Being a geek, I’m often asked for what I consider to be
‘healthy’ eating. I’m also regularly asked as to what healthy foods actually
taste good too! This blog will give you a nice little ‘heads up’ on both.
First, let’s start with what actually is ‘healthy’ eating?
Healthy
For me and within this context, ‘healthy’ is eating foods in
a way that enhances your health, rather than detracting from our health, or
even remaining health neutral. Healthy eating improves ‘healthspan’, which is
remaining in good health while increasing longevity.
With that in mind, and as a simple generalised rule of
thumb, is that plant based foods will generally enhance our health, whereas
animal based foods will detract. If you want to improve your healthspan then
shift towards being plant based. If you accept that you will detract your healthspan,
then shift towards animal foods.
Mind you, anyone’s healthspan will initially make gains if
we move towards a whole food natural diet – the ‘processed diet’ that many
people take is not doing us any favours! Also some people may benefit from a
small amount of animal foods in their diet, particularly if they are deficient
in certain nutrients that are easily sourced from meat, or are having
difficulty working out how to eat a plant based diet. If this is you, then you
can always follow Michael Pollen’s handy advice “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly
plants.”
If you question any of this, then please take a look at the
current UK Food Guidance, ‘The Eatwell Guide’, and have a look at the suggested
levels of animal based foods. The UK Food Guidance is nearly completely plant
based, for healthspan as well as sustainability reasons. I would also suggest
that you look at the nutrients contained in plant based foods that are lacking
in animal products, and also the effects of animal products on IGF-1, mTOR, saturated
fat risks, cancer risks, and other indicators of healthspan. Personally I’ve
started down a nice little rabbit hole of the research into nutrition for
healthspan, and it is starting to appear quite clear. We can’t get away from
the data.
(If you do eat meat, please, PLEASE! Buy from your local
butchers, get to know them, get to know the best cuts from the best sourced
meat, and that way you’ll ensure that you are buying quality meat, that also
may be more ethically reared and treated. My local butchers, Woods Butchers of
North Camp, can give you all this information and more. They have created a
buzzy community around them in part for this reason. Buying from a butcher you’ll
find that you will pay a little more than supermarkets, yet it is worth it, a
little will be of far higher quality, better taste, and a little will go so
much further, meaning you won’t have to buy as much resulting in a cheaper
overall shopping price.)
Preparation is important too. As a generalisation, the more
‘prepared’ the food is, the more the health benefits will be reduced. Please
note that this doesn’t mean raw is always best – sometimes food needs to be
cooked in order to allow the ‘goodness’ to be available to us. So we need a
little knowledge to learn what the optimum way of preparing foods are, and for
what benefit. That just takes a little research, and those motivated to
improving their healthspan will take their time.
I do not consider ‘processed foods’, even
plant based ones, as ‘food’. They generally will have added salt, added sugars
and oils, other chemicals, and in my opinion never taste as good as real whole
foods properly prepared by yourself.
There is nothing wrong with supplementation
or fortification either – as long as it is delivered in a way that does not
detract from health. I enhance my B12 intake with fortification in my nut based
milks for example. My scientist friend Ray Cronise suggests that vegans or
those nearly completely plant based may benefit from supplementing their diet
with B12, I, Zn, D3, K2 and EPA/DHA. (You can find Ray’s latest paper here:
http://bit.ly/oxidativepriority. Check out his fellow authors’ work too, they’ll take you down the
longevity rabbit hole!)
Now we’ve got the health side explained, a
common objection from those moving towards a higher plant based diet is how to
make it actually tasty. That’s actually pretty easy, so let me explain.
Tasty
I’ve been recently asked as to what ‘healthy’
foods actually taste good. In my opinion, ALL of them! After just a short time
away from added salt, sugars, chemicals, and fats/oils, our taste buds can
start to actually taste the food that we eat. I now can distinguish the
difference tastes, smells, flavours and textures, and the ‘notes’ within, just of
different lettuce leaves for example – imagine that! So eat natural foods
properly prepared, leave the processed and additive laden food to one side, and
allow your senses to recover and experience the world as it should be.
This leads me further into what ‘tasty’
actually is. We have taste, we have smell, and together they produce flavour.
Much of the smell from eating passes up from our mouth to the back of our nose,
another reason for correctly chewing, to release the molecules so we can fully
smell and enhance the flavour of our foods. The somatic sensation of eating
adds to the experience too. Texture from the food, the way it feels, the way it
feels in conjunction with other foods, the crunch the smooth the wet, the
different temperatures, are all a massive part of the eating experience. This
is what chefs are trained in, and the reason why top chefs are so sought after.
It isn’t just about the food – it is about how that food is combined to create
the overall sensory experience.
Here’s an example. Get a Romaine lettuce
leaf out of the fridge. Get a tub of nothing added cashew butter (or your own
homemade) and spread on the spine. Get a banana and chop it along the spine.
Sprinkle some blueberries along. Roll it up, and eat as a wrap. For some the
thought won’t be appetising – it wasn’t for me when my friend Richard Frissen
first told me to try it! Yet, please do, it is a food sensation! The coolness
of the peppery ‘base’ of the leaf, the crunch of the spine and juices released,
the smoothness of the cashew, the sweet of the banana, the little tasty ‘pops’
of the blueberries and their sweet yet sharp taste – the overall food
experience is fantastic, and a lovely explanation of all the components that
make food great, in a simple quick and cheap example.
So let me give you all the heads up. If you
want to get the knowledge of top chefs and in a VERY simple format yet stacked
with the details that make the difference, I HIGHLY recommend The Vegetarian
Flavor Bible by Karen Page. This should be bought by meat eaters too. It will
let you know what goes with what, how to use herbs and spices, the flavours and
textures of the food, suggested preparations, and a lot more besides. Armed
with this book every meal, even completely plant based, will be tasty.
Personally I think the largest investment
we can give to ourselves, and to those we love, is to look after our own
healthspan. Hopefully this simple blog will help you make some more right
choices, in a way that is right for you.
