What Foods Should We Eat?
We hear a lot about what foods we should and shouldn’t eat from the media, some of which is backed up by reliable research, and some of which is not. It can get very confusing trying to work out what one should and shouldn’t eat. It doesn’t help that from time to time research is conflicting. Sometimes it comes out following the event that research into a particular foodstuff is sponsored by the manufacturers of that food and thus are likely to be biased towards positive results.
Eggs are a classic example of this confused research. People were discouraged from eating eggs, especially on consecutive days, on the basis that they led to high cholesterol. Later it was discovered that high cholesterol foods did not necessarily lead to high cholesterol in the blood stream, and eggs were back in favor. Some people then advocated an egg a day.
Another example is fat. Back in the 80s the low fat diet was a revolutionary concept – think Rosemary Conley. All fats were considered as “bad” and leading to weight gain. This on the surface appears reasonable because we know that gram for gram fat has more calories than protein or carbohydrate. However come the 90s fat was divided into “good fat” and “bad fat”. This distinction is basically: good fats are the liquid kind such as oil, and bad fats are the solid kind such as butter.
Rosemary Conley’s more recent diets, whilst still low in fat, have altered to reflect this research, and now she tends to allow for portions of oily fish to be eaten as part of her diet plans.
Even more recent research has focused on “trans fats” and decided that these are the fats to avoid. Some people now say that the solid fats previously maligned (saturated fats) are not as unhealthy as was previously thought. However there does not seem to be any consensus on this matter yet.
It’s really easy to get bogged down in the minutiae of research and worry about exactly what you should and shouldn’t be eating. On the other hand, on a practical level, if someone buys me a cream cake I tend to scoff it down without thinking about whether I should be consuming all that fat or not. And if I fancy an egg or two for breakfast then I have it. It seems that there needs to be some kind of manageable link between the theory and research, and putting this into practice in our everyday lives.
The best way to deal with this seems to be to try and stick to general principles of good nutrition, things that we know to be true, whilst allowing ourselves some leeway. After all, saturated fat may or may not be good for us, but life without ever having a bacon sandwich in my opinion is not much fun.
The following seem to me to be well established principles that you can’t go wrong if you follow:
Eat lots of fruit and vegetables – it is conclusive that fruit and vegetables are good for you. Yes, some are better than others, and some may have “superpowers” or whatever, and different fruits are in favor from one week to the next, but indisputably your diet will be better for eating more of any kind of fruit or vegetable.
Eat fewer refined carbohydrates, in particular, sugar – whilst there are many discussions about whether or not we need carbohydrates in the diet, almost every diet is in agreement that if you do eat carbohydrates you should try and eat “brown” ones rather than “white” ones. This means choosing brown breads and brown pasta over the white varieties. Refined sugar – that found in cakes and desserts – does not have much in the way of nutritional benefit and we would be wise to keep such foods to a minimum.
Eat fewer processed foods – the less that food has had done to it before it gets to your plate, the better for you it is. The fewer ingredients on a packet, the closer to its natural source it is, and you run less risk of inadvertently taking in high amounts of sugar or salt which you do not realize are there, or other artificial ingredients.
Eat local – the benefits of organic food always seem to be in dispute, and the cost is a factor that puts people off, but there seems to be no doubt that eating food local to your area encourages you to eat fresh produce that tastes good, with lower amounts of additives and preservatives, whilst supporting your local traders and helping the environment by reducing food air miles.
Eat what you want in moderation – the majority of people find it difficult to stick to a strict diet, especially in the long term, and it seems to me that for most people moderation is the key. Restriction can lead to binges on unhealthy foods. I personally don’t follow all the above rules all of the time, although I know I should. I’ve written this post as a reminder of how I should try and improve my diet. However I think I need to try and use the 80/20 principle – if 80% of what I eat follows the above guidelines then the other 20% shouldn’t matter too much. I feel better when I eat better, but I do enjoy a bit of chocolate, or a slice of cheesecake!
The above principles don’t represent perfection, and it’s probably nothing you don’t know already, but its achievable, and something that everyone can aim for instead of worrying about all the confusing research that pops up in the media. Life’s a bit too short to worry about whether the goji berry or the acai berry is better for us when a plain old blackberry is nearly as good!
