| Will common sense ever prevail? We've all seen | | | | carbohydrate. Here's another one, 'calories are bad |
| stories on the news about a new miracle food. | | | | because they make you fat'; 'energy is good |
| "Eat more carrots and your eyesight will improve," | | | | because it gives you stamina to finish your |
| or "Eating raspberries reduces heart disease, | | | | activities'. The reality is that a calorie is a unit used |
| cancer, etc..." and what about the reports on wine | | | | to measure energy; the same way inches or |
| and alcohol consumption? Is a glass of wine good | | | | miles measure distance. |
| for your health or bad? It is easy for physicians | | | | HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Classifying |
| and the news media to describe foods as good or | | | | a food or nutrient as 'good' or 'bad' and reducing |
| bad, but most nutritionists realize there are no | | | | concepts in nutrition to the most simple terms is |
| such things - only good diets and bad diets. | | | | usually not going to give you a correct answer. |
| Regardless of whether the news reports are | | | | These oversimplifications are not only incorrect, |
| based on fact or fiction, what's important to | | | | but in the long run detract from achieving |
| realize is that no single food will bring you good | | | | balanced nutrition. |
| health or destroy your health. | | | | Although nutrition and diet shouldn't be |
| Unfortunately people persist in classifying foods as | | | | oversimplified, it also doesn't need to be rocket |
| healthy or unhealthy. Relying on various media and | | | | science either. A good diet is about sensible |
| advertising adds to the confusion as terminology | | | | choices and choosing foods that are nutrient |
| used implies that a food is either 'good' or 'bad' | | | | dense. The more nutrients you can include in your |
| based on which term is used to describe the food. | | | | diet the more balanced your nutrition will be. You |
| For example, 'starch is bad because it makes you | | | | can achieve balanced nutrition most easily by |
| fat', but 'complex carbohydrates are good | | | | including a wide variety of foods in your diet and |
| because they contain fiber and take longer to | | | | choosing appropriate, high-quality nutritional |
| digest'. Look up starch in a nutrition textbook and | | | | supplements. |
| you'll find out that it is defined as a complex | | | | |