While individual foods themselves are not inherently healthy or unhealthy, diets can be if they provide a balanced variety of nutrients. There are three main macronutrients - carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins - that our bodies break down food into. Getting the right balance and proportions of these macromolecules along with vitamins, minerals, and other substances is important for a healthy diet. No single food constitutes a nutritious diet on its own, so it is best to incorporate a variety of plant-based, animal-based, and fungal-based foods in moderation.
While individual foods themselves are not inherently healthy or unhealthy, diets can be if they provide a balanced variety of nutrients. There are three main macronutrients - carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins - that our bodies break down food into. Getting the right balance and proportions of these macromolecules along with vitamins, minerals, and other substances is important for a healthy diet. No single food constitutes a nutritious diet on its own, so it is best to incorporate a variety of plant-based, animal-based, and fungal-based foods in moderation.
While individual foods themselves are not inherently healthy or unhealthy, diets can be if they provide a balanced variety of nutrients. There are three main macronutrients - carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins - that our bodies break down food into. Getting the right balance and proportions of these macromolecules along with vitamins, minerals, and other substances is important for a healthy diet. No single food constitutes a nutritious diet on its own, so it is best to incorporate a variety of plant-based, animal-based, and fungal-based foods in moderation.
This may come as a surprise to you, so brace yourself:
There are no “healthy” foods, and there are no “unhealthy”
foods.
Foods by themselves are neither healthy nor unhealthy. They
simply are. It’s diets that are healthy or unhealthy… and by “diet” I mean the collection of foods and beverages that a person or animal habitually consumes. I don’t mean a weight-loss eating plan.
There are 3 main types of macromolecules in food:
carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins. Nearly* everything you eat gets broken down into one of those three categories. Different foods have different amounts of each of those molecules, but the reality is that you need them all, and you need them in the right proportions.
The other stuff in food that we generally think of as
“healthy” (vitamins, minerals, etc.) are needed in such small quantities that it's possible to get plenty of them by eating nearly any well-balanced diet. Unfortunately, many people don't eat a well-balanced diet. While diets can be healthy or unhealthy, individual foods like fruit aren't. So don't think about which fruit is most healthy, think about which fruits you can include in your diet. The idea is to develop a diet which is varied and balanced, a diet that provides you with enough of each of the three kinds of molecules we need, along with the right amounts of other stuff, plus the right amount of calories. For most people, a healthy, balanced diet should definitely include fruits, but it needs a bunch of other stuff to make it truly healthy, and even too much fruit can be a problem.
Few people would argue that broccoli is a healthy food
(whether you like to eat it or not), but I promise you, you would not be healthy on a diet of just broccoli. Likewise, many people believe that eating things like bacon or red meat is unhealthy, but in reality, they can be excellent sources of protein and lipids, along with many of the other substancess that are important for a healthy diet. But still, balance is key, so you should not build a diet of just bacon or red meat!
The two-fold key is balance and variety. Eat a variety of
foods from a variety of different sources, including plant- based sources and animal-based sources (and even fungal- based sources, for the fungivores out there). Keep things in balance, and when in doubt, talk to a doctor or a professional nutritionist, of which I am neither.
*The other things our bodies use include electrolytes like
sodium and potassium, plus amounts of nitrogen, calcium, phosphorus and a few others substances, which we generally get enough of by simply eating a widely varied diet. Beyond that is something our bodies really don’t use, but make use of, and that is indigestible cellulose, more commonly known as dietary fiber, which for some people helps keep digestion working smoothly.