Do you ever find it difficult to determine if your favorite foods are actually healthy for you?
Take a look below as we explore ‘healthy foods’ and provide some insight into whether the foods in your diet are providing you with the nutrients you need.
Published: 27 September, 2021
While eating fads come and go, there are a few key elements to healthy eating that remain unchanged.
Here is what we know:
Healthy foods are those that provide you with the nutrients you need to sustain your body’s well-being and retain energy. Water, carbohydrates, fat, protein, vitamins, and minerals are the key nutrients that make up a healthy, balanced diet.
Unfortunately, the food industry doesn’t make as much of a profit on fresh foods; processed foods are where the money's at. Even big food companies have lobbied aggressively against public health plans - such as a campaign ordering the removal of junk food from schools.
These junk food items, processed from crops such as corn, wheat, and soybeans, are high in calories (fillers) and lack the nutritional value your body needs. However, because they are derived from crops, it can be difficult to know if they are healthy or not, and misleading claims on labels only make things worse.
One of the most critical parts of reading your food labels is to look at the serving size; 160 calories may not seem like much, but that could be for only two little cookies. Continue reading for other factors to keep in mind when grocery shopping for your healthy foods.
Saying “zero trans fat”, “all natural”, or “contains whole wheat” can trick you into thinking the product is healthy, even when its nutritional value has been stripped away after being processed.
Alternatively, many packaged products are packed with salt, sugar, and saturated fat. In other words, these claims make you forget about the added calories. Here is a list of what you should know before you read your food’s nutritional facts:
A healthy eating plan is one that encompasses all of the nutrients your body needs on a daily basis without any non-nutritional additives.
A healthy, balanced diet includes:
When consuming grains, it’s encouraged to only eat whole grains that include the entire grain kernel, bran, and germ. If you are eating refined grains (or processed grains), the bran and germ have been removed which takes out the iron, dietary fiber, and other key nutrients.