Healthy Eating

A no-brainer, right? Well, yes and no. Some kids in schools actually justify that, since Snapple GrapeAde and red grapes have sugar in them, and that both are the same color, therefore they’re both healthy to have. The best one yet, though: Potato chips are crunchy and are made from potatoes, so that counts as a vegetable serving.

Um, no. That logic simply would not fly. Incredibly enough, by that same token, if one were to eat oranges all day, every day, would they get fat? Probably not—but their skin would turn a reasonable shade of orange and the circulatory system would be dealing with an overload of zinc, since they body can’t handle and wasn’t made to handle an abundance of vitamin C.

Healthy eating doesn’t encompass just what is healthy vs. what it is not. Baby carrots in vanilla yogurt, let’s say is a very healthy snack choice over potato chips and a soda. Healthy eating also encompasses which foods to eat and how much of that food should be eaten when it comes to weight loss.

Can someone gain weight from eating only yogurt day after day? It’s possible, but not that likely. Conversely, calcium buildup can occur in the bones as can an over-supply of potassium create irregular heart rhythms and can hasten urine crystallines, kidney and gallstones. Even living solely on water, while not impossible to do, will create irregulars to the human body that it wasn’t meant to undergo being deprived of one thing healthy over another. In other words, as with junk foods having empty calories, everything consumed can be, but within sensible parameters.

Part of the reason the United States and other Western countries are suffering an obesity pandemic is due to what kids eat during school meals. Many school lunch menus are consistent of pizza, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, fish sticks, chicken nuggets and tater tots, French fries and macaroni and cheese. Most of these foods are heat and serve and, according to the U.S. Dept. of Agricultural guidelines, (U.S.D.A), French fries and tater tots are considered a “vegetable” since they do come from potatoes.

When selecting healthier choices, like peas, corn, Lima beans and carrots, only a serving best. Some vegetables hold more sugars and starches than do others, so these need to be consumed by the portion size recommendations. Water is a great way to stay full during a meal and ensures you are somewhat full from the food portions of the meal.

Healthy eating also includes grazing: eating five or six smaller meals through the day rather than the standard three meals every eight hours. The body’s insulin levels can’t handle that long a wait between meals and, like a well-working furnace in a home, in order for the body to burn its fat stores, it’s best to make sure there’s something in the belly for the body to burn it and the fat reserves, too. When the machine has nothing to feed in the stomach, it switches to survivor mode and will hang on to the fat stores for a very long time before going to those reserves.

Better food choices would include portion sized servings of fish, chicken, dairy, turkey, eggs, beans, grains, legumes, fruits, vegetables and oils. These, consumed in proper balance, will allow for a healthy and stabilizing weight loss.