Men's Health: Building a Healthy Diet

Though it's tempting to eat fast and consume foods that offer nothing but fat and excess calories, it will eventually catch up with you. Start planning your healthy diet now.

    These days, it's not always easy to follow a healthy diet. There are so many fast food and junk food options out there, a guy is tempted to just shrug, eat what he likes, and leave his health up to fate.

Measuring Your Personal Fitness Level

Body shape, lifestyle, genes, and cardiovascular ability all help to shape your individual fitness factor.

    Evaluating your fitness level is not a one-size-fits-all process. Differences in lifestyle, muscle tissue, genetic makeup, and overall health all help determine your personal fitness level.

"It is an individual measurement that is not always dependent on how much physical activity you do," notes Jim Pivarnik, PhD, president of the American College of Sports Medicine and director of the Center for Physical Activity and Health at Michigan State University in East Lansing .

How to Eat a Healthy Diet

In order to keep yourself in the best shape possible, it's essential to eat a healthy diet. Find out exactly what you should be eating on a regular basis.

     If you are what you eat, it follows that you want to stick to a healthy diet that’s well balanced. “You want to eat a variety of foods,” says Stephen Bickston, MD, AGAF, professor of internal medicine and director of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center at Virginia Commonwealth University Health Center in Richmond. “You don’t want to be overly restrictive of any one food group or eat too much of another.”