Healthy diet

Healthy - possessing or enjoying good health; or a sound and vigorous mentality

Diet- the foods eaten ; food and drink in terms of it's qualities, composition and it's effects on health ; a particular selection of food esp as designed or prescribed to improve a person's physical condition or to prevent or treat a disease

SO, WHAT IS A HEALTHY DIET?

Most of us would probably define a healthy diet as a diet low in fat, plenty of fruits and vegetables, limited processed foods, foods that contains no preservatives, free of chemicals, etc. I think that's how most people will picture healthy eating on their mind. Just like everything else, I think it will depend again on who you're talking to and how they will define the word healthy in the context of application. I wrote this blog because it is very easy for most of us to create absolutism without understanding the rationalization behind things. What this mean is that there is no single definition of a healthy diet. Some people could be doing a certain diet in their attempt to lose weight, improve health or to treat a disease. When was the last time we labeled a person's diet "Bad/Unhealthy diet" just because we often see them eating Oreo cookies, doughnuts, pork skins, fried chicken or what have you. Just because that certain person eat foods that are less nutrient dense than the typical "health food," does it mean that the person isn't healthy anymore? Does it mean that he/ she will not lose weight? Does it mean that by eating certain type/s of foods and you will get fat overnight? Does it mean that he/ she will have a less quality of healthy being just because his/ her food selection isn't the most nutritious? There are many predictors that regulate a person's overall health. Genetic factors, overall diet composition, total calorie intake, activity level, body composition (fat mass vs. muscle mass), etc.
What if that person who regularly eat the so called bad foods at moderation without exceeding his calorie intake? What if those foods keep that person satiated thus keeping him happy, isn't it possible that a healthy diet is also a diet that can make you feel psychologically healthy? Forcing our body to eat foods that we don't like just because our society labeled them as "healthy" doesn't necessarily mean healthy after all.

The best thing to define an ideal healthy diet I think is a diet that is abundant in wide variety of nutrient-dense whole foods with a minimal source from comfort foods. Unfortunately, we were not living in an ideal world but in reality instead. There are so many people out there who believes that there are certain types food/s that are evil: be it cake, Mcdonald's, french fries, HFCS, etc. I can't understand if why it is very easy to single out one food source to be blame as a root of all evil without looking at the bigger picture which is our control over a certain context of situation.

COMPROMISE is the message today. Eat ice cream but follow the recommended serving size, pop a bag of chips but nobody says you need to eat the whole bag of chips and make sure that you factor it in your calorie budget. Too many people today think that they need to eat healthy to lose weight or losing weight is the only way of being healthy. These two goals are far different from each other although it is always good to eat nutritious foods while on a reduced calorie diet. There is no need to avoid certain type/s of food whatever your goal is with few exceptions such as allergy/ tolerance/ metabolic response, just be responsible enough to know the effects of each consequences you take.