When it comes to healthy eating, there are many things that we should consider. Some people could have different requirements, preferences and limitations related to their daily diet. As an example, one of the most common health buzzwords is organic. Many people are willing to spend a lot of money of different kinds of organic products. This is especially true because many people think that organic food is healthier. When buying organic food, we should make sure that it is free from artificial fertilizers and pesticides. However, we should be aware that organic food doesn’t always contain more nutrients and some risky substances, such as saturated fat and cholesterol can still be present at normal level.
Another thing that people seek when choosing healthy food is that they want to get whole-grain food. Some types of food such as flour may undergo repeated refining process. This could strip out the germ and the bran of the grain. Bread made from quality refined flour is often bright in color and fluffy in texture. However, it could be much lower in terms of natural nutrients. For this reason, manufacturers may add supplemental nutrients that can be synthetically made. However, we should be aware of misleading claims. As an example, pasta can be labeled as a whole grain food, although it can be made mostly of refined flour.
Many people are also seeking for gluten-free food and it is one of the most common buzzwords. Celiac disease is relatively rare and only about one percent of people have it. These people are unable to properly process gluten in their body. For people who don’t have the health problem, it is very much questionable to consume gluten-free food. In essence, gluten is a type of plant-based protein that is available in barley, wheat and rye. Gluten has been stripped from gluten-free products. However, the process could affect the taste and texture. To compensate that, manufacturers may add sugars and fat-based ingredients to improve taste and texture.
Antioxidant is another thing that people often want to get. It has proven health benefits, but we should be aware that the best antioxidant is found on fresh products. It can be quite troubling if we find antioxidants in soft drink and other less healthy products. These products are often claimed made from real fruit. However, this should raise a real question about how much fresh fruit that’s used as ingredients. The manufacturer may still use food coloring and artificial flavoring to produce vibrant colors and sharper fruity taste. In this case, we may actually load up our body with more questionable chemicals than with antioxidants. It is always better to consume fresh produce and fruit than packaged products.
People also seek low sugar and reduced fat to obtain desired health benefits. However, we should also find out whether there are other bad chemicals that are present. As an example, chips may contain less fat and sugar, but they could be quite high in sodium,
