Why should I care about my diet?

Why would you invest in your health and commit to a lifestyle that includes a healthy diet? In this article I explain why you might want to make your diet healthier and how you can achieve that.
The typical UK or ‘western’ diet

Why is the diet that the majority of people in the UK eat unhealthy? In the worse cases this diet contains lots of processed foods, is high in meat and low in fruit and vegetables. Most days soft drinks and ready meals are consumed with snacks and confectionary eaten between meals. Every week the UK population eats 79 million ready meals and 22 million fast food takeaways. Almost a third of us consume confectionary every day.

Generally my clients are not eating this poorly, their diet does contain vegetables and fruit but is carbohydrate heavy or lacking in good fats. Or it may just be that the diet is not suitable for the individual requirements of that person.

So why is the typical or ‘western’ diet unhealthy for us?

Many people have come to believe that processed foods are the default choice; they are cheap, convenient and perceived as delicious. However they are not aware of the negative health consequences of these foods. They are energy dense, high in saturated fat with little fibre and the focus on low cost means low quality ingredients.

If you eat a lot of these food types over many years your risk of chronic disease increases. You might feel well now, but your years of good health will likely be reduced if you keep away from a healthy diet.

  • Obesity

The obvious result of eating calorie dense foods high in sugar and processed fats are weight gain and obesity. The 2015 Health Survey for England found that 63% of adults in England were overweight or obese, with 27% classed as obese. The NHS say that in 2018/2019 there were 876 thousand hospital admissions with a primary or secondary diagnosis of obesity.

  • Type 2 Diabetes

Poor diet and obesity increase your risk of getting type 2 diabetes. Diabetes used to be considered a disease of old age but is now developing in younger people. It has been growing at a high rate and around 3.5 million people in the UK have been diagnosed with diabetes and the majority of that is type 2. It is currently estimated treating diabetes takes 10% of the NHS yearly budget: Approximately £173 million a week.

  • Cancer

Just one in four people are aware of the link between obesity and cancer, but it is the second biggest cause of cancer. Keeping a healthy weight reduces the risk of 13 different types of cancer. Low intake of fruit and vegetables is a known risk factor for many cancers.

  • Immune system

Eating processed foods can cause a reduction in beneficial microbes in the gut leaving you exposed to less beneficial and even pathogenic (disease causing) bacteria. Gut bacteria are heavily connected to the control of our immune system. If your immune system is busy battling bad gut bacteria you are not as able to defend against disease.

The benefits of changing to a healthy diet

Eating well is fundamental to good health and well-being. Healthy eating helps to maintain a healthy weight and reduces risk of chronic disease.

Even better, it is possible to reverse the onset of disease such as diabetes with a healthy diet (alongside other lifestyle changes). So if you think you eat fairly well at the moment, but suffer from some of the diseases mentioned above, or if you have digestive issues which often precede a medical diagnosis, it is still possible to make dietary changes that improve your health.

Removing processed foods from your diet can restore your gut health, bring immune activity back to normal and reduce inflammation. During your life all food and drink choices matter.

So what is a healthy diet?

Very simply:

  • Base your diet on plant based foods – vegetables, fruit, legumes, nuts, seeds and some whole grains.
  • If you choose to be vegan or vegetarian it is important to ensure you are not missing out on essential nutrients – supplements may be necessary.
  • If you eat animal foods choose organic or free range meats and wild fish. Include healthy fats and eat organic foods as much as possible.
  • Some minimally processed foods are helpful – canned beans, nut butters, yoghurt, hummus, frozen vegetables, canned and frozen fish – but look out for BPA plastics in packaging and added salts and sugars.
  • Avoid sugars, refined grains, fast or junk foods, artificial sweeteners and other additives.
  • Stay away from processed fats, industrially produced and processed meats.
  • Natural rock or sea salt is healthy in small amounts but sodium added to processed foods should be avoided.

Remember too that we are all individuals and are metabolically and genetically different. No one diet fits all and our response to food is highly individualised. Therefore there is no such thing as a healthy diet that works for everybody.

What next?

I hope you take some time out to think about your diet and if there are any changes you could make. In addition supplements can be very therapeutic and will enhance the benefits of a healthy diet.

If you are keen to see the benefits of healthy eating, but need help putting this all together or are concerned your current diet is making you ill, working with a nutritional therapist can be very helpful.

Following a nutritional consultation with me, you’ll have suggestions and recommendations for a diet that is beneficial to you and that works around your lifestyle. Taking this further, I also offer independent laboratory testing where we can determine in detail your individuality and the type of diet that will benefit you the most.

Please take a look around my website and testimonials to see how I’ve helped many people over the years.