What's good, what's bad?

I've been getting really confused recently about what is actually good for our health and what isn't. There are so many contradictions! Any advice?

Does seem that with any food you care to mention there's been a study somewhere to say it can give you cancer. Maybe just keep it simple, plenty of fruit and veg, probably can't go far wrong there, go easy on the fat, salt and sugar. Don't smoke, don't drink too much.

What was it Mens' Health magazine said recently? Read the list of ingredients. If there's anything there that your granny wouldn't have had in her kitchen, don't buy it. Or words to that effect.

It's best to keep the food as simple as possible really, it's very easy to get confused with what you should/shouldn't be eating and there are deceptively bad foods out there that are advertised as good for you.

If you make food from scratch with fresh ingredients, eat plenty of fresh and raw fruit/veg, natural foods like raw nuts and seeds and limit processed and refined foods you're heading on the right track. 

Cooking with oil can cause the fats to go 'bad' because many oils aren't suitable to heat to high temperatures, if we need to we use a little olive oil and reduce cooking time. Coconut is best but harder to get hold of. I also refuse to touch margarine and similar spreads, I use butter when it's required (baking etc, or occasionally a buttered crumpet). Natural fats get a bad press but there are worse man-made ones out there.

If you're living on crisps, chocolate, cereal bars, chips, fast foods, freezer foods, ready meals and junk then you need to adjust your diet. If your'e eating plenty of wholesome natural foods interspersed with the occasional pudding, takeaway, chocolate bar or packet of crisps you're on a much better track.

Some of us are on the extreme end of healthy eating - some are on the worst end of junk and processed food consumption... on a scale of 1-10 (very bad - very good) you want to be about 8 / 10 towards the healthy end :)

There will always be health scares, It wouldn't surprise me if salad has been a cause of cancer according to some study

I agree with all that's been said. Simple and natural should always be your first port of call, with the odd treat scattered here and there.

Yeah I agree it's best to keep things natural (although a lot of things labelled natural are packed with sugar, so be careful about what you buy). The media are always finding new things that are apparently harmful for us but I think most things are only harmful in big quantities, so as long as you eat a varied diet with lots of fruit and veg and natural foods you should be OK!

Exactly, eating 20 bananas a day and 5 lettuces won't exactly do us much good! Even healthy food can be bad for us in large quantities.

You can't eat too much fruit & veg.

Personally, I can. I get really bad cramps if I eat too much fruit and veg. I tend to eat two pieces of fruit and two portions of veg a day 

It's possible to feel overstuffed in 1 sitting, but fruit and veg shouldn't make you feel like that. It can take a couple of weeks to get your digestion used to eating a good healthy diet with plenty of fibre, but 4 servings of fruit and veg isn't giving you enough vitamins, minerals and a healthy amount of natural digestible/indigestible fibre.

The goverments '5 a day' below optimum where fruit and veg is concerned, it was just set at that as a realistic target for basic health. Fruit is always best consumed seperately, it digests really quickly so it can ferment and cause bloating and stomach upsets... veg shouldn't cause a problem unless you're combining it with something unsuitable (that you react to) or you're a gulper who doesn't chew their food.

I keep my fruit and veg consumption spaced out during the day, fruit seperate from everything else and I eat between 8-12 portions a day. Maybe a bit more veg than fruit though.

I try to eat more veg than fruit -mainly for my teeth as I was told by the dentist to cut back on all sugars! 

Does raw fruit and veg contain more nutrients than when it's cooked?

Yes, cooking destroys a lot of nutrients. Some cooking processes are worse than others. Some foods you just wouldnt eat raw and some foods must be cooked like pulses and legumes. We tend to steam our cooked veg but i eat fresh, uncooked veg with a lot of meals, even if its just a handful of salad.

Hi,

There's a saying...."If it didn't swim, walk, or grow then it isn't good for you".

This is pretty much true in meaning avoid processed foods or any food that's been played about with and what not, as much as possible or eat them in moderation. You will have arguments from all angles on what's good and bad for you. I know nutritionists that don't agree on quite a lot of things and that's their profession.

Deek

There are different types of nutritionist too with different levels of opinion. Its not difficult to train and become a 'nutritionist', its a dietician that requires degrees. Having spoken to dieticians and nutritionists theres a lot of mixed advice between the 'government healthy diet', high in carbs and the 'swims, grows and walks' diet which is the more natural way to eat. It can be a nightmare of contradictory advice.