We are all told so many conflicting opinions about what we should and should not eat these days, we read copious amounts of health books and blogs which all conflict each other. ‘Fat is good for you’ and then the next; ‘Fat is the devil’. It’s a confusing subject and I find myself questioning, what actually is healthy eating?
A lettuce leaf is healthy, but is it nutritious? And what is the difference between the two terms?
Healthy means something different to everyone, for me, healthy eating is not about strict dietary limitations, staying skinny, or depriving myself of the foods I love. I want food to satisfy me, give me energy, improve my health, but most importantly, I want food to make me feel great!
I try to eat a tasty, nutritious, and natural diet that is as good for my mental health as it is for my physical health.I think it’s so easy for people to get caught up in the physical aspect of food, but not often enough do we consider how it affects our mental health; how does what you eat make you feel?
‘Healthy’ and ‘Nutritious’ can be used as buzz words which mean either the exact same thing, or, more often than not, completely the opposite of each other.
Really it comes down to this; A healthy diet should be balanced and nutritious; We should eat everything our body and mind wants and needs in moderation and where possible, we should always choose natural foods over processed. Simple. Right?
NATURAL V PROCESSED: The hidden ingredients that make food more appealing to our taste buds are added to a large percentage of all heavily processed foods. The 3 main ingredients, fat, sugar, and salt, are known to excite our taste buds and make us want more. They can create an addictive cycle many people struggle with. Neuroscientists link overeating to food addiction due to high amounts of refined sugar and fat in diets.
Whole, natural foods on the other hand, with their amino acids, vitamins, minerals, glucose and fatty acids packed with fibre along with many other nutrients; do not perpetuate the same addictive problem.
Whole Foods
Whole foods represent foods that retain their natural composition as well as contain no artificial additives or preservatives and have gone through little or no processing (i.e. cooking, grinding, or blending). Whole foods contain vitamins, minerals, water, fatty acids, amino acids, carbohydrates, fibre and much more.
Each whole food, be it a nut or apple, oats or banana, contains more nutrients than we are currently familiar with. In other words, we do not yet have a complete list of all the nutrients inside whole foods that are essential to human nutrition. Which is only good news!
Our bodies have been in a tight relationship with whole foods for as long as we have been on this planet. We require the full spectrum nutrition for optimal functioning, which only whole foods can provide.
Processed Foods
Processed foods have their natural composition altered in some way. First of all, not all processing is unhealthy, of course. Light processing like cooking, freezing, blending, soaking, fermenting or drying can be quite healthy if done using whole foods and avoiding heavily processed ingredients.
Some dried herbs are high in antioxidants and beneficial to our health. Also, fermented foods have shown to be highly beneficial for our gut as well as brain health and are being used in nutritional psychiatry. Sprouting grains increases their digestibility, improves amino acid profile, B vitamins and sugar composition.
Foods with heavier processing, or added ultraprocessed elements is usually what we have in mind when we speak about processed foods.
So, what food should we eat?
What you should eat is completely dependant on the lifestyle you lead. Living in a modern world we can’t always avoid some heavily processed foods on our plates, however having whole, natural food’s as a staple is the surest way to regain not only our waistline, but also our health.
What should we avoid?
Avoid empty calories- foods that are empty of any nutritional benefit and heavily processed foods. Avoid crash or binge diets; ask yourself what you’re cutting out and why?
Still confused?
We get is, it is a lot to take in, and it is forever evolving. Here at GetBuzzing we believe; When choosing our food, we cannot define any by only one of its nutrients, you must look at the whole view picture. By looking at the multi nutritional benefits of any food you can retain a balanced effect on your mind and bodies overall wellbeing!
GetBuzzing are a natural wholefood company committed to crafting nourishing and sustainable snacks that do not compromise on flavour. All of our snacks are made with REAL, NATURAL INGREDIENTS. They have zero artificial additives, colourings or preservatives and 100% taste. GetBuzzing are about real food, real taste and real expectations, that’s our promise to you!
