Healthy Food
Healthy food is talked about by millions of us daily. I see lots of forums, social media threads and posts all with the advice ‘eat healthy food’. But what is healthy food and what is healthy eating? My latest article delves into this popular topic to dispel the myths and give my interpretation of what constitutes healthy food and healthy eating.
Food Groups
We can’t talk about which foods are, or, are not ‘healthy’ without first discussing food groups. Depending upon who you speak to, you could see 5-8 food groups. There are, however, 5 main groups and these are split into up to 8 groups for a more granular list.
We will discuss the 5 main food groups as this is sufficient to give you the knowledge you need without initiating information overload!
What Are The Main Food Groups?
The 5 main food groups are:
Fruit & Vegetables
Starchy Carbohydrates
Dairy
Protein
Fat
Let’s look at what each of these are and how they support our bodily functions…
Fruit & Vegetables
The majority of us do not eat sufficient amounts of fruit and vegetables despite many people perceiving fruit and vegetables to be the only healthy food — how many of you know a friend or colleague that has ‘gone on a diet’ which consists of salads and the removal of starchy carbs? All of you? Thought so. And how long did that diet last? Not long? That is not a healthy diet, nor is it sustainable, but we’ll talk more about that later.
What are the health benefits of having a diet rich in fruit and veggies? There are loads.
They all contain varying vitamins, minerals, fibre, as well as other natural compounds the body needs and are scrumptiously low in calories and fat. They support your bodily functions and can lower your risk of developing many health issues:
High blood pressure
High Cholesterol levels
Heart disease
Some types of cancer
Obesity
Fruit and vegetables are an essential part of your diet, are an ideal snack and the recommended daily intake is 5 portions per day. What is a portion? If it fits in the palm of your hand, then it’s a portion — that goes for kids too.
Starchy Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates, or ‘carbs’ as they are lovingly known, are one of the three macronutrients (Carbs, Fats and Protein).
They are molecules that contain carbon, hydrogen and oxygen atoms and they fall within one of three categories:
i) Sugar - for example, glucose
ii) Fibre - in foods such as fruit and veg
iii) Starch - found in potatoes, rice and grains
Their main purpose is to fuel the body, by providing energy, with the exception of fibre, which feeds friendly digestive system bacteria. All carbs are used to fuel the body as the main energy source.
This second food group is starchy carbohydrates, so let’s dig into these particular carbs a little deeper.
Starchy carbs can be split into two further categories:
Complex Carbohydrates
Contains fibre, so is unprocessed
Found in whole foods such as vegetables, wholegrain bread, wholegrain pasta, nuts, seeds and potato
Simple Carbohydrate
Processed, whereby the Fibre has been stripped out (this is never a good thing)
Found in white, processed foods, such as bread, pasta, rice and cakes (mmmm cake)
Complex carbohydrates take longer to digest than their simple counterparts, so they help with satiety and as they are high in fibre. They also regulate our bowels which will help keep your blood glucose levels steady. A meta-analysis in 2018 by the Journal of Chiropractic Medicine found that a diet rich in fibre can reduce your risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
Simple carbohydrates are quick-burning fuel for the body, your body rapidly breaks them down into sugar so they raise the blood sugar levels quickly and do not keep you satiated for very long. What does eating lots of un-satiating food equal? For many, it equals weight gain.
A 2020 study by StatPearls Publishing found that eating a diet high in simple carbohydrates can increase the risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and ovulatory infertility.
I could talk at length about carbohydrates but, in a nutshell, we have simple and complex, complex being the better for our health and of more use to our bodies.
Dairy
Found in animal products such as milk, yoghurt, fromage frais and cheese, this calcium-rich food source is packed with protein and vitamins such as vitamins A, D and B12, dairy products keep our bones and teeth healthy and is a vital part of a diet for all ages.
Some forms of dairy, such as cottage cheese, can contain crazy amounts of sodium which has been found to dehydrate the body, leading to water retention and, as advised by the CDC, High sodium consumption can raise blood pressure, which is a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke.
Protein
Protein is one of the three main macronutrients; protein, fats and carbohydrates. Another source of energy for the body, protein consists of amino acids. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins, and proteins are the building blocks of muscle mass.
There are many, varied, high quality protein sources to choose from, foods such as:
Meat
Dairy
Fish
Eggs
Nuts
Tofu
Lentils
Protein has been subject to a vast amount of studies and has been consistently found to have the following health benefits:
Improve mass muscle and strength
Improve bone density
Reduced risk of obesity (protein is satiating so aids hunger control)
Boosts metabolism due to the Thermic Effect of Food
Can help lower blood pressure
Assists the body in recovery and repair
In terms of any adverse bodily responses to protein, a one-year cross over study in 2016 found that there are none. The Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism found that subjects eating a high protein diet, versus a normal diet for 1 year, had no harmful effects on any measures of health.
Fat
Like its carbohydrate brother, fats have also had a bad rep for being the cause of the obesity crisis. However, Fat is an essential part of a healthy, balanced diet — as essential as its protein and carbohydrate macro counterparts.
Fats help the body to absorb essential nutrients such as vitamins A, D, E and K as well as helping the protein you consume do its jobs. They also help control growth, immune function, reproduction and other aspects of basic metabolism.
Fat can be found in many food sources, including:
Oils and butters
Dairy
Fish
Meat
Cakes
Vegetables
Processed foods
There are three main types of fats, this illustration shows the types of fat, where to find them and their health benefits.
As you can see, trans fats do not provide the body with any support, they are mostly found in processed foods and are the unhealthiest type of fat. You’ll find trans fat in fried foods such as doughnuts and fast food, margarine and baked goods such as cakes and pastries.
Trans fats increase blood cholesterol levels and LDL cholesterol levels and have been found to increase the risk of body inflammation which can lead to diabetes and heart disease.
How To Eat Healthy
I tried to make the above info as concise as possible, because it’s very easy to go down a rabbit hole and make eating healthily appear far more difficult than it actually is. And that is the problem, people throw around the terms ‘healthy food’ and ‘healthy eating’ and with so many interpretations out there, it’s hard for anyone to know what that means.
Do you want to hear my own interpretation of what constitutes healthy eating? I say my own interpretation, but this is based on some pretty solid, thorough and robust research — not what my mates, cousins, aunties, brother reckons worked for him, nor is it based on what a guy on YouTube standing in front of a clipboard tells me.
I can very easily put this into a single sentence for you — a healthy diet is varied, balanced, rich in fruits, vegetables, whole-grain products, high-quality proteins and low in added sugar, refined grains, and highly processed foods.
But, I love lists, they are simple, concise, quick-reference points that you can print off and stick on your fridge or on your desk at work, so here are my top 5 tips on how to eat healthily (drum roll)...
Consume all of the main food groups. Yep, all of them. Each of the food groups has a different function within the body and all are essential, so eat them and give your body the fuel and nutrients that it needs to thrive
Follow the 80/20 rule — 80% foods that will fuel and nourish your body and 20% those that aren’t so optimal, like simple carbs or saturated fats.
Calculate your calorie needs and track your calorie intake. Whether your goal is to lose, gain or maintain your weight, unless you know how many calories are being consumed versus burned how do you know you are eating the right volume of food? You can absolutely gain weight by overeating ‘healthy’ foods, food types don’t make you gain weight, overeating does.
Cultivate a healthy relationship with food by not beating yourself up if you overeat or eat too much of a food that’s best consumed in small amounts (like trans fats or simple carbs). Enjoy the pizza, enjoy the cake, then continue to follow the 80/20 rule
Make eating the foods you love easier by finding recipes you love and food swaps that give you all the taste for less calories (and usually less fat too)
It’s all about moderation, right? You don’t need to deprive yourself in order to ‘eat healthy’. I am really hoping you’ve got to the end of this article and realised that no foods are unhealthy when consumed in sensible amounts. What is unhealthy is the volume at which the less optimal foods are consumed. You can have bread, you can have cake, you can have pizza (can you tell I love pizza and cake?), just not all the time, I’m afraid.
Make those food choices that look after your body most of the time and leave a little room for those food choices that look after your taste buds.