Little lesson’s in Health.

-          General rule of healthy food.

In today’s world, do we really know what we are eating? We all trust what labels are telling us about their products, but please remember a label is also there to get your attention and sell  the product. For people who are trying to improve their health this is becoming a problem, everything is too confusing and there are so many things that we need to know in order to make the right decision. To make this harder the people that are giving this ‘advice’ to you for free, are usually trying to change your knowledge of health and sell you their product. Therefore most of what they tell you is incorrect or worded in a way to make you think they are saying something different. This does not help when you are trying to learn. In Health it can be said that ‘if it comes out of the ground or from a tree it is healthy’. For meat think ‘if the animal has 0-2 legs then it is good and 4 legs is bad’ these are the best rule of thumb. So if you can take anything from this message take that. So in a world where these labels are saying ‘98% fat free’, ‘98% less fat’ or ‘98% reduced fat’, you need to remember that these figures are there to grab your attention. Yes it sounds great but we now need to think about what has come out of the product and what has gone into the product to make it ‘98% fat free’?

For example if I buy spicy chilli Tuna 98% fat free and the other is just normal sweet chilli tuna which is the healthier option? The next question most people will ask is, what is the calorie intake? The spicy chilli Tuna 98% fat free is 98 Cal and the normal sweet chilli tuna is 161 Cal. Which is healthier? Most would now say the spicy chilli Tuna 98% fat free, because it has less caloric intake. However, we are missing the key issue here, remember that in order for something to be 98% fat free, something needs to be taken out and something needs to be put back in to make it taste the same. The thing we now need to focus on are the ingredients. In the 98% fat free additives have been added to give it the same taste as the regular tuna. Now ask yourself, are your livers designed to break down non-natural chemicals? No, our livers are not. So in this example it would take longer for our bodies to break down the spicy chilli 98% fat free tuna, therefore the normal sweet chilli tuna is the healthier option. This is because the normal sweet chilli tuna is able to be broken down by the body a lot quicker, hence it will not store as fat and it will be promoting a healthier system.

This problem of enhanced chemicals in our diet is becoming all too common in the health and[S1]  food industry. So even when you’re thinking ‘if it comes out of the ground or off a tree it is good’ and ‘if the animal has 0-2 legs then it is good and 4 legs is bad’, make sure you read the nutritional content to confirm it has no added chemicals. If this is the case then you can be safe that you are consuming healthy produce.

Cheers, Xenus Fitness