"Healthy" means what, now?

[kenjari]

Something 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?

Comments

[gee-tar.livejournal.com]

While I agree with your definition, I often find the two concepts are related. Many Americans are overweight and thus losing weight is an important aspect of being healthy. So, like most things, a lot depends on context. If someone who is noticeably overweight comments that s/he is trying to eat healthy, there is a certain diet subtext there for me. But if a person of normal weight makes the statement, it would imply more of a maintenance of health, for instance in the choosing of fruit over dessert.

[stolen-tea.livejournal.com]

"Healthy" means exercising so much that I can eat anything and still gain muscle and lose fat.

Sadly, it seems to be a moving target these days. :)

[snazzypants666.livejournal.com]

I never thought about it until you brought it up, but I think you are absolutely right. "Healthy" now seems to imply something that is low fat or low sugar or low whatever. It's one of those marketing kicks that the food industry has latched onto. I think it's a bit irresponsible as well because something that has low levels of whatever (fat, sugar, calories) and is labeled as healthy may have high levels of something else (sodium) that isn't good. Things would probably be much clearer if they stopped mis-using the word.

I try to follow along with your definition of healthy, with the occasional treat that I know probably isn't great but because I try to have them in moderation are ok. I think there are other things that contribute to general health as well, including exercise of course as well as the things that make you mentally and emotionally healthy as well.

[kenjari.livejournal.com]

My definition of healthy eating does not exclude or even frown on occasional treats - "a wide variety of foods" includes things like chocolate and cake. :)

[hai-kah-uhk.livejournal.com]

I'm with you. I've noticed the same shift and I refuse to go along with it. Nutrients are what makes something healthy - a full set of vitamins, minerals, and amino acids for your body to work with. Calories are good. Taking calories out of food so you can eat more without gaining weight is not healthy. In fact I'd call it unhealthy. It promotes gluttonous habits and overconsumption of chemicals such as aspartame.

[kenjari.livejournal.com]

Calories are good.
Thank you for saying this. Calories fuel your body - they are what give you energy to move and think, and keep all you biological processes going. We need calories.
It reminds me of a blog post I read recently from a woman who was taking a nutrition class at her university. She was shocked by the answer to the following question:
It's 7:30 am and you're running late. You are about to have a very busy, active, demanding day and you know that you will not have a chance to eat anything at all until 1pm. All you've got in the house that doesn't require cooking is an orange and a candy bar. What do you eat?
The answer is both. Neither the orange nor the candy bar has enough calories to give you the energy you are going to need to get you to 1pm.

[sylphae-minuo.livejournal.com]

I have noticed this shift as well. I frequently hear of Snackwell products being labeled as healthy, when in fact they are terribly artificial. Personally I equate is with nutrient rich hand free of chemicals. I try to educate people to that as part of my job.

Interesting the issue with weight is rampant in this country. There is a lot of evidence that much of the weight problem comes from the artificial food that are consumes paired with lack of exercise. You can be skinny and unhealthy too, ie: most runway models. I think I am preaching to the choir here tho :)

[epilimnion.livejournal.com]

I think a large part of the problem is the media driven frenzy over the "obesity epidemic" and the conflation of extra pounds with bad health. that correlation is not absolute. Especially since the criteria (in terms of weight and BMI) for obesity has changed in recent years such that the wieght and BMI categorized as overweight has actually decreased.
Of course, it's easier for marketting and advertiseing to sell products according to superfical litmus tests of health, rather than real determinants, which are often not visible to the naked eye.

Just because you eat healthy and exercise does not mean that you will automatically attain the media-endorsed "healthy" body shape.

As an anecdote, I'm 10-15 pounds heavier than I was in college, however, in the last year I have started exercising regularly, so even though I am not as slim as I was (I'm rocking the pot belly), I'm actually healthier, I have more muscle tone and stamina. Last summer I ate lots of salads (not as a diet, but because Au Bon Pain had some awesome selections) and I went to the gym 3 times a week. My weight did not change, nor did my body shape (hello pouty tummy). I did feel really good though.

I read a really good article by Michael Pollan in the NY times a while ago about what constitutes healthy food. I really liked his ideas. He's against processed food because elements of it have been added and subtracted by science. his advice is that if your grandmother wouldn't recognize it as food, it's probably not good for you. And soon to be quoted everywhere, his most basic advice: eat food, not too much, mostly plants. Which I take to mean, don't eat anything created in a lab, eat when you're hungry, stop when you're full, and eat more plants since our diet has become too reliant on meat.

[alphacygni]

I think a necessary addition to Michael Pollan's rule is thinking about whether anyone's grandparent would recognize it as food. My grandparents certainly wouldn't have recognized tofu as food. But somebody's grandparents would.

Also, I really think we need to adjust it to great-grandparents at this point.

My only problem with Pollan so far is that he doesn't address how difficult and/or expensive it can be to follow his advice, given the way our world is currently structured. I think that needs to be tackled at least as much. Swimming against the tide constantly is exhausting, and discourages lots of people.

excellent question!

[pantsie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's a shame that the term "healthy eating" has become synonymous with deprivation and self-flagellation.

I'm one of the folks on your friends list who sits solidly in the overweight camp, so healthy eating does include portion control for me, but it also means a lot of other things.

Healthy eating involves eating to fuel the body with the energy it needs to perform its daily athletic functions, giving the body treatment in a way that shows it is as sacred as the mind, eating carefully and with joy, eating when one is hungry and eating until one is full, and making sure that a variety of foods enter the scene - not only for the sake of health and nutrition, but also because it's an opportunity to explore tastes and flavor in a fun way.

[ivan23.livejournal.com]

I associate quite a bit of it with food, but with the recognition that just about anything's healthy as long as you don't overdo it. Want a pizza? Great, just be sure you stop at two slices. Want a cheeseburger? No problem. Skip the fries and get water instead of coke.

Bread is good. Bread is your friend. Three bagels slathered in cream cheese are not.