Table of Contents A Healthy Diet Prevents Many Diseases Keep tabs on Your Health Simple Food Choices for Health 8 Being Active Is Good for the Whole Body 10 Avoid Smoking 12 Protect Yourself from Environmental Toxins 14 Hand washing with soap and Water Does Wonders 16 Vaccines Are Powerful Anti Disease Weapons 18 Sleep Helps Prevent Sickness 20 Watch out for Disease Spreading insects and Animals 22 Don't Let Your Food Make You Sick 24 Remember to Brush and Floss 26 Fact Sheet 28 Glossary 30 For More Information 31 Index 32 About the
A Healthy Diet Prevents Many Diseases For most of American history children were rarely obese But in the 1980s eating habits started to change People began eating more processed foods These are foods that come in packages They are often convenient and cheap Today pressure and clogged blood vessels Blood pressure is the force of blood surging through blood vessels Eating too much salt causes the body to hold on to extra water And this increases blood pressure straining the heart Eating unhealthy one third of American children are fats can increase levels of fat in obese What are the causes One blood This blocks blood flow to of them is processed foods These the heart And that can lead to foods are high in sugar salt and fat a heart attack Obesity can also weaken the immune system The Obesity can lead to several health problems These include high blood immune system fights infections Fruits and vegetables are the best choices for a healthy
Processed foods I may be convenient but most of them are unhealthy 205 207 99 and cancers With a weak immune system a person has a higher risk of getting other diseases 303 as 305 anSOL Fortunately there's good news A healthy diet can help prevent these diseases The key is eating more fruits and vegetables Whole 40m grains are important too And it's always best to eat foods without added salt and sugar TV FOOD ADS AND OBESITY 77 The more TV a child watches the more likely he or she is to become Percent of salt in a typical American's diet that comes from processed and restaurant food overweight This is partly because the person is sitting not and exercising It also happens because TV watchers tend to snack on Americans eat large amounts of sugar salt fats and processed foods unhealthy foods These are often the foods advertised on TV In one study researchers studied kids who watched shows with food This has contributed to obesity and related diseases commercials These kids ate 45 Children rarely had these diseases before the percent more snack foods than kids who watched shows 1980s without food commercials A healthy diet can prevent diseases
