Eating Healthy Foods Myths vs Facts

What is healthy food is often considered to be everything in your local health food store. Now, this would be the biggest myth there is in a healthy eating diet plan.

Health food stores buy their products. If the buyer is uneducated in the area of food additives, he could be sold anything and hinder your efforts at eating healthy foods.

For example, I recently went into a health food store that had a sign over the ketchup promoting the ingredient HFCS instead of sugar.

Oh dear!

High Fructose Corn Syrup is a man made food additive. It is linked to obesity and diabetes. This is an ingredient that should be avoided and not used instead of sugar. HFCS is not part of eating healthy foods.

Another example is aspartame. This chemical is permitted to be used in supplements even though it is linked to neurological disease. Just this one ingredient has 92 possible different side effects reported to the FDA. This additive is often found in children's vitamins. So, read the labels and avoid this ingredient in your healthy eating diet plan.

Another myth is that processed meals that balance the food groups are healthy.

I know, those prepared meals look soooo good. And they are easy too, which makes them even more tempting.

But, processed food has chemicals. A good rule: if you can't say the ingredient, don't buy it.

Then there is also the possibility that they contain new foods or genetically changed ingredients. Labeling is voluntary, so you can't know for sure. To give you an idea of the chances, it is estimated that 70% of processed food contains genetically engineered ingredients.

When it comes to what is healthy food-where do fortified foods fit in. Fortified foods have had nutrients added beyond the amount that which normally be in that food item.

Here's the thing about fortified foods. Synthetic man-made nutrients are used which makes them a lower quality than natural vitamins. They are cheap and abundant. Second, the practice of fortifying products is a manufacturers effort to pass off their products as healthy.

Fresh meat is considered healthy. Yet, it can be loaded with pesticides, hormones (a cause of early puberty) and antibiotics. Your healthy food alternative in fresh meat is to buy organic or natural. Both of these methods don't have these additives. Although organic is regulated, if you find a trusted natural producer that works too.

We all know that fruits and vegetables are healthy. Is this too a myth.

Well, not exactly...

You see, the method of production is the ultimate defining factor here.

Let me explain...

Conventional farming practices use chemical fertilizers and synthetic pesticides. All these chemicals affect the soil and the plants. Nutrient depleted soil does not produce the healthiest of plants.

On the other hand, organic produce is grown in nutrient rich soil. This produces nutrient rich plants. Synthetic chemicals aren't used, the crops are rotated and composting is employed.

It is true, fresh produce is part of healthy eating. So, what is healthy food-is best answered by getting the most benefit from the food you eat. Making sure you properly clean it because rinsing isn't enough. Try a vegetable wash like, Eat Cleaner, for instance. And yes, do buy organic food whenever available. But, when you can't get organic, take a sensible approach to making your selections.