"Healthy Food" Rant

I've heard this one too many times: "I want to eat somewhere healthy." Usually spoken by someone looking for a quick bite out. I take it as a sign I will not be dining with that person. Not because I'm against so called healthy eating; changing my own diet allowed me to drop 45 pounds over the last four years. I just reject the notion that one food is healthier than another. Think about it: going to a place that touts healthfulness invariably leads to expensive food short on flavor, often with a dose of dogma to make up for it. It's "healthy" because it's (insert one or more of the following: raw, vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, low fat, low carb, low salt, macrobiotic, organic or whatever the health trend of the month happens to be).

I understand the desire to grasp at food dogma; one wants to eat healthy, and many of us suspect we do not. But this quickly leads to a forest for the trees scenario. Is the organic vegetarian convenience food item from, say, Trader Joe's obviously a better bet than a bean burrito from Taco Bell? Is the (god forbid) grilled chicken Caesar salad a healthier choice than a burger? Is it really a good idea to punish your taste buds and wallet with the organic quinoa salad and marinated seitan after going through the trouble required to find a place that offers such items? Maybe, but I hardly see any cut and dry answers in this regard. Yet people who make such choices will defend them because they're convinced they are eating healthy by doing so. And I have no reason to suspect they're right in this regard. I refuse to accept that the "healthy choice" is the boneless, skinless chicken breast or the vegetarian option. I don't believe fast or convenience food undergoes a transubstantiation to health food through the power of faith in the grilled chicken breast.

Some absolutes exist. If you cook from scratch at home, not going crazy with the salt, fat and white carbs you're doing better than most dining out options, if healthfulness is your goal. Given. If you eat meat it seems reasonable to be concerned with its provenance, given how much livestock is raised in our industrialized world. And you're probably doing yourself a favor if you manage the complicated trick of avoiding most products of the modern food science lab. At least there's reason to suspect as much. I'll admit to casting a wary eye toward most ready to eat items in supermarkets and convenience stores - things that can sit there for inordinate lengths without going "bad". The longer and less pronounceable the list of ingredients the less likely I am to eat it. But beyond that I don't think there are many absolutes when it comes to specific food items.

I don't think fried chicken, bacon, foie gras or triple creme brie are unhealthy. Nor is a cheeseburger and fries. Or a pizza. Spinach, carrots and hummos are not inherently healthy - eat enough of any and they will poison you. (Eight to ten pounds of spinach is enough to kill you). As convenient as it is for marketing, classifying particular foods as healthy is misguided. It's anti-cuisine, anti-pleasure and unfounded. Fat isn't bad, carbs aren't bad, and I refuse to be convinced that salt and sugar are bad. PATTERNS of eating are healthy or unhealthy, not foods themselves. Recently I've seen the trinity of corn, wheat and soy portrayed as unhealthy, which is nonsense. Pasta, corn tortillas and soy sauce are not out to get you. But a pattern of eating prepared foods made largely from processed corn, wheat and soy? Might not be a good pattern. We know that. If you have any doubts just head to the supermarket and look at the people pushing carts brimming with packaged heat and eat (or ready to eat) items. Do you want to look like that? Then don't eat like that. But even these foods fail to be evil incarnate (although they're probably close). If you like a TV dinner it's not unhealthy to have one. But every night? Welcome to Fatsickville. Potato chips or ice cream? Why not, once in a while? But every day? WTF? It's not the food; it's the pattern of eating. If you eat mostly vegetables rounded out with a little fat, some meat or fish and some carbs you're probably doing fine, regardless of whether or not you eat a pizza or a double cheeseburger once in a while. "Once in a while" being the key phrase.

Your home is where you have control over what you eat. Cook real food. Eat reasonably. It doesn't require lots of time or money, though they do make it easier. Probably best to avoid a pattern of grabbing food on the run. We know that's not a good pattern, even if you choose the so-called healthy options. They're usually not that healthy. And they're expensive. They'll leave you hungry later, more likely to start snacking. And they often taste like crap. Even when they don't it's a gigantic leap of faith to believe a $7 glass of juice with some protein powder or a $10 grilled chicken salad is a healthier lunch than last night's home cooked leftovers. I think of it like this: if I eat defensively most of the time I never have to fool myself into considering "healthy options" when dining out.