Is there really such a thing as healthy or unhealthy eating? I don’t think so. It’s all highly subjective. During the first meeting with a new client, I always ask, “What type of food do you eat?” I immediately know something is wrong if the client responds, “I eat healthy!” Ninety-nine percent of the time, that response means the client eats all the food that is labeled “healthy.” It’s sad to say that anything labeled “healthy” usually isn’t.
That said, I like to judge food by the result it produces, not by the nutrients it may contain so it can be labeled “healthy.” For instance, many foods are fortified with vitamins and minerals. What “fortified” means to me is that the food is potentially dangerous, but vitamins and minerals were added to make it sellable. Lots of advertising sells food based on added “nutrients,” but not because the food is natural and wholesome. Therefore, most of us are seduced to believe we are eating “healthy” when we are not.
So, let’s take the subjectivity out of our evaluation of food. Let’s look at the results the food provides instead of whether it’s “healthy” or not. And, let’s be sure to take into account the short term and long term results. The best way to do that is by consuming food that is not labeled healthy, namely fresh produce, and recognizing the effect it has on you.
There’s no “healthy” label or nutrition label on kale, bananas, oranges, apples, grapes, cabbage, spinach or asparagus; however, those are among the highest results-oriented foods you can eat, long term and short term. If you feel better after eating them, you know you’re on the right track.
As far as I know, they don’t produce high blood pressure, cancer, type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol or heart disease. As a matter of fact, they help reverse those metabolic diseases, which is the result you want. But, meat, dairy and highly processed foods have all been proven to cause or make those diseases worse, which is obviously an undesirable result.
How you feel after eating tells you all that you need to know in the short term. The metabolic diseases you manifest tell you all that you need to know in the long term. It’s all about results.
The only question is, what results do you want?
