So, what does it mean to eat a ‘healthy diet’?
Should you be paleo, keto, vegan, fat-free, carb free, low calorie, or just do meatless Mondays?! Today, just to give a little clarification and to simplify the term, we are going to look at a few definitions. Because everybody loves a definition, right? 🤔
According to Statista, 57% of the UK's population consider themselves to be healthy eaters, but if we look at the actual definitions below it appears the actual percentage of people consuming a healthy diet is far lower.
Healthy: In good physical or mental condition
Diet: The food and drink that you eat regularly.
So, a healthy diet is one in which you regularly eat or drink in a way that promotes your being in good physical (and preferably also mental) condition.
Naturopathic nutrition acknowledges every person is an individual and requires a personalised approach, but is focused on the use of whole and organic food. These are words that we all seemed to have been trained to recognize as healthy, but what do they actually mean?
Whole foods: Foods that have not been processed or refined, and are free from additives or other artificial substances.
Organic foods: Food free of fertilisers, pesticides, irradiation, GMO’s, growth hormones and livestock additives
On the other hand, there's the big bad.....
Junk ‘food’: Unnatural substances that have been altered and are not suitable to maintain life and growth. They are;
Highly processed and generally contain GM ingredients, artificial flavours & colourings, sweeteners, pesticides and other chemical additives - promoting over-eating.
High in calories, sugar, salt, refined carbohydrates and trans fats. Low in fibre and nutrients.
Sadly, in addition to the usual suspects (see photo above), this also includes most packaged foods found in the supermarket aisles. 🙁
So, if you want to follow a healthy diet, what should you eat?
In short, food that is whole, organic (where possible), free of GMO & toxins, and is not processed. Simple perhaps, but easier said than done!
That’s why we’ve done some of the hard work for you 😃
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