Reasonableness Equals Moderation

"Pizza is often demonized as 'bad' because it is high in fat,  high in refined carbohydrates and easy to overindulge."
"But if that pizza isn't an everyday occurrence and it brought friends together, encouraged conversation, laughing and connection, the otherwise 'bad' food becomes nurturing for your soul."
Chris Mohr, co-founder nutrition consulting Mohr Results

"People use 'good' or 'bad' to describe food as if you are 'good' or 'bad' for eating them. This only leads to guilt and stress overeating."
"You are not good for eating kale and bad for eating ice cream."
Deanne Wolfe, co-founder, HealthyBody Nutrition

"The original philosophy appears to be one I think we could all get on board with: eating food as close to its original state as possible, in the most nutritional form possible [minimally processed]."
"But what was once a sense of awareness about food seems to have spiralled into a diet-culture-driven system. On social media, it's become yet another form of body- and food-shaming."
"No matter what, the alternative to 'clean' sounds [like] fear-mongering."
Jaclyn London, nutrition director, Good Housekeeping

Healthy Eating  Health Guide

We all want to be healthy, look good, feel good, enjoy the food we eat and live a good life. If we're concerned about the state of our current health and how we're maintaining our body to ensure we don't succumb to chronic health issues, it's never a bad idea to consider what we're eating. And if we consistently and frequently rely on fast food outlets to sustain the major portion of our diets, and haphazardly select highly processed foods for quick and easy eating, we're doing ourselves no favours.

On the other hand, let's be reasonable. A stringent focus on diet that results in strictly following dietary guidelines to the extent that no back-sliding can be countenanced is hardly conducive to enjoying life. It doesn't become a dietary crime to occasionally indulge in consuming something that is known to be not particularly healthy, but that hits all the high notes on our taste buds. The occasional indulgence hurts no one.

If we twist ourselves into pretzels determined to eat only prescribed fresh food items known as 'whole' foods that have not been factory-tampered, that quest for 'perfection' and the outcome of viewing ourselves as virtuously dedicated to our health may just squeeze the fun out of eating. An over-indulgence in spurning everything but kale, cauliflower and broccoli may assuage our over-zealous consciousness but the occasional deviance has few consequences.

People can become too moralistic about diet. You may decide to dedicate yourself to a lifetime of conscientiously avoiding sugar-and-fat-laden food but unreservedly spurning the occasional doughnut instead of that healthy apple won't spell the end of your devotion to healthy eating; unless you consider yourself a fragile recovering food-aholic.

There's also the psychological reverse effect in considering a food choice forbidden. Suddenly it may seem delectably appealing simply because it has gained forbidden status and its avoidance becomes a kind of psychical torment. People who forbid themselves the occasional indulgence run the risk of turning a little neurotic about their choices. What they spurn becomes irresistible.

Food choices are not 'clean' nor are they to be considered 'dirty'. So-called 'clean' diets are all very well, but unnecessarily domineering. People who have a tendency to sternly force themselves to a restricted diet can sometimes boomerang and throw it all up in an agony of indecision occasioned by persuading themselves that they're doomed if they deviate from whole foods. Self-judgement can be pretty devastating.

If you've taken the trouble to identify healthy food choices and know through practise how to prepare whole foods to take advantage of their untouched nutritional benefits -- avoiding the mind-boggling plethora of convenience, processed and fast foods -- just relax about it all. You can still eat some measure of foods that are best avoided if they represent a serious proportion of your diet. Understand that some food scares like avoidance of carbohydrates makes no sense.

Cereal grains, fresh fruits and vegetables are carbohydrate-rich. "I'm asked if fruit is bad because it's a carb at least once per week. The fact that people, who are trying to do right by their health actually question if fruit is bad for them is a window into how distorted our society's view of food is", noted Marjorie Nolan Cohn, of MNC Nutrition and Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics spokeswoman.

The cardinal rule in all life matters from food choices to spending indulgences in a vast array of consumer goods and determining life choices is moderation. Establish a balance that works -- and enjoy life.