Healthy Foods

 

In fact, the choices you make today can help support a healthy you now, and in the future.

Take a look below as we explore ‘healthy foods’ and provide some insight into whether the foods in your diet are providing you with the nutrients you need.

What is Considered “Healthy Food”?

While eating fads come and go, there are a few key elements to healthy eating that remain unchanged.

Here is what we know:

"Healthy Food” Defined

What is Healthy Food - Moreland OB-GYN Healthy foods are those that provide you with the nutrients you need to sustain your body’s well-being and retain energy. Do you ever find it difficult to determine if your favorite foods are actually healthy for you?

Between misleading labels and the never-ending supply of ‘healthy’ foods on every supermarket shelf, eating healthy can be a confusing and even daunting task.

If you’re between the ages of 35 and 50, the choices you make regarding your health right now are more important than ever. Water, carbohydrates, fat, protein, vitamins, and minerals are the key nutrients that make up a healthy, balanced diet.

As women between the ages of 35 and 50, not knowing what is good or bad for your body can create unwarranted stress. Continue reading for other factors to keep in mind when grocery shopping for your healthy foods.

Saying “zero trans fat”, “all natural”, or “contains whole wheat” can trick you into thinking the product is healthy, even when its nutritional value has been stripped away after being processed.

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Alternatively, many packaged products are packed with salt, sugar, and saturated fat. Use the following as a resource to ease the worries that come along with taking the right steps to strengthen your future health.

. Here is a list of what you should know before you read your food’s nutritional facts:

Sugar: Women should try to limit their sugar intake to 25 g / day or 6 teaspoons

Fat: There are about 9 calories per gram of fat - stick to about 50 g / day

Sodium: Women should not consume more than 1,500 mg or 3.8 g of salt / day

Protein: Women exercising less than 30 min / day should eat about 46 g of protein / day

Vitamins: Naturally occurring vitamins are ideal, but added vitamins can be helpful too

Calories: The average amount for women is 2,000 / day and 1,500 / day to lose weight based on a 150 lb. Even big food companies have lobbied aggressively against public health plans - such as a campaign ordering the removal of junk food from schools.

These junk food items, processed from crops such as corn, wheat, and soybeans, are high in calories (fillers) and lack the nutritional value your body needs. In other words, these claims make you forget about the added calories. However, because they are derived from crops, it can be difficult to know if they are healthy or not, and misleading claims on labels only make things worse.

How to Read Food Labels

According to a recent Nielsen report, almost 60-percent of consumers misinterpret or have a hard time comprehending nutrition labels.

One of the most critical parts of reading your food labels is to look at the serving size; 160 calories may not seem like much, but that could be for only two little cookies. Only 1 in 10 adults meet the daily recommendation for fruit and vegetable intake

Fruits and Vegetable Serving Sizes

This information tells us we need to focus on eating fresh foods that provide us with the nutrients our bodies need.

Unfortunately, the food industry doesn’t make as much of a profit on fresh foods; processed foods are where the money's at

Once eaten, pretzels spike your blood sugar levels and leave you hungry for more.

Veggie chips

Veggie chips are not really vegetables at all. Simple modifications can do wonders to your overall health, such as choosing sugar-free syrup, a smaller serving size, and skim milk instead of whole milk.

Alcohol

Although drinking a glass of wine a day can reduce the risk of stroke and heart disease, and tequila - for example - can help with digestion, alcohol actually has about seven calories per gram.

Common Themes In Unhealthy Foods

The words “processed”, “calories”, and “sugar” should now be triggers for you as you continue your search for unhealthy foods that disguise themselves as healthy.

Lowering your sugar intake will not only help you maintain a healthy weight, but it can also reduce the risk of some cancers, reduce the amount of blood sugar level spikes (which can be what’s causing your energy and mood swings), and can also lead you to have less significant menopause symptoms.

. In fact, after all of the processing that the vegetables are put through, almost all of the nutritional value from them is no longer present. Compared to fresh foods, fruits, and vegetables, frozen meals contain preservatives and often, too much sodium.

Pretzels

They might seem like the perfect, healthy, “fat-free” snack on-the-go, but pretzels actually have close to zero nutritional value. From just one 6-ounce serving, there could be 15 grams of sugar. It’s best to try substituting your dressings with extra virgin olive oil or balsamic vinegar.

Trail mix

Prepackaged or not, a “yummy” trail mix is going to be filled with salt and sugars from flavored nuts and chocolate. For women that are premenopausal, the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) is 18 mg of iron a day

Omega-3 fatty acids: As women age, their estrogen levels decline which can put them at a higher risk of developing heart disease. If the bread doesn’t say it’s completely whole wheat, there’s a chance the majority of the bread is white flour with just enough wheat flour to pass with looks.

Gluten-free products

Having the label “gluten-free” doesn’t automatically mean a product is healthy. Women’s Vitamins for Preventative Health

It’s recommended that your vitamins include the following nutrients or that you incorporate these nutrients into your daily diet:

Calcium: A higher calcium diet may help women lower the risk of osteoporosis.

Iron: With each menstrual cycle, women are losing iron. However, this isn’t how they’re usually made outside of your own kitchen. Stick to the old-fashioned style and pop your kernels on the stove.

Light salad dressing

Although the label may say “light”, the ingredient list on light salad dressing is still packed full of preservatives, sodium, and sugars. Read the labels carefully, a small handful could be as much as 300 calories!

Flavored, fat-free yogurt

Although it may be fat-free, the additives in flavored fat-free yogurt should have you second-guessing this choice. So think twice about drinking premade smoothies from the store or juice stand.

Flavored soy milk

Not to be confused with plain soy milk - which has both potassium and protein and even low cholesterol - chocolate and vanilla flavored soy milk have plenty of sugar and calories and act more like a dessert than a healthy snack or drink to fill you up.

Coffee

You may not realize it, but your everyday pick-me-up might be the hidden calorie offender. As such, reaching for low-fat foods is not as healthy as you might think.

Wheat bread

Bread that is actually healthy for you wheat will say “100% whole wheat” as well as have at least two grams of fiber per slice. Most protein bars are only a few calories and grams of sugar away from being categorized as a candy bar.

Organic foods

Organic foods are free from pesticides, antibiotics, and most additives, but that doesn’t mean organic snack foods aren’t being processed and filled with just as much sugar as non-organic snack foods.

Smoothies

Using fresh fruit, veggies and nutrient-based additives, such as flaxseed, smoothies can be a great way to make a healthy breakfast smoothie. Artificially flavored powder, extra sugar, and even ice cream are sometimes used. After processing, there’s little to no spinach actually left in spinach pasta and hardly any nutritional value.

Low-fat / fat-free foods

Low-fat foods have the fat reduced during the manufacturing process. To boost the flavor, low-fat foods are often packed with added sugar and salt. As an alternative, garnish a fat-free Greek yogurt with fresh fruit or honey.

Spinach pasta

If you’re looking for a way to get your greens in, pasta isn’t the way to do it. These fatty acids can act as an anti-inflammatory for your body.

Most doctors would agree that getting antioxidants and vitamins from the foods you eat is the best way to get your daily dose in, but talk to your women’s preventative health specialist to see if supplements are the way to go for you.

“Healthy Foods” That Are Actually Bad For You and Why

You may be surprised to learn that some “healthy” foods are not very healthy at all.

Microwave popcorn

Packaged popcorn can have high levels of a chemical called diacetyl and not to mention the unnecessary sodium. But removing the fat also removes the flavor. Instead, stick to naturally gluten-free foods such as fruits, vegetables, and brown rice.

Frozen dinners

Although the idea of having portioned veggies, meats and grains made up for you sounds like an easy way to be healthy, it really isn’t. If you’re looking for a crunchy snack, try roasting some of your favorite vegetables.

Protein bars

Although the word “protein” is included in the name, that’s not a reason to deem any food healthy.