By Dr. Joseph Mercola
     with Rachael Droege

You know that you should eat better, but for some reason that you can’t quite place, you’re not. Or maybe you’re one of the many Americans who resolved to improve their diets this year and have given up on your resolution already. If this sounds familiar, then take comfort in knowing you’re on the right track. You have the knowledge and the desire to improve your health by improving your diet. All you need is a little push to get started. So, for those of you looking for some motivation to start eating right, here are seven great reasons.

Look Younger

If you choose to eat primarily junk food and processed food, not only are you not giving your body the nutrients it needs, but also you are consciously ingesting toxins that your body will have to work to remove. Further, consuming sugar and grains will increase your insulin level, and that is the equivalent of slamming your foot on the aging accelerator. There is simply no more potent way to accelerate aging than eating sugar and grains.

Reach Your Optimal Weight

If you’re eating real foods for your nutritional type it is almost impossible to overeat, as your body will naturally tell you when you are full. Further, your body will naturally normalize its weight, whether you need to lose weight or gain it.

If your diet is focused on carbohydrates like grains, potatoes, sweets and other starchy and sugary foods, you’ll likely have trouble losing weight. This is because the body's storage capacity for carbohydrates is quite limited and when you eat them in excess they are converted, via insulin, into fat and stored in the adipose, or fatty, tissue.

Improve Your Mood

If you feel depressed or experience a drop in mood an hour of so after eating it may be due to an improper combination of proteins, fats and carbohydrates at your last meal. You might be eating the perfect foods for your metabolism, but having too much of one type of food in place of another can easily produce the symptoms listed above. You can determine the correct combination of foods for you by finding out your nutritional type, and you’ll likely find that your mood improves after a meal.

Increase Energy

Eating the right foods, especially those for your individual nutritional type, will produce a marked and lasting improvement in your energy and should leave you feeling satisfied for hours. On the contrary, eating junk foods will cause your energy levels to drop.

Get Radiant Skin

If you eat a diet full of pure, whole foods, your body will be healthy and will have the nutrients to devote to things such as skin and hair. If you only give your body a limited amount of nutrients, your body will use them for immediate, vital functions and may not have enough left over to improve the quality of your skin.

Fight Disease and Prevent Common Illness

Eating right will strengthen your immune system, and, as you likely know, a strong immune system is key to fighting off disease, viruses and other illness. It is especially imperative to avoid sugar if you feel you are coming down with something, but keeping sugar out of your diet for the long haul will do wonders for your health and make your body stronger, which will make it harder for the flu or other common illness to bother you.

Live a Longer, Higher-Quality Life

Along with living a longer life, you will have a higher quality of life when you eat the right foods for your nutritional type. Your insulin levels will stay under control--as I said earlier elevated insulin levels are one of the major accelerants of aging--and you will have energy, stamina and great cognitive function, even as you get older.

Start Eating Right Today!

If you want to learn a diet that will truly help you to achieve all of the things mentioned above, plus more, I encourage you to check out my nutrition plan to get started. This will give you an introduction to my entire dietary program--the culmination of 20 years of work--that is included in my new book, Dr. Mercola’s Total Health Program. My new book also includes over 150 recipes and a test and the means to learn and understand your own nutritional type and gear your diet precisely toward the foods that are right for you (and that also satisfy you!).

For more information on the major role your diet plays in your health, check out the links below.

High-Grain Diet May Increase Risk of Cardiovascular Disease

No-Grain Diet Clears up Acne for Good

Low-Grain Diet Great for Seizures

124 Ways Sugar Can Ruin Your Health

100+ Nutrition Facts About 25 Well-Known Foods

U.S. Junk Food Intake Worsening