"Healthy" eating

It's almost the end of the semester! I can't believe how fast it has gone by. I thought I would write my last blog about my "looking" project since the topic of my project ties in nicely with my blogs.
Rahaf and I decided to teach a seminar on "healthy" eating to the class to see what third and fourth year nutrition students believe "healhty" eating to be. The purpose was to explore their attitudes and values around the word "healthy" and stimulate a discussion on the many factors one must take into consider when trying to come up with a definition. I think the seminar was very successful and we did receive a lot of positive feedback.
We also looked at EatRight Ontario's definition of "healthy" eating. EatRight suggests "healthy" eating means following Canada's Food Guide and consuming "extra" foods in small quantities. We discussed how that differed from the class' definition of "healthy" eating, which encompassed the words "variety", "moderation", "balance", and "enjoyment."
Now, as I read through the Canadian Journal of Public Health supplement, which discusses the many factors involved in eating "healthy", I realize there is even MORE to consider. Mary Bush reminds us that what people eat is influenced by the physical environment, the capacity to make healthy eating choices, time, skills to prepare food, personal buying power, one's financial situation, and one's social environment. Kim Raine, in her article "Determinant of Healthy Eating in Canada" talks about the perceptions of healthy eating, which are defined as "the public's...meaning, understandings, views, attitudes, and beliefs about healthy eating, eating for health, and healthy foods." The public's perception on healthy eating includes the consumption of vegetables, fruits, and meat; limitations of sugar, fat, and salt; and variety and moderation. I wish I had read this article before we presented, as I think this definition is a beautiful marriage of parts of EatRight Ontario's definition with pieces of the definition developed in class. It talks about key messages from Canada's Food Guide and mixes them with the belief that every food is okay; that every food has a place in one's diet. However, Kim Raine goes on to say that this definition is lacking some very important key elemetns. Some of them include the consumption of grain and milk products, the importance of freshness (which was mentioned in class), consuming unprocessed and homemade foods, and the concept of balance (which was also mentioned in class). Kim mentions the importance of one's culture in defining "healthy eating" and one's individual psychological state (including self-esteem, body image, mood, and chronic dieting). Kim then goes on to discuss the role of environmental factors in the definition, illustrating how complex the simple term "healthy" eating can be.
There is just so much to think about, so much to take into consideration when we use the words "healthy" eating. I think the message that I will take away from this exercise is that "healthy" eating cannot be defined. Eating "healthy" is an abstract concept that is not easily translated into words. I just read the article "Measuring the Dash" and I think when you step back and look at the big picture, our life is so short and there is only so much we can control. Yes, eating some foods may help us, and some may harm us, but when we look at the purpose of life, where does "healthy" eating really fit in? I think we just have to be mindful and pay attention to life, and think about what we are eating and why. I think it's very important to create a connection between our bodies and food. For me, that is "healthy" eating.