Healthy eating is the practice of making choices about what or how much one eats with the intention of improving or maintaining good health. Typically this means following recommendations of "experts" regarding a nutritional diet. The recommendations may address:
- total calorie consumption;
- balance of major nutrients (e.g., proteins, fats, carbohydrates);
- increased consumption of foods designated as beneficial;
- decreased consumption of foods designated as detrimental;
- increased consumption of specific vitamins or other micronutrients;
- avoidance of certain food additives (dyes, preservatives, sweeteners);
- avoidance of environmental food contaminants (e.g., mercury, pesticides, herbicides, aflatoxins)
- methods of food preparation (e.g., raw versus cooked).
The "experts" may be academically certified, or may be self-appointed. The evidence underlying their recommendations may be strong or weak by scientific standards. Our ideas of what counts as "healthy" have varied in different times and places, according to scientific advances in the field of nutrition, cultural fashions, religious proscriptions, or personal considerations.
Nutritional advice
Many governments and other organizations provide nutritional advice and launch schemes in order to promote healthy eating. Diets which lead to obesity (being severely overweight), diabetes, and other medical conditions, are a severe drain of resources for national health providers, and on businesses due to reduced productivity of staff.
A recent health campaign by the American government has attempted to impress the need to eat lots of fruit and vegetables using the slogan "5 a day". Adverts have given examples of what a portion of fruit or vegetables amounts to, and how 5 or more portions can be incorporated into one's diet.
Governments also put pressure on businesses to promote healthy food options, and regularly consider measures, such as banning the advertising of fast food, or taxing foods which are high in fat.
There is also near-unanimous agreement that hydrogenenated fats (aka trans fats) are not a particularly healthy form of calories, and that consuming some types of fish and seafood (a source of omega-3 fatty acids) before meat and poultry may contribute to an individual's health and longevity. Unfortunately, consumption of predatory fish at the top of the food chain (such as swordfish, mackerel, shark, and albacore tuna) increases ones exposure to mercury and PCBs, so the hazards may outweigh the health benefits as most fish contains trace amounts of pollution.
Eggs have long been a source of controversy -- suffice to say that egg yolks are richer in cholesterol than egg whites, and should be consumed in moderation, whereas egg whites contain little or no substances suspected of causing obesity or heart disease.
Carrots have also been proven to show improvements in many areas of health such as improved vision as well as lowering your risk of cancer by lowering cholesterol levels in the body.The main component of carrots responsilbe for improving your vision is Beta carotene.This is also responsible for acting as an anti-oxidant which lowers free radicals and thus lowering your chances of cancer or heart attack.
Research is done on the effects of various chemicals - foods and nonfoods - on the mammal physiology. Such research is often funded by medical organizations, or pharmaceutical companies. Each study should be assessed in context: who was funding the research, and what the immediate goals were.
Toxins
Almost all foods contain tiny amounts of toxins, which normally do not pose a great danger to a healthy individual. Healthy humans either don't metabolise the toxins in the first place, and if they do, their immune systems deal with the damage caused. As long as a person has a varied diet there is little danger of overloading the body's defences with any one particular toxin.
A person may, however, not be aware that their diet is unvaried in certain respects. For example, people on calorie restricted diets often choose to buy products advertised as "reduced calorie" or "no sugar added". These products contain artificial sweeteners. These are safe to consume in small quantities, and are of low toxicity. Safety studies may well show some advantage in substitutions, product by product. Over a period of time, many different products are approved for sale, each one relying on a study done in isolation, and each one suggesting the artificially sweetened product has fewer associated health problems than equivalent all-natural products. When dieters buy reduced-calorie soft drinks, biscuits, cakes, flavoured water, yogurt, and so on., all may contain combinations of the leading artificial sweeteners aspartame, acesulfame potassium or sucralose. Cumulative doses are at higher levels than those on which the safety studies were based.
The issue of sweetening is just one example. Other taste-enhancing additives (e.g. salt substitutes) or flavourants are also hidden in processed foods and drink, as are dyes and colourants. Mandatory food labelling is one attempt to overcome the problem. This places the onus on the consumer to check ingredients of all foods before consumption. However, the average consumer has no training in organic chemistry and its nutritional effects. Neither is it practical for individuals to walk around with little score cards to record all the quantities of ingredients consumed each day.
The only practical advice is to consume as little processed foods and drink as possible. Pure water (preferably distilled) is the best drink available. Boil it before drinking if you suspect any living organisms to be present. Remember that wines (preferably red) and to a lesser extent, beer (preferably real ale) can be beneficial in small daily quantities (two units = 20ml of alcohol content). Eat fresh fruit and vegetables, cooked fresh meat or fish, egg whites, natural yogurt, seeds and nuts (but not salted or roasted), and so on.
Some would assert that research into the toxicity of many varied artificial ingredients has been inconclusive. The USA's Food and Drug Administration has very stringent requirements for the introduction of new food ingredients, and this includes rigorous testing on animals, where the animals are given exorbitant amounts of these chemicals - far more than humans ever would be likely to consume. Artificial ingredients are, one and all, things which are derived from natural foodstuffs. Unfortunately, in the past, the interests of intellectual property have prevented free and open publication of the sources from which various artificial additives are derived.
References
Benowicz, Robert J. Vitamins and You. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1979.
See also
