Good Food Health - Stripping Back to Food Basics
Food is so vastly important that it can determine our bodily functions, the health of our skin and hair, our weight, our mood, our energy levels, our sleep, our toilet habits, even how our breath smells!
If you or one of your VIPs are struggling with any of the above consider going back to basics with your food and looking into you Good Food Health.
Your relationship with food probably determines how you eat, how you cook, how you exercise and possibly your weight. We all have a relationship with food whether that be good or bad, and I am sure we all aim to have a good, healthy relationship with our diet – but what is that exactly?
Food as friend
Food as foe
Food as comfort
Food as necessity
Food as drug
Food as a right
Food as a reward
Food as a privilege
Hunger to be welcomed
Hunger to be feared
If you don’t actually know what your relationship with food is perhaps this quiz [link below] may help you start figuring it out
https://www.psychologies.co.uk/tests/whats-your-relationship-with-food.html
The basics of a Good Food Health relationship are that we all need to eat and we all need a good variety of foods.
I believe that every other statement regarding food be taken in context and assessed on a very individual basis.
Eg too much sugar is bad BUT what is too much sugar for a diabetic and a 2 year old and an inactive 25 year old and a very active 37 year old?
We must avoid all carbs BUT is that true for a diabetic and 2 year old and an inactive 25 year old and a very active 37 year old
Chew each mouthful 28 times before swallowing BUT is that more important than sitting at a table with the TV off and phones away, having a conversation about your day with friends or family?
Have 3 set meal a day BUT is that still true for someone who has a very sedentary lifestyle?
One rule cannot fit all
The point is Body One needs a,b and c while Body Two need a bit of c, d and e. One rule cannot fit all apart from the very basic two good food health rules – we all need to eat and a variety of foods are necessary.
I would cautiously add that the earth we live in can provide all the food we need to maintain healthy bodily functions.
That means anything formulated in a lab probably is not necessary for good health.
God made my body and, as the Intelligent Designer that He is, He placed this body in a world that has everything in it necessary to care for this body. That means I don’t need to consume E numbers or C numbers to work properly but I do choose to consume them sometimes because they taste nice!
Of course I eat foods that are bad for me just for the enjoyment of them - I enjoy the odd packet or two of Haribo’s and Boost is one of my favourite chocolate bars (although what could possible beat a Galaxy?) and what is life without McVities Chocolate Digestives? My body doesn’t need any of those ‘nutrients’ in any of those foods though, my body is ok, better in fact, without them! But as long as they don’t make up a regular part of my food intake, so long as I keep them as a treat, they aren’t going to do me any harm.
If you are more active than I am (and most people are) then you can probably have them more often than an occasional treat, Good Food Health is individual, its about you and how you live and what you need.
My top tips for Good Food Health
· Look for organic everything.
· Look for the little suppliers and check their ingredients list.
· Buy the best meat you can afford, from the best possible supplier you are able. If finances limit you and you have a family of sworn carnivores, you can slowly reduce the amount of meat you eat rather than going cold turkey – vegetarian is much cheaper.
· Use only sea salt, not processed table salt
· Use brown sugar, not highly processed white sugar
· Abandon all sweeteners (I will have a separate post all about sweeteners)
· Buy the least processed version of everything
· Buy the best meat etc when on sale and use your freezer
· Produce/grow your own:- bread, pasta, cake, potatoes, tomatoes, strawberries. Start with the small changes and build up slowly.
· Finally and vitally, question everything: by this I mean before you buy it ask yourself……
“How can they afford to produce steak and chips for £5.99. Perhaps its not even real beef!”
“What does ‘sodium benzoate’ in the ingredient list even mean and what does it do to my insides?!”
Rebel Food Health states convenience is bad!
Most of the food that we are able to buy in packets in the supermarket – a loaf of bread for instance – have come about for convenience. We must remember that Good Food Health, like anything good, take time. I know that the professionals will tell you it doesn’t have to take more time but in reality it does. Making a loaf of bread will always take more time than buying a loaf. Home done potato wedges will always be more time consuming than oven chips. However, a home loaf has less bad stuff in it, zero plastic packaging and, like for like, probably costs less too.
We are often told that it tastes better too, but in my case that is never true on my first attempt!
I am no chef, but the time taken on good, healthy food is absolutely time well spent in my opinion, for my health and for that of my family. More importantly I am showing my kids that there is another way, don’t buy into the convenience lifestyle the supermarkets sell you, we don’t have to rush through everything, it is simply not necessary.
Hopefully when they are older they will be better equipped to make healthier choices.