Healthy eating – 3 critical factors

Healthy eating – 3 critical factors

Choosing the right healthy diet should include many factors. Three important factors for a healthy diet are the following:

1. Does it promote health and not weight gain? This may seem obvious, but it can be difficult. People sometimes make pizza and claim it's a healthy food by simply throwing some vegetables on top. But the pizza will most likely have a large amount of calories, will contain white flour and cheese. Even if you get nutrients from the vegetables, the overall effect tends to be negative due to the other fat-forming ingredients.

2. Is it organic? Fruits and vegetables are always best to source organically, but this mostly focuses on meat products. Claiming that a lean chicken breast is a healthy food because of its high protein content and minimal fat content is fine, but what is the actual quality of the meat? Given the terrible conditions of factory farming and the potential for disease, most meat products should only be considered healthy foods if they fall under the term “organic.”

3. What is the sodium content? I include this because it is such an overlooked aspect of today's healthy eating decision-making process. High sodium has many negative health benefits. Too often you think you're choosing a healthy meal without realizing that the sodium content is actually through the roof. An example of this can be bread. Many breads on the market that are touted as healthy foods actually contain high levels of sodium. There is a brand called Ezekial that is one of the lowest sodium breads on the market. Even canned fruits and vegetables that you think are a healthy food are often loaded with sodium from the solution needed to preserve the product. Fresh fruits and vegetables are always best.

An additional note that any generic sauce you put on your food will most likely add enormous amounts of sodium to your food, making it an unhealthy food.

These are three important factors that will help you find healthy foods.