| Home | Free Articles for Your Site | Submit an Article | Advertise | Link to Us | Search | Contact Us |
This site is an archive of old articles

    SEARCH ARTICLES
    Custom Search


vertical line

Article Surfing Archive



Food - What Can We Eat? - Articles Surfing

Recent surveys have shown that one in four of us are completely confused with the official guidelines on healthy eating.

Take red meat for instance. Does it cause cancer or is it good for us? Is alcohol bad or good in moderation and should you stop drinking if you're pregnant. How about tea and coffee - is the caffeine bad for us or not?

Then of course, there's chocolate. Do the feel good factor and antioxidant properties in some brands make it worth risking all those calories?

We all know processed food contains lots of saturated fat, salt and sugars, as well as colourings and flavourings so we shouldn't eat too much of it, but we're now told we shouldn't eat the good old English breakfast either.

Bacon, sausage, egg, beans and toast should be relegated to the dustbin apparently. Instead we should eat fresh fruit and cereal, but even that is often full of hidden salt and sugar.

It is difficult knowing what you should or shouldn't eat and most people don't have the time to read the packaging. Even if you did you'd probably be confused, as each manufacturer seems to have a different method of describing the contents. I think the simplest to understand are the traffic light symbols, which show red, amber and green, as most people understand red means stop, amber means be cautious and green means go, but some people prefer the pie charts.

We should, for the sake of our health eat plenty of fruit and vegetables because they contain chemicals to prevent cancer. They also fill you up without providing too many calories, which is great. If you can afford organic food it's even better because not only do they taste better, and have more natural vitamins and minerals, they are grown without harmful chemical pesticides and fertilisers. This means they don't add to the daily toxic build-up in your body. Unfortunately they are in the wrong price range for most people on a limited budget.

There is no question we are getting bigger and childhood obesity levels are rising. This will inevitably have health consequences and it is partly our modern lifestyle, which has created the problem. Apparently we now live in an obeseogenic environment.

When food was scarce we had to use a lot of energy to get it, but now we are surrounded by high-energy foods and labour saving devices so it's really hard to get rid of those excess calories. Refrigerators and microwaves have a lot to answer for.

Another problem is the lack of facilities to be able to exercise safely. Many of the school playing fields have gone and cycle paths are not traffic friendly. Few children are encouraged to go out to play because of the fear of muggings, gangs, paedophiles, drugs, etc, and that's in daylight hours.

It seems to me though, there's no point getting obsessed with food otherwise you just end up miserable. If you like something, eat it but do so in moderation and stop when you feel full.

If you are one of those people brought up to believe you must eat everything put in front of you because of the plight of the starving people in other countries, then use smaller plates and eat slower. It may sound simple but it works. I've tried it. You end up eating less, but feel full because you've taken the time to actually chew and taste the food, and also chewing releases a chemical in your brain which tells your stomach you are full. Clever, eh?

It also prevents food waste because even if you do leave something on your plate it unfortunately won't help the starving millions, and if you throw cooked food away it fills up the landfill and creates lots of detrimental gases.

Submitted by:

Jean Shaw

Jean Shaw writes articles, has four websites, three blogs, and is the author of three non fiction true story books on autism and mercury poisoning - http://www.jeanshaw.com Visit - What A Slimming World blog at http://www.whataslimmingworld.com



        RELATED SITES






https://articlesurfing.org/wellness_fitness_and_diet/food_what_can_we_eat.html

Copyright © 1995 - Photius Coutsoukis (All Rights Reserved).










ARTICLE CATEGORIES

Aging
Arts and Crafts
Auto and Trucks
Automotive
Business
Business and Finance
Cancer Survival
Career
Classifieds
Computers and Internet
Computers and Technology
Cooking
Culture
Education
Education #2
Entertainment
Etiquette
Family
Finances
Food and Drink
Food and Drink B
Gadgets and Gizmos
Gardening
Health
Hobbies
Home Improvement
Home Management
Humor
Internet
Jobs
Kids and Teens
Learning Languages
Leadership
Legal
Legal B
Marketing
Marketing B
Medical Business
Medicines and Remedies
Music and Movies
Online Business
Opinions
Parenting
Parenting B
Pets
Pets and Animals
Poetry
Politics
Politics and Government
Real Estate
Recreation
Recreation and Sports
Science
Self Help
Self Improvement
Short Stories
Site Promotion
Society
Sports
Travel and Leisure
Travel Part B
Web Development
Wellness, Fitness and Diet
World Affairs
Writing
Writing B