Classifying food as "healthy" vs. "unhealthy": completely erroneous?

ndj1979

BiggDaddy58 wrote: »

Common Sense should be fine for most people. Unhealthy..could be a greasy doublecheeseburger with bacon Vs a salad. Could be a sundae with whipped cream Vs strawberries with no whipped cream? Could be potato chips Vs veggie sticks...

I think some of these foods could be considered unhealthy ..or perhaps..not the healthiest choice? I believe someone said it earlier..semantics...

Some foods are probably better choices for us, we simply don't always choose the best choice. Does that make having 6 beers on a Saturday night unhealthy? Or is it the quanity of the choice..? One beer = ok..
6 beers=unhealthy A doublecheeseburger 4 ounces fine, on the grill , a slice of real cheese and two slices of bacon..VS Can you eat the Big Bang DoubleCheeseburger challenge at the bar...? two 4 oz patties, 4 slices of cheese, 6 strips of bacon with ketchup, pickles, onions, mustard, and a 1/2 pound of salted fries in 20 minutes?

if you hit micros, macros, and your calorie target for the day you will be fine.

if you have eggs and fruit for breakfast; whole wheat bread, turkey, and cottage cheese for dinner, a cheeseburger with grilled vegetables for dinner, and some oreos for dessert is that unhealthy or healthy ...? If you stayed within your calorie target and got your micros ad macros in for the day, then yes that is healthy ...

NorthCascades

stevencloser wrote: »

NorthCascades wrote: »

DrEnalg wrote: »

Great article at Reason magazine's website. Article basically takes a look at what happens when you take a long list of food items and then ask consumers on the one hand, and nutritionists on the other to classify the foods as "healthy" or "unhealthy." Bottom line - there's a ton of disagreement, and maybe the question really just isn't that helpful in the first place?

People always tell me I should eat my vegetables because they're a healthy food. I'm so relieved to hear that there's no such thing as healthy and unhealthy food, I never have to eat another vegetable as long as I live.

But anyway. Say you already met your micronutrients for the day but are still 1000 calories shy of your goals and lacking in fat and protein, which can easily happen if your diet is rich in vegetables.

Is it healthy to eat even more vegetables or something that fulfills your current needs?

Fair point. I make these delicious smoothies from frozen raspberries, protein powder, peanut butter, and milk, or half and half when I need lots of calories. So I can't really relate.

But I think the concept of foods being more or less healthy than others is sound, and I think most people agree.

BarbieAS

ouryve wrote: »

I prefer Elmo's concept of everyday foods and sometimes foods.

You know, you kid , but (without realizing it was an Elmo thing; either I missed that when they were littler or I absorbed it unconsciously while I was trying NOT to listen to Sesame Street ) I actually do more or less use that with my kids.

We have "up" foods, foods that are "in the middle," and foods that are "down" (they came up with the terminology). "Up" foods are foods that are really good for you and you should eat them all the time and you can always have as much as you want** (fruits, vegetables, most legumes, many proteins, some other stuff). Foods that are "down" are treats (desserts, chips, candy, etc) that you should only eat once in awhile/in small portions. Foods "in the middle" are foods that have a lot of things that are good for you in them, but you need to eat them along with lots of "up" foods and other "in the middle" foods and not eat TOO much of any one "in the middle" food (so basically everything else, including most things that are combinations of foods like sandwiches, pizza, etc). It works really well for us, my kids get it....and, I didn't at all have it in mind when I wrote up my previous post, but it totally goes along with it - I would generally be comfortable saying the foods we've classified as "up" are "healthy," the "down" foods are "unhealthy," and everything "in the middle" is in that neutral ground where it depends on context.

**Yes, I realize that an adult could technically consume too many calories eating only foods from this group which could result in a net negative impact to their health. However, as I'm teaching small/growing kids who are also still in the picky stages of life, I prefer to tell them they can have absolutely as much broccoli, strawberries, black beans, and grilled chicken as they want.