Hi and welcome back!
Should we be choosing lower calorie foods, low fat foods, smaller portions or foods the manufacturers tell us is "healthy"? Are these the "healthier" options?
Here are my thoughts:
Lower calorie foods.
Just because a food is labeled as low calorie, it doesn't mean it is healthy. It may still contain lots of artificial ingredients, it probably contains artificial sweeteners which are what they say - artificial - not real food, and if you research artificial sweeteners you will find lots of reasons why you would not want to be putting these in your body!
Lower fat foods.
Just because it is lower in fat, it does not mean that it is healthy. These lower levels of fat in a product can still be higher than the healthy recommended levels, if you are eating lots of lower fat products in one day you could still be eating high levels of fat in total. Usually if a product is low in fat, it is high in sugar as fat and/or sugar is what manufacturers know sells their products because it makes them taste nice.
Smaller portions
Just because you are having less to eat in one meal, doesn't mean that what you are eating is healthy. Yes, it is better to eat smaller portions of unhealthy foods but if you are eating smaller portions of unhealthy food all day, how healthy is that? Also eating smaller portions can lead to feelings of hunger and then there is more chance of unhealthy foods being consumed.
"Healthy" manufactured foods
Just because a product seems to be healthy because it contains fruit or nuts or some other natural ingredient, it doesn't mean it is healthy as it may contain lots of other unhealthy ingredients. I find this is the case of lots of "healthy" cereals and cereal bars. We are seduced into thinking we are making the healthy choice by seeing pictures of fruit, wholegrain cereals or yoghurt on the advertisements or wrappers, or we see these words written all over the product but what we don't always see the small print - the list of actual ingredients, just how much healthy, natural food is in the product compared to unhealthy, un-natural "food". At the end of the day, if you want to eat some oats, apple, raisins and nuts, why not just eat them?!
So what is healthy food? I would say it is food that is natural, near to nature. Food that is simply what it is. An apple is an apple. An apple flavoured fruit twisty thing is not an apple. Food that is not manufactured. The healthiest food you can eat has got to be food that has had nothing artificial added and nothing taken away - it makes sense doesn't it?!
So when you are thinking about unhealthy food and whether to eat less of it either by reducing it's portion size, its calorific value, it's fat levels or trying to make it healthy by adding some natural foods to it you might like to remember this which I read this week:
"Excuse me Sir, would you like a large plate of poo or a small plate of poo?"
"Neither thank you, because which ever way you look at it crap is crap!"
Sue x
FAT-SCRAP MARCH 2010 DAY TWENTYONE
FAT-SCRAP MARCH 2010 DAY TWENTY THREE
4 comments:
Yes Sue real food for thought! As I have said, my core eating is always as close to nature as poss however I have been drawn to the dark side with regard to sweet things.
My days alone in bed with flu have led to quiet reflection time. Normally very busy, I am in a position of being with myself with not much distraction and feeling a loss of control of my life. Now this at times has felt most uncomfortable, feeling all sorts of feelings my busy life would mask. I am taking the opportunity to read, rest and reflect over what I want in my life. Sue commented today on my healthy options, I am listening to myself and my body without the noise of the world. Out of the window I hear and see nature going about it's business. The rythm of life. Natural ways we forget to be.
Sue kindly lent me a fabulous book - eating in the light of the moon about womens eating disorders. Using metaphors, the stories illustrate the needs and holes we fill with food. When we are ill our bodies tell us what we need. Perhaps mine rendered me incapacitated with flu this week in order to listen to myself and get back in touch with the uncomfortable feelings I have been avoiding with food.
I have also thought that if I really value myself why would I want to eat crap?
Sad I cannot make the session today, however more personal challenge to keep on track to nurture myself naturally.
I love your analagy of your illness Jayne, and how this quiet time is allowing you to hear.It shows tremendous strength that you are able to find the positive in what can be perceived as a negative situation.
I love working with metaphors which is why I was attracted to the book that Jayne mentions and it's usually very enlightening when I tune into the metaphors that people (including myself) use. There are a lot of metaphors based around food such as "biting off more than you can chew", " having/not having/lost taste for life", swallowing your pride, chewing things over, hard to digest. I wonder what metaphors you might be using in life and playing out with food? I will send you a sheet I have been putting together as I have explored metaphors and would welocme your comments. (If you are following the blog Please contact me if you would like a copy) I will eventaully publish it on the website when I have completed it. x
Starting to feel better today with some energy returning thank goodness.
I managed 2 short dog walks and turned out and tidied the airing cupboard. You can't beat a bit of clearing out to clear the mind.
Food diary
Muesli yog kiwi seeds
butternut squash soup 1 slice toast
yogurt with pear
2 egg omelette filled with bacon onion and spinach
rocket and tomato salad
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