Although there is no bad food there are only bad diets, some types of food are better for us than others.
So what should we eat and which products we should avoid?
Our diet should be rich in nutrient-dense food because it provides us with all sorts of goodness (nutrients) without the bad stuff (fat, added sugar) and only with a small number of calories.
But we have to be careful not to “spoil” the nutrient-dense food by preparing it with added sugar or solid fats. For example, 85g of chicken breast has 138 kcal if baked but 246 kcal if breaded and fried (Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010).
If you would like to check how nutrient-dense your favourite ingredients are, please follow this link. And here, straight away, there is a list of food that will help us in eating healthy:
Energy-dense food is far from eating healthy rules: it has very few nutrients but lots of calories often referred to as empty calories.
I am afraid the majority of us know exactly which products belong to this group: the ones we do enjoy tremendously but as soon as we finish them we feel guilty we had them….
So we should eat (much) less of them and at the same time we should reduce consumption of the following (DGA 2010):
I know from my own experience it is not easy to quit old habits and wonderful tastes that – unfortunately – fat and sugar give to meals but don’t we deserve to look after ourselves?
Besides with a wide range of products that are good for us and should be eaten, we can get creative and make delicious but healthier meals.
And lastly – as I wrote at the beginning of this post – there is no bad food there are only bad diets, so if we are really desperate to have a lemon meringue roulade (or something equally sinful), let’s have it, it will be OK.
It will be OK as long as we don’t have it every day.