy life style. This research paper will introduce the importance of forming a healthy eating habit from a young age onto the senior years and will also point out some of the negative effects not eating healthy can cause such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, obesity, iron deficiency anemia, dental caries, under-nutrition, and eating disorders.

During the past 20 years, there has been a substantial increase in obesity in the United States and rates remain high. More than one-third of U.S. …show more content…

Research led by Mark Gold, MD, at the University of Florida at Gainesville has shown it takes 12 or more minutes for food satisfaction signals to reach the brain of a thin person, but 20 or more minutes for an obese person. Eating slowly ensures that these important messages have time to reach the brain.
• Be aware. "Be more attentive about the whole eating experience; do not eat when you are driving or at the computer," advises Bacon. When we are distracted or hurried the foods (and calories) we eat tend not to register well in our brains. Jean Kristeller, PhD, a psychologist and Indiana State University researcher, suggests a brief pre-meal meditation to get centered before eating so you can more easily derive pleasure from your food, give the meal your full attention, and notice when you had enough.
• Make the first bites count. Bacon believes that maximum food enjoyment comes in the initial bites. "After a few bites, taste buds start to lose their sensitivity to the chemicals in food that make it taste good," she explains. Satisfying your taste buds by really savoring those first few bites may help you stop eating when you are physically comfortable.
• Keep up appearances. Using a smaller plate and paying attention to the presentation of a meal can increase your awareness of the food in front of you and help you stop eating when you are comfortable. "The brain looks at the plate and decides if the portion is adequate,"