We hear the term “balanced diet” all the time. What is balanced? What are we balancing between? Are we balancing between healthy and unhealthy foods? Are we balancing between carbohydrates, fat, and fiber? Are we balancing between grains, dairy, vegetables, and meat? Balancing diet is such a useless advice. It is like saying, “if you want to be healthy, do that”, without defining what “that” is?
Once we accept the concept of balanced diet, we are primed for the next round of misinformation. An expert funded by a yogurt company will recommend dairy. He will talk about the benefits of probiotic yogurt, but neglect to mention that most yogurts are loaded with unhealthy quantities of sugar. An expert funded by meat industry would insist on the importance of protein in our diet. An expert funded by the fast food industry will downplay the negative impacts of processed food. And so on.
Another term used is that we need to consume everything in moderation. Guess which foods are cheaper and the ones we enjoy the most. Comfort food. By default, we will unconsciously choose food higher in sugar, salt, and fat. In addition, what are the majority of the options. Unhealthy food. Just look at American breakfast. Mostly sugar in different forms. This is not how you should start your day.
Instead of balanced diet and moderation, eat a healthy diet. Eliminate unhealthy foods from your diet. Unhealthy foods are processed, packaged, and loaded with unreadable artificial chemicals. Instead eat real food. Things like salads, grains, vegetables, fruits, olive oil, and nuts.
We are all to blame for our current situation. We don’t value our health enough. If we did, we would seek the true facts about healthy diet, rather than just getting them from popular media. Instead, seek information that leads back to reputable scientific research. Fortunately, there is a book that compiles a lot of it into one volume. Start by reading “How not to die” by Dr. Michael Gregor. Find the healthy diet that works for you because you respect yourself and value your health.