"Healthy" means what, now?
Feb. 15th, 2008 09:09 pmSomething I've noticed in the media and the way people (and I mean "people" in the broadest, most general sense, not necessarily the folks reading this) talk about food and exercise lately is that the meaning of the word "healthy" seems to have been hijacked. It used to mean "promotes health". Now it seems to mean "keeps/makes you thin", especially where food is concerned. When I think of "eating healthy" I think of eating a nutritionally rich, balanced diet that includes a wide variety of foods; it also involves eating at least three meals a day. However, more and more often, when I hear or read the term "eating healthy" it seems to mean "eating so as to carefully control calories and thereby control weight". A lot of demonization of certain foods seems to go along with this, too. For example, a coworker recently commented about leftover bread from a catered lunch (which consisted of salad, grilled vegetables, and french bread) by saying that she guessed people were trying to "eat healthy". I responded that there's nothing "unhealthy" about bread.
So what does "healthy" mean to you? How much (if at all) do you connect it to weight?
So what does "healthy" mean to you? How much (if at all) do you connect it to weight?