What is Healthy Eating?

!±8± What is Healthy Eating?

Do you know 'What is healthy eating?' Does it mean that you are following the current government nutritional recommendations.

That sounds to be right. But, let's take a closer look at our options. The advertisers' mandate is to sell their products. Representing those products in the best possible light is beneficial to sales. And today, the best possible light seems to be to align their products with healthy eating. This is where consumer confusion can occur by just trying to sort through all the hype.

Let me give you an example...

Take a drink promoted as "made with 100% fruit juice". At first glance you may consider that this is 100% juice. Yet that is not what is said. Being 'made from 100% juice' is not the same as a product that 'is 100% juice'. No, this statement only says that 100% juice is in it. So, if it had one tablespoon of 100% pure fruit juice for every serving, would the statement still be true?

Yes. Even though the remaining ingredients could be water, sugar and artificial coloring and flavoring.

This product would accurately be a 'drink' and not a 'juice'. A product that is 100% pure fruit juice would be the healthier choice.

Now, what about the trend towards putting vitamins into bottled water? Is this healthy eating?

Pure filtered, clean water is the water you should be drinking. The addition of other ingredients is unnecessary and something you should avoid.

The vitamins used are not a natural source vitamin. Natural source vitamins are in the form that your body can use and does use everyday from the foods you eat. Vitamins that are not natural source may appear to be the same thing, but they are man-made chemical copies of what is in nature. Do you think that the cells of your body can tell the difference between what is real and what is copied?

Today you can buy ready made meals or frozen meals for those of us with busy schedules.

These may contain meat and vegetables or noodles and they look so good. I have bought them too.

The first thing to look at is the price. Yes, we all want to save money, but when you can buy these foods much cheaper than you could make them there is cause for concern.

Let me explain...

In an effort to keep the costs of the products down, manufacturers use low cost ingredients. None of these ingredients or food additives are healthy.

One such ingredient is hydrogenated vegetable oil or partially hydrogenated. These are man-made and linked to high cholesterol and heart disease. This can be found in many prepared or processed foods and should be avoided.

Avoid the man made sweeteners. Aspartame has toxic effects on your body. High fructose corn syrup causes cravings and weight gain.

Many of the prepared foods contain MSG. This additive is called a flavor enhancer, yet good food with fresh ingredients doesn't need the flavor enhanced. Highly processed foods stripped of taste and nutrients need something to fix the taste. Further, MSG obesity is directly related to the intake of MSG.

Heavily processed flour is another common ingredient. The heavy processing strips the natural nutrients from the flour, which then has to be replaced with man-made copies of nature's own nutrients. The end product is enriched flour.

Another point worth mentioning is that it is estimated that 70% of processed foods contain genetically altered ingredients. An exact figure is impossible to determine since the labeling of GE food is voluntary.

So 'what is healthy eating?' could be summed up to say that you eat the foods that contribute to good health. Simple. Eliminate the empty calories. These would be foods that contribute little to nutrition, yet have calories. Eliminate the foods with made-made chemicals in them. Eat foods with wholesome ingredients including fresh fruits and vegetables. And make these organic whenever you can. By taking a sensible look at products, you can sort through the hype and eat healthy.