There are a number of different factors that have made it increasingly difficult for people to figure out how to eat healthy. Is it low fat, low carbohydrate, high protein or is it high fat, low carbohydrate high protein? Or is it low protein, low carbohydrate, low fat which sort of equals hardly eating. Yes to grapefruit but hard pass on apples? Six small meals a day ? No food after 5:00PM? Is a calorie a calorie or are some calories somehow different? Is the traditional food pyramid now upside-down? No wonder we are confused! There are so many idea’s regarding nutrition and many of which are contradictory. How do we make sense of it all?

The Basics

Eating a balanced diet is vital for good health and well-being. Food provides our bodies with the energy, protein, essential fats, vitamins and minerals to live, grow and function properly. We need a wide variety of different foods to provide the right amounts of nutrients for good health. For more information about how you can start, or continue, healthy eating visit the American Heart Association’s ‘Nutrition Basics’ page or ChooseMyPlate.gov.

Weight and Dieting

To make matters even more confusing what’s a “healthy” weight and what about dieting? Some researchers state that being even moderately overweight places one at greater risk for many diseases including heart disease, diabetes, cancers, and high blood pressure. Others claim that being overweight in and by itself is not what places one at greater risk but that lack of exercise is the culprit and that there is a clear correlation between inactivity and excess weight. Is it really unhealthy to be moderately overweight or is it simply about fashion and the current trends in body size? During the later half of the 18th century women purposely tried to look larger in order to attract a mate. Did you know that Marilyn Monroe wore a size 16? Currently the average clothing size for women over the age of eighteen is a size 12 and yet women are often encouraged believe that a 3, 5, or 7 is what’s “normal” and acceptable?

Despite all of the confusion it seems that this much we know for certain. People are able to lose weight on any number of fad diets, but eating for health is what usually results in permanent weight loss and contributes to more holistic healthy body, mind and spirit. For more information click here.