The Real Facts on Staying Healthy
By Nancy Adler
Eat this, don’t eat that. Seems robotic in some ways. Developing healthy eating habits isn’t as confusing or as restrictive as many people imagine. The essential steps are to eat mostly foods derived from plants—vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and legumes (beans, peas, lentils)—and limit highly processed foods. Here are our guidelines for building a healthy diet:
Not all of the nutrients and other substances in foods that contribute to good health have been identified, so eating a wide assortment of foods helps ensure that you get all of the disease-fighting potential that foods offer. In addition, this will limit your exposure to any pesticides or toxic substances that may be present in a particular food.
You can eat all the broccoli and spinach you want, but for higher-calorie foods, portion control is the key. In recent years, serving sizes have ballooned. In restaurants, choose an appetizer instead of an entree, or split a dish with a friend. Don’t order anything that’s been “supersized.” When reading food labels, check serving sizes: some relatively small packages claim to contain more than one serving, so you have to double or triple the calories, grams of fat and milligrams of sodium if you’re planning to eat the whole thing.
Fiber is fact! Aim for 2½ cups of vegetables, and 2 cups of fruit a day, for a 2,000-calorie diet. If you consume more calories, aim for more; if you eat fewer than 2,000 calories, you can eat less. Include green, orange, red, blue or purple, and yellow produce. The nutrients, fiber, and other compounds in these foods may help protect against certain types of cancer and other diseases. Legumes, rich in fiber, count as vegetables, though are moderately high in calories. Choose whole fruits over juice for more fiber. Frozen and canned fruits and vegetables are good options.
At least half your grains should be whole grains, such as whole wheat, barley and oats. Whole grains retain the bran and germ, and thus all (or nearly all) of the nutrients and fiber of the grain. Look for a product labeled “100% whole wheat” or “100% whole grain.” If it doesn’t say that, look for a whole grain listed as the first ingredient, though there still may be lots of refined wheat (also called “white” or “enriched” flour) and or sugar .
The refined carbohydrates in white bread, regular pasta, and most snack foods have little or no dietary fiber and have been stripped of many nutrients. On food labels, watch out for “wheat flour” (also called “white,” “refined” or “enriched” flour) on the ingredients list. Also, limit foods with added sugar, such as soda and candy. These are sources of empty calories that contribute to weight gain. Many sugary foods are also high in fat, so they’re even more calorie-dense.
Nuts, fatty fish, avocados, and vegetable oils supply healthy unsaturated fats. Recent research suggests these foods, though high in calories, tend not to promote weight gain because they are satisfying. Still, it’s best to eat them in place of other high-calorie foods. For instance, substitute olive or canola oil for butter. Fatty fish helps reduce heart disease risks and has other benefits, largely because of its omega-3 polyunsaturated fats.
So many of my clients who start on a nutritional program with me, ask how they can cut back on foods that cause cholesterol, and what those foods are. Though a 300-milligram daily cap on cholesterol intake has long been advised, there’s abundant evidence that cholesterol in food has little, if any, effect on blood cholesterol in most people. Thus, many experts no longer recommend limiting dietary cholesterol (found only in animal foods, notably eggs and shrimp). The egg has gotten a bad rap, is what I’ve always said . The best way for most people to lower their blood cholesterol is to reduce saturated fats (as in meats), and trans fats (from partially hydrogenated oils in processed foods). A possible exception is people with diabetes, who should talk to their doctor about their overall diet.
Beverages supply more than 20 percent of the calories in the average American’s diet. Some liquid calories come from healthy beverages, such as milk and 100 percent fruit juice. But most come from soda and other sweetened beverages, and alcoholic drinks, which have lots of calories yet few, if any, nutrients. Soft drinks are a major source of sugar and calories for many Americans, especially children. Though juice is more nutritious than soft drinks, it’s also high in calories, so most people should drink no more than one cup a day.
Bottom line: be mindful of what you eat, which may help you eat less and enjoy your food more. Many cultures around the world emphasize the enjoyment of food, which often includes cooking and eating with others, as an integral ingredient to good health. Try to touch on the idea that eating healthfully involves “enjoying food and celebrating cultural and personal traditions through food.” According to some research, shared meal times, especially during childhood, may act as a “protective factor” for many nutrition and health-related problems, as well as increase prosocial behavior in adulthood.
