Healthy Eating
Identifying food allergy and food intolerance problems can change your life dramatically - physically and mentally. Along the way you will have struggled with finding alternative foods but eventually you will have arrived at a point where you have your diet under control. But just how healthy is your current diet?
To have a truly healthy diet you need to:
- Avoid the foods you know make you ill
- Eat wholesome and unadulterated food
This second stage seems straightforward. I’m sure if I looked into your supermarket trolley I’d find lots of fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, cereals, juices and other seemingly ‘healthy’ foods. Unfortunately when you truly look into how these foods have reached you will discover that the end result is nowhere near as ‘healthy’ as you expected.
For example:
A study in 2002 tested the levels of several nutrients (including Vitamin C) in the blood of people who had eaten fresh lettuce and those who had eaten the bagged/prepared type (both from the same source). Those who had eaten the fresh lettuce showed an increase in antioxidant levels in their blood, those who had eaten the lettuce stored in bags for 3 days showed no increase. So, if you had bought the salad thinking it was good for you, would provide you with vitamins and minerals, – you were wrong.
Unfortunately food processing can radically alter the nutritional value of food as can the way animals are looked after and how vegetables and grains are grown. Most of us are unaware of how big the difference can be and we certainly have no idea that our healthy diet could, with some small changes, be much healthier.
I will be producing a series of short articles covering different aspects of how food is adulterated and how we can make healthier choices. I have also started a new links section called “Healthy Eating” which includes alternatives for your shopping.
Healthy Eating Articles: