What Does a Healthy Diet Consist Of?

Probably more important than any single thing in the food kingdom is to do as Michael Pollan said: eat real food. Do that and you've basically got a healthy diet. So long as you don't eat exclusively vegetables or fruit, dairy or milk, etc., you've probably fought half the battle. After that, I think it's a person by person thing to decide on the rest.

I don't feel starch was ever a big part of the human diet. But hunter-gatherers were foraging and hunting all day long maybe getting maybe 3000 cals of fruit veg seeds and animal foods because they were very active.

Thats a massive difference to what we're doing and that's the problem. That's where grains and roots become important to the modern diet.

Very few modern folks will eat the huge quantity of fresh fruits and veg our ancestors ate. Grains help fill that calorie gap. But grains have problems -- not surprisingly -- gluten and opioids to name but two.

So I reckon we'd be better off substituting at least some of the grains in modern diets for fruits and veg but it's not all that practical, very people will do it and it's expensive.

Most modern folks are also filling the calorie gap with fat and that isn't great. We need to up the volume (from low glycemic fruits and veg) and be willing to spend more of our incomes on quality food from quality growers.

Mike

I always say everything in moderation, and it works for me! :)

Diet-blog said:
* 58% realized foods high in fat and sugar should only be eaten occasionally. ... Not everyone agrees that it is "important to eat lots of starchy foods". ...

Also, not everyone agrees to eat a low-fat diet!

Animal fats are not only one of the most healthful foods that one can eat, but it is also what made us evolve into humans, and is therefore necessary to sustain the development of our ancestors.

You want to know why people are running around with physical and mental health disease and degenerate bodies? Fats are essential to the formation of hormones, proteins essential to neurotransmitters. Carbohydrates are essential to nothing, except maybe diseases of inflammation from the excessive omega-6 fats that are found in grains.

Thanks for this information. As a parent, I'm concerned with teaching my kids about the real meaning of healthy food. It's hard with so much junk food available. But, there is really good information about there for parents like. Take for example this recent episode of Spices of Life about healthy foods in the lunchbox at school.

http://spicesoflife.com/2007/09/13/healthy-foods-for-kids-exposed/

Kailash said:
Carbohydrates are essential to nothing,[...]

The longest lived eat a high carb diet... or did. The okinawans, mediterraneans?

I agree about animal fats but I reckon we don't need so much. Problem is we evolved to eat RAW animal fats in the form of marrow and brains from dead things and raw seafood. I can't see folks eating too much raw dead brain.

The China Study implicates cooked animals with cancer and other diseases so what to do?

Massively increase the fruit and veg and get fats from nuts seeds in the main with small amounts if animal foods (perhaps even raw like eggs, sushi etc). Miminize grains.

But will people do it? In the main, no they won't unless they're highly motivated--very sick or about to die.

Folks struggle with 5-a-day. We are sooooo far off target it's unreal.

Cheers
Mike.

Indigenous peoples in Asia, Africa and South America eat high levels of starches and have much lower BMI and body fat levels than developed nations...even though they consume more total calories.

Indigenous people in Africa and South America tend to have a higher metabolism as well, possibly related to a history of high-starch consumption. There are a couple links to good healthy diet articles on a relatively new website - meddlinks.com - I've submitted a couple stories there.

David said:
Indigenous peoples in Asia, Africa and South America eat high levels of starches[...]

Many previously hunter-gatherer tribes now include farmed maize and sorghum.

Are you talking about hunter-gatherers here?

Aborigines I know do get starches in the form of wild yams but these need cooking so they've got to be a fairly recent addition I assume.

I guess it depends how far back you go. Around 6 million years ago, the theory is that our ancestors diet at that time would have been pretty similar to a modern day chimp. Very little starch in that diet apart from under ripe fruits.

Mike

Ignoring the whole pro/anti starch thing, I think what the study really shows is that there is so much confusing and conflicting information out there that people don't know what they should or shouldn't eat.

Given the sheer volume of diet advice we're given by all areas of the media, it's not really surprising that people are confused. You have to be actively interested and willing to take the time to sift through it all to educate yourself. And even then, I think that sometimes you just have to make as good an educated guess as you can.

It requires effort, a quality that seems to be in short supply these days.

Here is where things get tricky, and the state-sanctioned starch-heavy diets (e.g. Food Pyramid) come into play. Not everyone agrees that it is "important to eat lots of starchy foods".

Actually, they got tricky on the preceding point. Not everyone agrees that it is important to only occasionally eat high-fat, either.

I like this post a lot as it broke it down for everyone in seeing the importance of fruits and vegetables. Other foods are important but getting enough of these foods is everything they need.

My theory is that ancient people probably ate mostly fruits and veggies and meats because they were pretty easy to get at and eat. All you have to do is pick them and eat them, or kill them and then roast them (or eat them raw). With grains, it takes more work to be able to eat them, which is probably why ancient civilizations probably ate them barely ground up (hence, they had more nutritional value).

I tend to eat a diet that is really heavy on the fruits and veggies and nuts, lots of lean protein, and a moderate amount of whole grains. I try not to eat anything that has been processed too much.

IMHO, arguing over carbs vs fats is one of the finer points of nutrition... most people (none commenting here, probably) are currently failing Remedial Eating Healthy. I think that for the general audience, carb/meat debates only obscure a more important message: EAT FRUITS AND VEGETABLES. Once people are actually eating enough produce maybe they then could take a closer look at starch, etc. - but not before!

I don't think that by high fat foods they are talking about meat or eggs, I think they are talking about potato chips and deserts.

I've seen plenty of people when I've been in Asia that eat lots of carbs and are slim, but that is because they are still living lives of strenuous physical labor. If you visit Shanghai or Hong Kong these days you will see that people are rapidly getting fatter as they move to a typical modern office lifestyle. There is simply no reason for the average person in the west to eat a lot of starch, we don't need that much energy.

Spectra said:
My theory is that ancient people probably ate mostly fruits and veggies and meats because they were pretty easy to get at and eat.

Yep, exactly! And so this is what we evolved to eat. Evolution takes the path of least resistence.

An interesting thing I've read as of late is the abundance of mollusk shells found in the early human sites in Africa. Mollusks are easily obtained and can be harvested by gatherers, even while the hunters of the community could go after mobile prey.

Score one for the ladies, who brought marine fats and trace minerals to the tables of early humankind. This might have been a key factor in the evolution of our DHA-loaded super powered brains.

I like how all the posters agreed on fruits and vegetables as essential, despite any other differences. I think we can also all agree on nuts, which are not only easily harvested, but also contributors of healthy fats and many otherwise difficult to obtain minerals such as copper or selenium.

Not to mention nuts are low glycemic load, for the carb-phobes such as myself and a protein completer for the grain-heads!

There is nutrition for the body and nutrition for our emotional well being. Years ago, at MIT, my husband and I discovered that carbohydrates are essential for the manufacture of serotonin and that people 'self-medicate'themselves with carbohydrates in order to boost serotonin and feel better. As long as the carbs are healthy, eating these foods to improve mood, focus and even decrease pain (which serotonin also does) is natural. If is was not, it would not work. And it does.

i think this is a rearly good diet balance

I think I will try this diet. I have a weight problem and it could help me a lot. I have tried with pills and nothing worked. This time I wont to try something natural and I am lucky to have found this. Keep up the good work.