‘Food variety’ has long been advocated as the norm for healthy dieting – but the same advice may often be misinterpreted. Nutritionists and practitioners attending to patients with cardiovascular diseases are commonly at war with misconceptions of food variety? To finally clear things up, the American Heart Association (AHA) released on August 9, 2018 new findings into the nature of healthy dieting. The new study by the AHA is claiming that ‘food variety’ as dieting advice does more harm than good and that we should always
Misperceptions on ‘Variety’
By no surprise, processed foods, red meats, and sugars are still off the table. This is worth noting because a lot of people misunderstand ‘variety’ to mean dabbling in all sorts of sweets and refined grains apart from their suggested diet. Variety as a concept in dieting still goes back to the appropriate quantities of basic food groups. ‘A range of foods’ specifically means ‘a range of healthy foods’. As a practitioner, it is important to clarify ‘variety’ as patients may sometimes look for excuses for a relapse. Which ties in to their next statement.
Healthful Eating Patterns
The proper way to go about your diets is to stick to healthful eating patterns. Your three meals per day should should include plant foods, protein, low fat content, vegetable oils, and nuts – all in the proper amount. People tend to veer away from their diet plans because they do not ‘feel full’ after eating. They either overeat in one meal or have several extra snacks during the day. While not as horrendous as when eating confectionaries or pork, it can be just as damaging in the long term. Eating healthful foods in unhealthy amounts still equals to negative results.
These results are supported by a multitude of other studies.
