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What are fake healthy foods?
It seems in our busy lives, buying, preparing, and eating the right foods, is becoming an ever-greater challenge. However, depending on your views on investment, it may be the most important sacrifice that we make. I have always appreciated the phrase, “It’s hard to be sick, and it’s hard to be healthy….. choose your hard”, because this message reminds me of the importance that my daily food and lifestyle choices have on my short- and long-term health and that what I “put into good health is what I will get out of good health."
Our initial human struggles with good nutrition began as hunter and gatherers doing everything we could to just stay alive in a dangerous and hostile environment. However, can a similar argument be made today? Our environment is now bombarded with advertisements from big food companies and big agro which tell us that their mass produced, highly processed foods are “healthy” because now, catchy labels and diet fads have been attached. It is a challenge no doubt to decipher which foods are healthy and which ones are pseudo (fake) healthy. But, if we go back to the roots of basic human function, our diets don’t need to be complex and they certainly don’t need to exclude certain foods groups to be considered “ideal."
Given all of my knowledge, training, and personal investment in learning about nutrition, I have to agree that food writer, Michael Pollen said it best.
His key principles are: 1. Eat food 2. Not too much 3. Mostly plants.
1. Eat food: this simple statement means to eat real food! Don’t overcomplicate it because most of us know what real food is! Real food is anything in its whole and raw form and not ultra processed. For example, take an apple. An apple from a tree is a real food in it’s natural most nutrient dense form. But, if you juice it, you have processed that food into only a part of what it was. In doing that, you have removed multiple good things about that food, the skin, the fiber, many antioxidants and vitamins. The juice is now an ultra-processed product with little nutrient benefit and is now sugar concentrated. Instead…. Just eat the apple!
2. Not too much: Moderation is key. Of course, indulgence is a part of quality of life, however, there is a balance. Key principle here is to eat until you are full then stop. It also means not to eat too much of one thing, make it a balance! It’s okay to have a treat or dessert, but not every day! When you put limits on the things you enjoy, you find you enjoy them even more when you do get to have them.
3. Mostly Plants: It has been widely and long established by study after study that eating a plant-based diet is the optimal way to eat. This means eating whole and unprocessed fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and whole grains. When you eat foods this way, there really isn’t a restriction on how much you can eat! Plant based foods are highly nutrient dense and contain all the vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants we need for optimal health. Better yet, our body can better digest and absorb vitamins and minerals when consumed this way! I do not wish to demonize meat or animals’ products because I do agree that they can have a place in our diet. The important thing to consider with meat is although it contains protein, don’t mistake that meat is the only source of protein. Plants like beans, legumes, and nuts are some of the healthiest foods on the planet with high protein as well as other healthy components you can’t find in animal meat. It comes back to moderation, don’t let your steak take up the space on your place that where grains and vegetables should be.
Women, and men’s, bodies are in a constant ballet of hormone, metabolic and cellular regulation and repair. You cannot expect your body to function well if you do not feed it well. The food you eat is the food you wear, and your body will reflect it, either good or bad.
The important thing to know is YOU have 100% control of what you eat!
It can be daunting to face lifestyle change and sometimes people need a guide to answer questions and a coach to cheer you on, let me be that person!
Now accepting female patients, of all adult ages, at CPMC OB/GYN for a consultation visit to discuss nutrition plans, affordable food shopping lists, modifiable lifestyle change, and weight challenges, and together we will customize your goals and met them together!
Open Monday thru Friday, 8am to 5pm
Riley Black, DNP, FNP-BC
