What should we be eating?

…Sounds like such a simple question but is now so complicated and controversial.

In the 1970’s when the ‘Healthy Food Pyramid’ was designed and promoted, we were told  “carbohydrates are good, fat is bad……..eat more carbohydrates and eat less fat.  Low-fat options for everything became available and people were led to believe that large amounts of carbohydrates and ‘low-fat’ was a better option than eating any fat.  Fat was replaced with sugar to make ‘low-fat options’ taste good… but look what happened…we got fatter, heart disease is worse and we now have a diabetes epidemic.

Where to now?  

Latest evidence is suggesting that the insulin released by our bodies when we eat carbohydrates (bread, sugar etc) causes inflammation in the blood vessels, damaging the blood vessels and resulting in heart disease.   The more refined the carbohydrate, the greater the amount of insulin released and the greater the amount of inflammation caused.

What should we do….

• Eat less carbohydrates (bread, sugars, pasta, rice etc) – and what you do eat, chose less refined options ie wholegrain options.
• Eat more healthy fats (avocado, salmon, olive oil, seeds, nuts)
• Eat more fruit and vegetables

Basically, eat as close to natural as possible.

Sounds too hard!…… Remember change that lasts doesn’t happen overnight.  Change that lasts comes from ongoing small changes in the right direction.

We are all on this journey together, some just starting out and others further along.

Let’s all give it a go and see what difference we can make.

If you want to read more about this latest information, check out ‘What The Fat?’ by Professor Grant Schofield.