What is healthy anyway?

Isn't freedom of choice incredible? When I was a little kid the cereal aisle in the grocery store was littered with colorful characters and even a dark dracula fellow then buried on the bottom shelf were some boring boxes of brown flakes and that oat stuff Mom used for making cookies. That vast array of choices from my hayday has NOTHING on what is available today. The cereal aisle now is probably triple the size that it used to be (along with the grocery store itself) providing us with a never ending supply of items to choose from. And it isn't just cereals. Coffee, cereal and granola bars, perfectly portioned controlled 100 calorie packs of "goodies", flavoured popcorn, flavoured water and powders to put in that water, more kinds of crackers than you ever thought possible...the variety is seemingly endless. Therein lies the problem. There is so much to choose from that we have NO idea what real food is anymore!

It isn't your fault that you are confused about nutrition, how could you not be?

They do an incredible job of convincing us that all of this junk they are feeding us is even good for us! So here I am to try and help you decifer some of the mess that the world has made of our food. And in all reality it is quite simple but with that said the industry has made it so complicated! It is there job to sell you their products. They don't care about your health. They don't care about your cholesterol or your type two diabetes. They care about their bottom line and how much you have to spend. And the one thing here that upsets me the most is that they target us as parents and in turn they get our children.

Our kids are being taught that 100 calorie packs of cookies are healthy! Yes, our school even claim to be healthy and these snacks meet the criteria of what they define as "healthy". But the first ingredient of almost every item on school canteen shelves is sugar. Yes these items are portion controlled (complete with their colorful lables saying only 100 cals) but when a child comes and buys 2 or 3 to go with their chocolate milk, I am sorry, it is NOT healthy!!! So to say that you are a healthy organization, be it school or otherwise, is irresponsible and a disservice to the children. You are teaching them that these items are "healthy" when in reality they are still just junk in disguise. And as parents we are so rushed and harried in our lives between work, houses, spouses, other committments (read over-commitments) that we accept what we are being told as the truth!

In the meantime don't think that my kids don't ever get to eat any junk, I am not the nutrition police but I am passionate about educating our children properly about nutrition and this is just misinformation and confusing - heck, it confuses us, it has to confuse them!

So what am I supposed to be eating anyway

This is my mother's favourite question and she isn't alone.....

Fin, foot, feather - if it once walked, crawled or swam you are good to go. Lean cuts of beef and pork, fish and poultry are all great staples to base a meal around. Not to mention the eggs from that poultry or dairy products from the cows. Just don't deep fry it or smother it in sauce (sugar) or gravies.

If it grew in the ground or on a tree or bush, go to town! Fruits, vegetables, and grains even - YES dare I say it, the dreaded carbohydrates!!!

That pretty well leaves you to the perimeter of that ginormous store that we call a supermarket with the exception of maybe a few staple grains like rice, oats or quinoa (keen-wah) found in the dry goods aisle.

If man had a hand in making it or it has more than a few ingredients, any of which you can't pronouce,put it back and walk away!

Step away from the shelf and high-tail it back to the produce section where you can be relatively safe.

In the "fitness" world, they call this clean eating. it is quickly becoming a phenomenon although it has been around for years. But in all honesty the food itself or knowing what to eat exactly isn't the real issue. The real issue is convenience. We like tasty, quick, easy to grab and go snacks and meals (otherwise the drive thru never would have been invented). We don't sit to share a meal with our family any more, let alone prepare our meals together.

But a piece of fruit (nature's candy) sure seems convenient to me....nature made portion control. Grab a banana and a handful of nuts or an apple and a piece of cheese and you have a perfectly balanced snack! What's more convenient than that!

Oh and speaking of convenient, what about oven timers and slow cookers? How about taking half of your television time (or even commercial breaks from Big Brother or Bachelor Pad) and prepping your meals for the next day. Pop it in the oven or set your crockpot up on the way to work in the morning and come home to a hot, fresh meal with real food!

The bottom line is getting back to basics. Eating real, nature made foods, cooking them ourselves and planning ahead (see previous post about meal planning and prep).

Their bottom line is the bank, yours is your health and wellness that maybe even more importantly that of our children! Let us be an example to them, they learn more from what we do than what we say!