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These days there’s a lot of ignorance regarding nutrition and what we should and should not eat. Finally ideas like “fats are evil” and the concept of “miracle diets” are starting to fade away however there are still some food theories floating around that have yet to be scientifically proven. For example, the belief that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, or you have to eat five times a day, and the most infamous theory that EVERYTHING can be eaten in moderation.
50 years ago not even a quarter of the products we have today even existed! Just because there is more variety doesn’t mean we have to eat ALL of them. Today I’d like to explain the reasons why eating a varied diet doesn’t mean you need to eat everything.
What does eating a varied diet mean?
A balanced diet is one that provides our body with the necessary nutrients to function properly. This is important because our organs and tissues need nutrients to maintain them, and without good nutrition, we are more prone to illnesses and disease. The worst thing is that bad eating habits start when we are children and can persist for the rest of our lives.
The big difference between eating everything and eating a balanced diet is that in order to get varied nutrition you have to obtain nutrients from different foods like quality lean proteins, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and fats.
It’s been proven that eating “everything and anything” in moderation isn’t healthy.
Let’s say that on your grocery shopping trip you take a little bit of everything from each aisle. Then when you get home you start reading the ingredients of each item you bought. When you quickly realize they all have something in common: they’re all industrial products loaded with sugar, have low-quality fats, include trans fats and the use of wheat flour is prevalent! Eating all that could really worsen our health especially when we often have little knowledge of what those store-bought products really contain.
Currently, it seems that different versions of the same product will keep on multiplying. Take, for instance, ColaCao, ColaCao Turbo, ColaCao with fiber, Light ColaCao, ColaCao chunks, and so on. The sole reason for doing this is to market the same product to different people’s wants. “Do you like ColaCao but want to lose weight? Then ColaCao light is the choice for you”! Is there more variety? Yes, but the choices all have terrible nutritional value and the phrase “you can eat anything in moderation” helps the consumer to continue to justify purchasing these kinds of products.
A study: Everything in moderation
According to the study “Everything in Moderation – Dietary Diversity and Quality, Central Obesity and Risk of Diabetes” – eating more healthy food than not so healthy food showed very little benefit to the metabolic health of our body. That is because healthy food doesn’t cross out the negative effects of the unhealthy foods trans fats, sodium, starch, refined carbs and sugars.
Another Study: Dietary variety within food groups
The study “Dietary variety within food groups: association with energy intake and body fatness in men and women” – suggests that a varied diet of sweets, snacks, condiments, and other carbohydrates combined with the occasional vegetable increased long-term caloric intake and body fat.
So, what’s left to eat?
Some other studies have shown that there is a lower probability of being obese when following a varied diet (which is also used as not only preventative but as a treatment). Of course, we don’t mean a varied diet in industrial pastries such as bread, pasta, a tomato, and a banana. No. We mean, a varied diet in high-quality macro and micronutrients that come from fresh, natural, organic foods.
What is your guys’ opinion on this myth? Do you think that we should eat a little of everything and anything in moderation?
