How the food grew matters

Much of eating for health is truly about where the food came from, instead of labelling foods or nutrients as 'good' or 'bad'. People grow up healthily on many different types of whole food diets, depending where they are based on our beautiful planet. A generalist definition of food: something which can be eaten as is, once fully grown (perhaps with a bit of cooking). This is in contrast to 'food like products' which are processed from originally natural sources (a chicken nugget, par example).

There are many ways to grow the same food, and the important message is that the HOW of a foods' growth has a strong impact on how nutritious it is. It really DOES matter.

'"It's very clear that cattle that are fed on pasture have very, very different fatty acid patterns from cattle that are corn-fed. So I think how the animal has been reared probably has a big impact in its nutrient profile and, presumably, on health outcomes, which may be why there's such conflicting evidence, because it depends on where the source of your food comes from." Prof Kay-Tee Khaw Cambridge University (in the article below).

I would be so happy if people would start checking where their food came from, how it was grown/raised, instead of counting calories or fat grams on it. Think about it...how disconnected from the food chain are we if we are checking pack information instead of following our instinct? If you can recognise it from nature, and it grew as closely to how nature intended, it is hard to go wrong. Being healthy with nutrition is not rocket science, but it does involve having a moral compass about the food chain and getting back to pondering natures intent.

The article below focuses on whether saturated fat can be a health contributing fat in our diet: These debates are getting quite old. Let people first cut out the processed foods in their diet (this includes fried foods - eating that amount of hot oil is not natural) and see where their health stands. It really doesn't need to be so complicated. We know processed food is the main problem - let's focus on adjusting our different types of saturated fat once we've returned to eating family meals comprised of simple dishes made from whole foods (mostly plant based).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29616418