How healthy is healthy?

Good Food Blog

What is RSS?

Posted at 12:02PM, 14 February 2011 by Roxanne Fisher - Writer/Sub-editor, bbcgoodfood.com

January has been and gone. The drop-a-dress-size craze of the first month of the year is behind us and hopefully we're now all about finding ways to a fitter and healthier lifestyle. Most of us are aware of the government guidelines for eating for optimum health: each meal should be a balanced percentage of the five main food groups; snacks should be healthy; we should get our five-a-day at all costs, etc etc.

We're constantly bombarded with the latest health craze/scare

Sounds easy enough, certainly advice the majority of us could benefit from, and hopefully, already follow to a certain degree. A varied diet is always going to beat a quick-fix-fad hands down. What about those of us who want to go beyond the basics though? We're constantly bombarded with the latest health craze/scare and much of the expert advice is wildly contradictory.

One example making health headlines at present is the claim that we should be eating not five but eight portions of fruit and vegetables a day to prevent heart disease by up to 22%. The revelation has been met with varied reactions - some nutritionists even stepping out and saying the whole notion of a healthy diet needing to be heavy with fruit and veg is a myth.

So who and what do we believe if even our government guidelines on healthy eating are proposed to be inadequate?

Comments on the NHS health website highlight the confusion and dissatisfaction many people feel about the advice on offer. Conflicting professional guidance about fats , carbs and proteins seem to drive people further away from a sensible diet - what's the point in trying to eat well if no one can agree on what's healthy?

Even those eating a balanced diet are forced to question whether their habits are correct - for example are our portion sizes too large or small or should we be eating three times a day or having six smaller meals to aid digestion?

There is certainly not a one-size-fits all answer, but such varying advice can make the average person anxious about their daily consumption - let alone people who already struggle with weight issues or eating disorders.

What have been your experiences of trying to follow a healthy lifestyle? Are there related issues you would particularly like to see discussed in future blogs on the site?

Comments

Cassandra Amy Rose

15 February 2011, 12:54PM
Cassandra Amy Rose

I enjoy reading Readers Digest, and find exactly the same problem with the 'health' section in there, one month it will tell you that eating every other day is the way to go, next month it will say something completely different. As soon as I get round to buying a juicer I aim to start Jason Vale's '7 lbs in 7 day' diet., which will hopefully be easier to manage than diets I've tried in the past. Just have to wait and see! Seeing as everyone is different, I think giving health advice to people you've never met is not a good idea.

Flag as inappropriate

Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

Your name: Reason:
poppysuze

16 February 2011, 5:56AM
poppysuze

Being a vegetarian most of my life I eat a varied range of foods but have never denied myself the odd little luxury, moderation is the key and also exercise plays a major part to being healthy!

Flag as inappropriate

Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

Your name: Reason:
Elyse Baker

16 February 2011, 1:22PM
Elyse Baker

I think it is a really nice recipe to do for a family

Flag as inappropriate

Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

Your name: Reason:
99bonk

16 February 2011, 7:29PM
99bonk

Michael Pollan's haiku says it all in the fewest possible words. "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

Flag as inappropriate

Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

Your name: Reason:
lbaxter

16 February 2011, 7:48PM
lbaxter

I personally think everything in moderation is key - meat, fat, grains, eggs (all the things that go in and out of vogue). As long they are as close as possible to the natural state and not buggered around with (think cows fed with grass as they wouldn't eat grains in nature!). My only bugbear is milk - we are the only animals that a) drink the milk of another species and b) drink it past weaning. Shouldn't that tell us something??? Look how much healthier the nations that don't consume it are...

Flag as inappropriate

Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

Your name: Reason:
Jessica_Rose

18 February 2011, 5:55PM
Jessica_Rose

As a recovering anorexic, I struggle daily with trying to achieve the seemingly unachievable (or perhaps undefinable!) 'healthy diet'. I find myself faced with a whole plethora of information, articles, new research findings and comment in various media suggesting we try this, eat more of one thing; less of another; reduce our intake; ensure we are getting our daily allowance of ... So it continues with forever changing, confussing messages. Endless and contradictory at best, dangerous at worst.

Flag as inappropriate

Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

Your name: Reason:
Gisela

13 April 2011, 4:57PM
Gisela

I thought the fad diet phase ended a few years back but Grazia (who I usually love) are now recommending new fad diets- what! i used to be victim to this but now get my food advice from the less faddy www.detoxdinners.com, good combo of detox and retox!

Flag as inappropriate

Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

Your name: Reason:
warlix

7 May 2011, 10:12PM
warlix

I really enjoy eating healthily and just stick to the simple rule of variety, however I completely agree that the media are telling us one thing about food and then completely changing their mind the next! I really began to feel paranoid about my figure, despite being a uk size 6, because of all this pressure to eat well and look good! It's horrible feeling I need to calorie count or question portion sizes or think about food every waking moment just because every other woman seems to be doing it? I'm glad I got help when I did, otherwise it could have turned into an eating disorder! Now I simply try and get one of my 5 a day in every meal or snack I eat and if it happens to be more than that in one meal, that's an added bonus. I'll eat food that is low fat or low sugar and never deny myself a chocolate bar once a day! I find yoghurts, hot chocolate, bananas, plums and cuppa soups to be the ultimate snacking choices for me. They're filling and FULFILLING too :)

Flag as inappropriate

Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

Your name: Reason:
Najarah

10 May 2011, 2:32PM
Najarah

I call it the tyranny of numbers. 5 fruit and veg, 8 glasses of water, 3 protions of dairy, whatever number of calories. I go with the moderation in everything, if only I could always stick to it!!!! As for the comment about milk, for some reason Europeans can drink milk but apparently people from other parts of the world can't digest it. But they do eat cheese and yogurt, from goats, sheep, cows and even horses.

Flag as inappropriate

Please let us know your name and the reason you find the above comment inappropriate.

Your name: Reason:

Your binder

Here are three other great reasons to sign up:

You get an online binder, where you can store all your favourite recipes and create menus.
You can add your own recipes to this site for others to try; plus, rate and make comments on recipes, and share your views on our blog.
You can sign up for our weekly newsletter (sent out on Wednesdays) - it's packed with recipes, special offers and competitions.