Healthy food has to be good for you and your family, right? That’s the spirit behind Healthy Foods. The mission of Healthy Foods is to make healthy, nourishing food choices accessible and easy to prepare. The goal is to encourage people from all walks of life to make delicious, convenient meals that they can prepare themselves, without having to spend time, energy or money on fast, frozen, or pre-packaged meals. In a nutshell, Healthy Foods is all about convenience.
“People who eat healthy food choices are more likely to be healthier, and live longer,” according to the latest study from the American Journal of Nutrition. Healthy food means freshly, unprocessed, natural foods which you must cook to enjoy. It also means foods which contain no artificial ingredients or low-cost substitutes and those which have as few as ten ingredients.
So what exactly constitutes healthy dietary practices? Eating healthy dietary practices includes e.g. eating a balanced diet with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, lean meats, whole grains, dairy products, and other low-fat dairy products. It also includes using natural, rather than artificial, flavorings and nutritive content in foods, avoiding trans fats, salt, and excessive calories.
Healthful eating habits and a healthy body mean more than weight loss, though. They also mean better overall health, more energy, stronger immune system, clearer vision, and better sex. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Well, not quite… It is interesting to note that many people have heard about the virtues of a healthy eating diet but remain skeptical that healthy eating can really make a difference – after all, don’t we already know that a well-balanced diet can help us lose weight and get strong bones?
The problem with many people’s healthy diet ideas is that they are overly restrictive and limit healthy food choices. Many of these ideas go around the fact that sugar (and sugar substitutes) are bad and should be avoided. This may be true, but it is actually misleading to make sweeping generalizations about all sugar-rich foods. In fact, sugar is made in plants – in the same way that protein and fat is made in animals.
It seems that most nutritionists focus on eliminating or regulating specific types of food – like fat, cholesterol, or sodium – because the average person doesn’t see the need for nutrition in food choices other than those that are defined as good. As an example, I often eat French fries instead of regular fries, but I’ve always had a healthy diet (although I’m always tempted to cheat! ), so I don’t see the harm in enjoying this popular snack. This kind of over-nutrition can lead to developing ncds, or metabolic diseases, such as diabetes and/or high blood pressure, so it is definitely wise to monitor your nutrition to ensure you are not putting yourself or your family at risk.