What is "healthy eating"? | TreeHugger

It may sound trendy and elitist, but a healthy diet is one thing we can all embrace.

Although I "eat healthy" since I was a kid and even co-wrote a book about it about ten years ago, this term always gives me just Instagrammers flashes and rich celebrities who display the zen of their evil diets.

A good, healthy and healthy diet has been co-opted by flexible filters and personal chefs, and that's a pity. He needs to rebranding he has to shake his elitism and become the common goal. It's time to take back "healthy food" and make it accessible to people! With that in mind, here is what it is and what it is not.

What is healthy eating?

Healthy eating is about eating healthy foods – foods as close as possible to their natural state; foods that are minimally processed and contain no additives or synthetic chemicals.

Honestly, this is not new. It used to be called "health foods" or "whole foods" or, before our diets escape disastrously, it's simply old "eat". But since our food system has been hijacked by chemical companies and ultra-processed food manufacturers, it has become important to make a difference.

More and more scientific evidence proves the truth: junk food is terrible for health. The most recent research comes from two European studies that conclude that diets rich in ultra-processed foods greatly increase the risk of illness and death in people.

A healthy diet is not an established diet, but rather a restoration style like the Mediterranean diet. And in fact, I can not think of much difference, in terms of food, between the two.

The basics of clean eating

Eat whole foods

By definition, "Whole foods do not contain added sugar, salt, fat, preservatives or synthetic chemicals," writes Wendy Bazilian, a dietitian and public health physician, in The Guardian. Rather than what they are not, I like to think of whole foods in terms of what they are: foods that are basically in their natural state. A fresh blueberry is a complete food, a dried bilberry to which sugar has been added and preservatives is not.

In the same order of ideas, eat healthy fats – nuts, avocados, olive oil, and so on. avoid unhealthy fats such as saturated fats and trans fats.

Eat little processed foods

Since not many of us will only live on fresh fruits and vegetables, a healthy diet also includes low processed foods.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has an excellent definition of processed foods (which I can not find any more, they change a lot of things there). It describes processed foods as "any agricultural product that has been subjected to washing, cleaning, milling, cutting, chopping, heating, pasteurization, bleaching, cooking, canning, freezing, drying, dehydration, mixing, packaging or any other procedure that modifies the food from its natural state, which may include the addition of other ingredients to the food, such as preservatives, flavorings, nutrients and other food additives or substances approved for use in food products, such as salt, sugars and fats. "

Minimally processed foods are foods that receive the least of the above. Brown rice, great! Brown rice chips that look healthy but contain 12 ingredients that you can not pronounce, probably not so good.

A simple way to think about it is that poorly processed foods have most of their inherent properties.

Avoid ultra-processed foods

Try to avoid foods that have undergone many transformations and are loaded with synthetic chemicals, such as dyes, flavors, preservatives, and so on. These foods are also generally high in sodium, added sugar and unhealthy fats.

You can still eat carbohydrates, but prefer the more complex (whole grains, sweet potatoes) to the refined fruits (white bread, donuts, alas).

In the words of culinary writer Michael Pollan, "Do not eat anything your grandmother would not recognize as food."

Consider organic

If you eat healthy, you do not want to ingest pesticides. You can follow a guide like Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen from the Environmental Working Group – it's about fruits and vegetables that contain the most and the least pesticide residues; These lists are a great tool for knowing where to prioritize when shopping for products.

Cook at home

Bazilian notes that the practice also promotes cooking at home, "developing a culture of food that leads to meals that taste better and are better for you". Cooking at home is perhaps the most important way to control what you eat. This creates a more intimate relationship with what you eat, less waste and economic and environmental benefits.

Be attentive

Do not mouth when it comes to diet, but this is TreeHugger, and so we can not not mention eating with kindness and with a carbon footprint reduced to the spirit: Local and seasonal source; more plants than meat; if you eat animals, look for sustainable meats and seafood; Fair trade; friendly rainforest; and minimal plastic packaging, to start with.

Do not be exclusive and critical

I hate the fact that a healthy and sustainable diet is now considered an elitist hobby. Recently, I heard a mother sitting next to me in the subway telling her young daughter that she did not need to eat salad, which she qualified as denigration of food "foo-foo". How did lettuce become the crust? That a lot of godly celebrities make a nice demonstration of their healthy eating might have something to do with it. And it's just a pity.

Certainly, the term "healthy eating" implies that those who do not eat this way eat badly, but this is not the case at all. As Bazillian points out, a healthy diet should not be exclusive and judgment-based, stressing that "healthy eating can seem elitist, but should not be." It's a roadmap to guide choices, not a tool to measure someone's worth. It's about evaluating your food choices and figuring out what's good, best, best – not bad, worse and worse. "

And on that note, I'm going to go eat fresh fruit … and do not brag about it on Instagram.