Unfortunately busy life styles and multi tasking has taken its toll on the diets of many as convenience and fast foods are consumed at the detriment to our overall health. As sadly lots of fast foods are high in calories yet low in nutrients so we have to realise that food is our fuel it's what sustains us keeps us fit and healthy physically and mentally. And we know how unhappy being over weight can make us so it's up to us to establish whats really important to us so we can make better choices for our own sake. .
We all know the benefits of eating a healthy balanced diet including as many whole foods as possible including omega 3 fatty acids. This is based on. a US study started in Michigan where they have been monitoring people for 50 years and for this study monitored 2200 people over 11 years, the resulting thinking is that higher levels of omega 3 can increase life expectancy by around 5 years!
At the end of the day a balanced diet is not an austere diet but a diet that sustains us and our personal needs and literally gives us the strength to cope in this modern busy world of ours.
And I've realised after reading this that I don't eat enough omega3 rich foods.
If you are buying tinned fish for it's omega-3, check the ingredients. Only buy fish in brine/water or olive oil. There is evidence that a traditional human diet, the ratio of omega-6:omega-3 was something like 1:1, and now it's 10 or 20:1, and this is causing us harm. If you buy sardines in sunflower oil, and you ingest a teaspoon of that, you will get more omega-6 than omega 3 in the snack, undermining the benefits.
I find tinned fish useful to test am-I-really-hungry? If I am hungry enough that opening a tin of sardines and eating them with a fork appeals, then I know it's real hunger not boredom or snacky-ness.
The change in ratio isn't because we are eating less omega-3, but we are eating so much omega-6. They are in most vegetable oils (aka seed oils), and even a century ago we ate practically zero seed oils.
My take is it is a good reason to add fish and a couple more grains to your diet. They couldn't have been eating only that. If you make your diet rich with whole foods you don't have to worry about this as much. I have salmon and chia in my diet regularly. Chia is pretty cool actually.
Hi Subtle_badger I don't know the source of the photo as its from non copyrighted photo's as we are not allowed to use a copyrighted image for a HealthUnlocked banner.
Copyright violation is the responsibility of members which's why I mostly use my own photo's its just I've used this image as my avatar.
The copyright/credit thing is a distraction, and not the point I meant to make.
When the new rules came in, there was no discussion, and this one has troubled me: "Please post original photos only".
I think your usage of that photo is perfectly reasonable, but it's against the rules. Can we modify the rules to allow posting of 3rd party photos, assuming copyright is OK (eg creative commons) and attribution is given, if known?
It’s because unhealthy food won’t break the bank. Healthy food is better, but there’s a catch. More expensive. We need to solve the problem of healthy food being too expensive in price,
No. The problem is that unhealthy foods are too cheap. Grain farmers lose an average of £9,000 pounds a year, which is made up for with government subsidies. If manufacturers had to pay the actual price it costs to the grow the grain, then the price of junk food would rise, and healthy foods would look less expensive in comparison - or maybe we could move the subsidies to the healthy foods, and make them more affordable.
But that brings in the next problem: our simplistic nutrition advice makes it impossible for a busy person to even know what is healthy. This is the warning label on sardines in olive oil, which would make it seem like a food to be avoided than embraced.
Someone once had a look at the traffic light system to see how helpful it was. They found that the healthiest food in the whole supermarket, based on the traffic lights system alone, is actually sugar free green jelly.
Unfortunately for me I'm not a fan of greens. I think my mum's habit of boiling them til they were all horrid and slimy put me off for life. The smell was awful and even now I can't stand the smell of cabbage and cauliflower , so I can't eat it😝
It’s a shame you’ve been put off but I know what you mean about the smell of boiled cabbage. Do you like spinach? I like it with garlic and cheese, it just needs to be wilted. 🙂
It is true that it is more expensive but it is not as expensive as people make it out to be. There are ways to stretch that money and still eat healthy. remember you are fighting messages from corporate advertising who want you to eat their products. That makes it hard to make those smart choices assuming you even know what they are. Nutrition isn’t exactly taught in schools the way it should be.
We totally can feed everyone too. There is no excuse for not being able to provide a box of healthy food to anyone that needs it. Logistics is the problem not availability.
Money only buys nice things Hidden as we know it doesn't buy happiness love or good health.
We should be focusing on health span and not life span. You want a long and healthy life followed by a short illness and quick death (or be shot by a jealous lover!) Eating healthy foods is how you get there.
My friend Nan is 97 this year, and still plays tennis. She has lots of friends and family, and an excellent quality of life. Who wouldn't want to live that life? The only sad things about her is she was widowed nearly 40 years ago, and misses him every day. But they had 30 good years before that.
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