And why do we struggle with this question?
There is a lot to unpack with this question, believe it or not.
Firstly, while some people may think the answer is simple, the reality is far from it.
What people actually think is healthy, is invariably skewed by their background, experience and bias.
We are very good at convincing ourselves that we are eating healthily, when we are not.
I eat what most people would call a vegan diet. I have been between vegan and vegetarian for the past 20 years. I’ve had people comment how healthy that must be, There is an assumption that vegans and vegetarians are eating healthy food. The reality is that a lot of the time, vegs are eating masses of sugar and fried food. I was definitely in that camp.
People also (consciously or subconsciously) think they are eating healthily if they eat relatively healthy for half the day and then end up binging or ‘treating’ themselves at the end of the day.
You’ve been so good you ‘deserve’ a treat. You’re defeating yourself with this mentality.
This may seem extreme, I mean why cant you have a treat? Well that all depends on your goals.
When people have a weight loss goal, and depending on their starting diet, the extra treats and oopsy binges do matter.
Secret Eaters
There’s a tv show called Secret Eaters. This show follows people who aren’t losing weight but claim they are eating healthy foods. Secret cameras soon discover that these people:
- snack
- binge
- eat after bedtime
- add extra calories that aren’t declared
The same often goes for people who see a deep fried vegie burger with tomato and lettuce as a ‘healthy option’. It certainly is compared to a cheeseburger, but in the scheme of healthy, it is really only a sometimes food.
So, what is a healthy diet?
So back to our main question, What is a healthy diet? This is heavily debated but what most people agree is that a healthy diet is a whole foods diet.
What is a whole foods diet? This is a diet free from processed food, added sugars and ultra processed fats. In my case I choose a whole foods plant based diet with reduced oils. some people chooses a Mediterranean diet. The key emphasis is to avoid processed as these foods are detrimental to our bodies in many ways. A mediteranean or plant based diet are commonly recommended as lifestyle diets (You can be on these diets long term) for diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol and numerous other health issues. Due to their whole foods nature they are also good for weight loss as they are more filling and don’t contain ’empty’ calories. Some people report eating as much as they want with out a need for portion control. I am not one of those people, though once I get to my target weight I intend to eat more than I do right now.
A healthy diet is one that is full of healthy nutrients, fueling your body toward health.
So, if weight loss is one of your goals and you believe you are eating healthy, but you aren’t losing weight, you may need to have a good honest discussion with yourself about how you are eating.
- Do you ‘treat’ yourself?
- Do you think foods are healthy when they are not?
- Do you secretly eat?
Some ways of evaluating this are to calorie count for a little while, but absolutely making sure you are honest with this one. Note down every condiment (they add up), and every snack, and every drink also. Calories come in many forms.
Another option is to take photos of your food, every meal, and looking at them for your whole day. This will give you some perspective also about portion size and what you are eating for your entire day. Take photos of your drinks too. They count.
If you’ve had that chat with yourself and you fail to lose weight, it may be time to talk to your doctor. They can rule out any underlying health issues that may cause weight gain and they may also have some solutions to kick start your journey.
Just remember fad diets are not a good long term solution. Once we get used to whole foods, your taste buds change and fresh becomes delicious. I’m not interested in ice creams anymore. They’re too sweet and sickly. I choose my occassional treats with a lot of consideration. To me, most junk food is just not worth it, others I leave for special occassions. But they never occur every day as they just don’t need to.
We need to get back to real food but that lure for junk is big. In another article I will discuss why we want junk food so badly and why it is ultimately so detrimental to more than just their waist line.
As always if you you need support with figuring out what foods are healthy or not, you can contact me and I can help with support in figuring this out..
