Health Food and Healthy Food

Or any host of consumer products with claims such as CONTAINS NO DAIRY, CORN, GLUTEN, WHEAT, NUTS, ANIMAL PRODUCTS, HYDROGENATED OIL OR TASTE! The term health food definitely brings with it some stereotypes; unfortunately, those stereotypes can keep a lot of people away from food that might be beneficial for health.

The term health food tends to conjure up images of taste-bud offending concoctions that look like the sludge on your lawn mower after trimming the grass on a damp day. Or powders that bear little semblance to food at all except when mixed with water (and even then it is debatable). Or any host of consumer products with claims such as CONTAINS NO DAIRY, CORN, GLUTEN, WHEAT, NUTS, ANIMAL PRODUCTS, HYDROGENATED OIL OR TASTE! The term health food definitely brings with it some stereotypes; unfortunately, those stereotypes can keep a lot of people away from food that might be beneficial for health.

It was a good day when I realized that many of the foods I loved were on Doug’s Kaufmann 1 diet. For instance, I love steak (Doug introduced me to grass-fed steak though, which IS healthy for you, despite what conventional wisdom teaches about red meat…) and all other varieties of red meat.  I love salmon and tuna. (Apologies extended to you vegans and vegetarians, I’m definitely a carnivore though.) I love almonds and cashews, and every other member of the nut family. I could probably live on avocados. Once I realized that these and many other foods, although not labeled health foods necessarily, were healthy, I realized that eating healthy is something I could get in to. 

My paradigms have definitely shifted from when I was a teenager; I’m sure I probably thought anything related to health was lame because teenagers tend to think everything is lame. Now, I relish a healthy meal not only because of the pleasure in eating it, but because I feel so good afterwards. Still, I understand the aversion people have to health food. For most people, it brings to mind the long haired, un-showered, unshaved hippie vegans that perhaps popularized the idea of healthy eating in the beginning. (Again, no offense here if this is you – I’ve definitely had shoulder length hair, worn out plenty of flip-flops and listened to my share of rock ‘n roll.) But if you are new to this whole health eating/health living thing, realize that it is bigger than the earthy, new age stereotypes that are often associated with it. And you can definitely still be a carnivore.