Discussion 2

The Characteristics of a Healthy Diet: The Challenge of Choosing the Right Foods

     Many of us have a basic understanding about some of the right foods to include in our diet, and some of the wrong ones to exclude, but what really is the fundamental core of a healthy diet?  How do we know if our diet really is nutritious?  And how can we overcome the challenge of choosing healthy foods?  This article will briefly address these common questions with regard to diet.

Choosing Healthy Foods:

     In today’s industrialized and globalized society, many of us feel overwhelmed with the food choices provided for us.  Convenience and taste play a major role in the kinds of foods available in the markets, but don’t let commercialism and the capitalist pursuit of profit fool you.  Many of the healthy foods we should choose today are the same healthy foods that have been around since the development of agriculture more than 10,000 years ago. 

     When attempting to choose nutritious foods, we should look for those foods that Mother Nature has provided for us, not what humankind has invented.  The most nutritious and healthy foods are those that are known as whole foods.  They are the foods that are grown naturally – unprocessed, and pure, and “they form the basis of a nutritious diet” (Sizer & Whitney, 2012, p. 10).  Whole grains, fruits and vegetables, nuts, and legumes, milk and some meats are considered whole foods (Sizer & Whitney, 2012).  Organic whole foods – grown sustainably without the use of hazardous chemical fertilizers and pesticides are also the best foods to choose, because they ensure sustainable agriculture for the future, are ecologically friendly, and reduce your exposure to unnatural and dangerous chemicals.

Here are some tips to remember when choosing your foods:

• Look for what nature gives you naturally, head straight for the fresh food isle.
• Avoid food that is packaged – it typically means it is processed and full of unwanted or unhealthy ingredients.
• Look for organic foods to ensure maximum nutrition and naturalness.
• The more colorful the foods the better!
• Try new whole foods to add variety.        

Characteristics of a Nutritious Diet:

     When incorporating nutrition into a holistic approach to life, an individual must practice some basic characteristics that complete a healthy diet.  Learning to identify and utilize these characteristics in your diet may not be as difficult as you think, and once you try them on for size, you may find that like what they do for your health, your weight, and your life.  

     Boyle and Roth (2010), recognize five crucial elements of a wholesome diet, known as “the ABC’s of eating for health” (p. 32). 

These include:

1.     adequacy

2.     balance

3.     calorie control

4.     moderation

5.     and variety (Boyle & Roth, 2010). 

     Below, you will find discussions on each individual characteristic to help make a healthy diet more recognizable.

Adequacy:

     The adequacy characteristic of a healthy diet involves ensuring that adequate levels of the six types of nutrients are consumed regularly.  For the average adult this means roughly:

• 2,400 calories 
•  50 grams of protein
• 130 grams of carbohydrate
• less than 20 grams of fat 
• about 3 liters of water
• and sufficient vitamins and minerals (Sizer & Whitney, 2012). 

     To maintain adequacy in a healthy diet, it is important that individuals make daily efforts to meet the recommended dietary allowances.  Ensuring adequacy of essential nutrients promotes good health and proper functioning of bodily systems; failure to ensure adequacy can result in deficiencies, which can be detrimental to health (Boyle & Roth, 2010).

Balance:

     Ensuring adequacy in the diet goes hand in hand with the balance characteristic.  When we work to ensure that we maintain nutrient adequacy, we also work to balance our foods.  Balance in the diet is all about maintaining relatively equal amounts of foods and the nutrients they provide for optimal nutrient absorption by the body (Boyle & Roth, 2010). Thus, when pursuing balance in the diet, we are working to prevent over-consumption and under-consumption of crucial dietary elements.

Calorie Control:

     This characteristic of a healthy diet is the factor most understood by Americans particularly because it has to do with maintaining a healthy weight.  A major part of a nutritious diet involves providing our bodies with the energy levels it needs, no more, no less (Boyle & Roth, 2010).  By doing so, we are ensuring that our body has sufficient fuel to carry out the day’s activities as well as ensuring that our body weight is within a normal range.

Moderation:

     The fourth basic characteristic of a healthy diet is all about eating in moderation.  It is in essence, ensuring that we don’t consume too much of the basic nutrients, most specifically fat (Sizer & Whitney, 2012).  A healthy diet can include “fat, cholesterol, sugar and sodium,” but only in small amounts (Sizer & Whitney, 2012, p. 11).  Ensuring moderation of certain foods like snacks, candy, and fast food, and the nutrients they contain is essential not only for weight, but for health.

Variety:

     The most important characteristic (particularly for our enjoyment’s sake) involves variation in the diet (Sizer & Whitney, 2012).  It is essential that we eat many different types of healthy foods, not only to ensure that we receive the right kinds and amounts of nutrients, phytochemicals, and even antioxidants, but also to ensure our continued pleasure in eating.  

     Consuming a nutritious diet throughout a lifetime takes persistent dedication, a little bit of education, and a lot of what I like to call “food mindfulness.”  Despite the diligence a nutritious diet requires on our part, it is also important to remember to have fun.  Food is about nutrition, but it is also about enjoyment.  Boyle and Roth (2010) rightly state that, “at best, your diet can be a good source of both pleasure and good health” (p. 32).  Bon appetit! 

References

Boyle, M. A., & Roth, S. L. (2010). Personal nutrition (7^th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth

     Cengage Learning.

Sizer, F. S., & Whitney, E. N. (2012). Nutrition: Concepts and controversies (12^th ed).
     Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning.