Healthy eating? Think again !!

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Healthy eating habits-well think again 2007-01-13 09:03:25 By Christine Afandi http://www.ippmedia.com/ipp/guardian/2007/01/13/82203.html Remember when tomatoes used to taste like tomatoes? Somehow they seemed sweeter and juicier and tastier; didn?t they? It might sound a bit like the ?good old days? chant, but there really is more than a kernel of truth in this. Nowadays, our food is so processed, so tampered with that you would be surprised to learn how little goodness it actually contains. We shop in supermarkets, buying produce that was grown and packaged often

hundreds or even thousands of miles away. It has to look good. We have grown to like the look of perfectly shaped fruit and vegetables and smooth plump meat. And it has to last; often it is forced to undergo a long journey from where it was produced to the shop shelf. Many of us don?t bother with the raw ingredients of food anymore; we simply buy bundles of ready-cooked meals, stack the freezer full of convenient foods and snatch some fries or bread for lunch. But food doesn?t naturally come in perfect shapes and it doesn?t have an endless shelf life. It needs to be pumped with chemicals, pesticides and preservatives to look perfect, grow large and last long. Some of these additives are undoubtedly harmless: others are potentially more worrying. Remember the scares about the chemicals used in horticulture crops that rendered fruits potentially carcinogenic? This is just one example that came to light. But even

if the chemicals that we pump into vegetables or hormones we pump into livestock aren?t directly harmful, we are nonetheless eating food that is lacking in essential vitamins and minerals most of the time. So, first and foremost, take the trouble to find the freshest, least processed food possible. Few of us have the time or inclination to grow our own fruit and vegetables, so you?ll have to find a good grocery shop. If you are a meat eater, for heavens sake please look for a butchery of free range organic meat. Not only is it a far more ethical way of raising and killing animals, but your health will also benefit as much as your conscience. There are sheer horror stories about what happens in non-organic farming with animals being pumped full of hormones and antibiotics, not to mention the scares of BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy) in cattle. Local butcheries are now stocking up a cocktail of ?strange? meat purporting it to be

beef only later for customers to realise that it was donkey or giraffe meat. Buy food as fresh as you can and as untampered with as you can. Try to buy food as you need it, rather than stocking up large supplies and leaving it lying around for several days before eating it. Rediscover cooking with fresh ingredients and avoid unnecessary additives. Yes, it takes more time than throwing something in the oven or microwave, but you will be doing your health a favour and also your pocket ( convenience foods cost a small fortune). Ensure that your food cooks in adequate time. Watch out and beware of super fast recipes using high quality fresh ingredients devised by cookery writers, whose recipes take no longer than half hour to prepare. Studies by scientists show that pesticides and fungicides do not disintegrate but are retained in the crops. They are to blame in the rise of diseases like cancer and malfunctioning of the kidneys.

So take your time even as you prepare your delicacies. We are also fed so much on conflicting advice on diet that is hard to sort the facts from the big fiction. It seems that everyday we read that we should be eating more protein or less protein; that we should give up all fat or that we should cut down on certain kinds. In truth, even the super therapies sometimes contradict each other in this respect. However, the World Health Organisation points some very simple guidelines based on universally agreed scientific principles. Here are a few golden rules; Around half your daily intake of calories should come from complex carbohydrates (the solid starchy foods such as bread, pasta, potatoes, rice and cereals). In the past, we tended to avoid large amounts of these, thinking they were fattening but now it is clear that complex carbohydrates are actually great for our health. It?s no real hardship: bowls of warm

porridge, boiled sweet potatoes, cassavas, delicious pilaus, doorstep sandwiches of whole meal bread and more ugali. Another key word here is ?whole foods?, the less refined and processed these staple foods are the better. Eat more fresh fruit and vegetables, at least five portions a day. The recommended amount per day is 400gl 14 oz, but the more you eat, the better your health. Fresh fruit and vegetables are packed full of essential vitamins and minerals including the highly important antioxidants. But don?t boil to death-light steaming or stir-frying keeps nutrients locked inside. Use fruits as a healthy and filling snack. Cut down on sugar. Simple carbohydrates are the ?bad? carbohydrates and the ones to avoid ? these include sugar, syrups, fructose and sucrose. Sugar simply isn?t needed in a healthy diet. And if you can?t avoid buying processed foods check the labels ? simple carbohydrates lurk in the most

unsuspected places. Cut down on fat. Some fat is essential and it?s pretty tough to avoid it altogether anyway. But saturated fat, in particular, is perilous to our health, putting us at risk of heart disease and some cancers. The main culprits here are most red meat and dairy produce ? even so called ?low ? fat? varieties are full of harmful fat. Still, switching to low-fat milk and cheese will make a difference in the right direction. Again check the labels on prepared foods; the fat content is often way up high. Cut down on salt. This is a tough one if, like me, you are addicted to salty, savoury foods. But too much sodium is bad for your heart and your general health. SOURCE: Guardian "We have allowed (the drugs) industry to subvert the rules of science. We have watched

quietly as governments and academics have colluded with industry to hide information critical to our patients. We have remained silent as our medical schools have churned out graduates who have no knowledge of the dilemmas and scandals of medicine. We have allowed many of our medical journals to become corrupted and timid," - Dr Aubrey Blumsohn

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