Good food, bad food
WHICH diet are you currently doing? Atkins, Alkaline, fruitarian, juice fasting, Gluten free, cabbage soup, carb-free just to name a few. It seems like every day we are being warned about the dangers of another food group.
Alongside this there has been a steady rise in people promoting “clean eating” which at its simplest is all about eating whole or unprocessed foods.
What’s the problem with trying to eat clean? As our nation gets more obese and more sedentary, surely any attempt at healthy eating can’t be a bad thing? However there have been cases of people following a clean eating diet not becoming super healthy but getting sick – women’s periods have stopped, cases of clumps of hair falling out, not to mention tiredness and irritability.
Like any behaviour (drinking alcohol, gambling, shopping) it is when the negative side effects outweigh the positives that it becomes problematic. If a person becomes obsessive and rigid about healthy eating and feels guilty when they commit food transgressions this could be problematic.
Restrictive diet regimes can cause some people to cross the line towards Orthorexia which is “an unhealthy fixation with what the individual considers to be healthy eating.”
Orthorexia usually starts with the desire to cut out foods considered to be unhealthy such as proceed, sugary or fatty foods. However, the problem begins when healthy eating turns obsessive and the list of forbidden foods gets longer. Refined carbohydrates, dairy, sugar and meat are commonly removed from the diet.
Health professionals are now starting to talk about the link between nutrition and health. A group of GPs recently wrote to the General Medical Council requesting nutrition be incorporated into medical training.
Dr Chatterjee, from BBC’s Doctor in the House, would like to see all GPs working with Nutritional Therapists. He hopes that by addressing lifestyle doctors can prescribe medication less often.
A barrage of misinformation from the media may have lead you to believe that some food choices are better than others i.e. good carbs, bad carbs, good fats, bad fats. Ditch the polarized view of food. All sorts of foods should be enjoyed in moderation. Balance is the key.
One thing to remember is that most foods are made up of a combination of protein, fats and/or carbohydrates. These ‘macronutrients’ are food groups we need in relatively large quantities. Classing some foods as good and others as bad is not just hazardous from a nutritional point of view but can also be very damaging psychologically.
We are often far too influenced by other people’s opinions. Try not to let other peoples negative comments affect you.
We are all individuals with different DNA, different metabolisms, different builds and different medical and emotional issues that affect our physiological needs and what constitutes a healthy diet for each of us. One size does not fit all.
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