Healthy Food

This article is about "Healthy Food" as opposed to "Health Food."

I like to eat "healthy." That means lots of fruits, vegetables and whole grains and a restricted amount of animal products, especially little or no red meat or cheeses. It also means limiting my diet to a reasonable amount of calories each day and keeping the fat, cholesterol, and salt content of my food as low as possible. I eat almost no saturated or trans fat. This is combined with at least 40 minutes of exercise per day, including a lot of brisk walking.

The problem is that I don't do a lot of cooking for myself and restaurants and food manufacturers do little to cater to my diet needs.

The big kick today is "organic", "non-GMO" (non Genetically Modified Organisms) and herbal supplements and remedies. In my mind, eating "organic," "non-GMO" and herbs have absolutely nothing to do with "healthy eating." They may fit right into the pop culture of "health foods," but following that type of diet will do very little to improve and maintain your health.

Could there be something wrong with our food supply because it contains traces of insecticide, non-organic fertilizer, has been genetically modified or has a lack on natural herbs? Maybe. But the damage done to our body by these problems is miniscule compared to the rest of the very unhealthy things that we put into our body!

It is as though someone had a gun shot wound to the lung and a splinter. We are paying so much attention to getting the splinter out that the patient is going to die from the gun shot wound long before the splinter turns into a major health problem.

While people shop organic, purchase non-GMO produce, and consume herbal supplements, they continue to stuff cheeseburgers on refined white buns along with French fries and chocolate shakes down their throat. All the organic, non-GMO and herbal supplements in the world is not going to undue the damage being done to your body like that!

Major health advantages can be had by eating whole grain foods instead of refined grains. This is shown from every item of medical research available. And yet, just about all that is served everywhere is bread made from refined flour, white rice and white pasta. It is so simple to replace all the bread in your diet with 100% whole wheat bread, replace white rice with whole brown rice, and replace white pasta with whole wheat pasta. It isn't too hard to do this at home, but finding these items on a restaurant menu is a rarity. Unfortunately, this is often even true in restaurants that claim to be "Health Food" restaurants!

I get very frustrated trying to buy food in grocery stores, even "Health Food" grocery stores. First, they are all loaded with bread claiming to be "Wheat Bread" in big bold letters. Almost all bread is made out of wheat and has always been made out of wheat! It is the type of wheat and how it has been processed that is important. If it doesn't say "100% Whole Wheat Bread" don't both buying it, not even if it says "Wheat Bread" or "Multigrain Bread." If it doesn't say "100% Whole Wheat Bread" it is probably mostly highly processed white flour that has had all the natural nutrients removed. It just irks me that the bakeries know we are trying to find the healthy bread and are purposely trying to fool us into buying the wrong loaf with putting "Wheat Bread" boldly on the label, or even going so far as to dye their unhealthy bread a shade of brown to look like it is really 100% Whole Wheat Bread!

People really do want to eat healthy, but they have been duped into believing that "organic" and "non-GMO" means the food is healthier. So, the stores comply by placing lots of these useless items on their shelves. Meanwhile, those of us that really do know which foods are healthy have a hard time trying to find those items that are made with 100% whole grains, low salt, and without saturated and trans fat. The grocers know they can stock up on a lot of organic items and most people will pay top dollar for those items thinking they are going home with something healthy.

I really wish we could impress on grocers that there are many of us that really want to purchase healthy items and that the grocers would respond to us as they have to the crowd demanding organic and non-GMO food!

Personally, I don't care if something is GMO or not. I just care that it is healthy. If scientists want to modify our food so that it requires less pesticides, less chemical fertilizers, and contains more nutrition and stays fresher on its way to market, what is wrong with that? I think that is great progress and is harnessing science for the benefit of humanity and the environment. I'm all for GMO foods!

There have been dozens of studies on eating organic, non-GMO foods and taking herbal supplements and almost all of them have shown no conclusive improvements to your health. On the other hand, there have been hundreds of studies on eating whole grain foods, fruits, vegetables, cutting fat, cholesterol, salt, restricting calories to lose weight, and exercising every day. These studies have shown that these changes and diet will bring tremendous improvements to your health. These changes to your lifestyle will help you to live longer and healthier.

So forget about eating organic, non-GMA foods and taking herbal supplements and remedies. They are going to do almost nothing to improve your health. Instead, cut your calories and exercise every day to reduce and maintain your weight at a healthy level. Give up those foods with saturated fat (butter, cheese, red meat) and trans fat (cookies, French fries, potato chips) replacing those calories with healthy mono unsaturated fats like nuts and olive oil. Eat lots more whole grain foods like 100% Whole Wheat Bread, Brown Rice, and Whole Wheat Pasta. Eat a lot more beans, fruits and veggies instead of meats and cheeses.