Recently I heard someone saying this: “I eat good food. I have money, so I always buy expensive and quality food, I don’t understand, how the food I eat can be an issue for my health”.
That got me thinking. It made me realize that a lot of people are blind. People are fooled, by marketing tricks, fancy packaging, and prices. Yes, prices of the food. There is a belief that the more expensive the food is, the better is for our health.
With this blog, I truly hope to simply reach out to those same people that follow believe and truly help them become healthier.
I have been raised in a family with similar beliefs. I don’t know if that behavior comes from insecurities, or it was developed later on in their career, but for some reason, food was the number one priority. OK, I am sorry! Money was the number one priority because, with money, you could buy food.
As you know, I had the fortune to be raised in a wealthy family and as every curious kid, used to ask a lot of questions, such as this:
“What`s the point of all this working? Always, no weekends off, no holidays, no days off, just work, work, work? What for?”
The answer was always the same:
“We need money, so when we go to buy food, we never have to look at the price. This way we can always buy quality food and be healthy.”
Sure, they associated healthy food with quality and price, but that did not help much, as we were not healthy at all. I am not going to list all the health problems my family had and still has, however, being overweight was, and is still an issue for some.
I know that there was and still is a common belief that being overweight is a sign of wealth and a higher-class people. But for me, that for sure does not mean health at all.
It is not about the price of the product.
The point here is that not all expensive food is good for us. In fact, the prize has nothing to do with the quality of the food. After all, McDonald’s in Bulgaria is 3 times more expensive than in England. Does that mean it has more value than fresh salad for instance?
Price can vary for many reasons, but one of the last places a company invest is the quality. First and foremost is marketing. To make people want to eat the product. The fancy packaging, the colors of the product, the smell, the taste. The crunchiness of the potato chips. Even the dust that is left on your fingers after you eat the piece is precisely made so you can like it the most. Quality is the last priority.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I am not saying you should buy cheap products either. I want to educate you, so you know what foods to look for and how to differentiate the quality.
It's about your body, not the quality of the food.
Recently I had a talk with my partner about a friend of hers that suffers from anxiety and depression. (Now, I am obviously not a specialist in this field, and I don’t want to claim that I know the cure.) I shared with her that anxiety and depression can be tightly connected to her diet. Sometimes certain foods can cause irritations or inflammation and intensify the feeling of anxiousness. Some food intolerance could also cause irritations and the uncomfortable feeling of the gut issues to substitute mood swings for instance. I suggested that her friend can try to identify certain food intolerance and therefore help ease the symptoms of the anxiety. My girlfriend then said that this cant is the issue because her friend was always buying good food. After I asked what good food meant to her friend, she said that she made sure to buy organic foods, a lot of vegetables, and bioproducts. Clean food in general, no processed or packaged stuff. That is all great. What if certain foods are not tolerated by her body, but she is not aware of them?
The more we know our body, the better food choices we can make to complement its health and vitality. Just because salami is more expensive than bacon, it doesn’t mean that it is of better quality. Just because you buy organic cow milk, doesn’t mean that is good for you if you have a dairy intolerance.
The idea is to learn how to differentiate the food products, by their nutritional value. To know which is protein, which is a carbohydrate, which is fats or fibers. Which one gives your body the most nutrients it needs, regardless of the price. And even if you know that price is not a factor of quality. Even if you make sure to buy the food because of the actual value, and not the price. That still doesn’t mean it is good for you. Even if you eat always organic and fresh, locally grown products, that still doesn’t mean that you are eating according to your body`s needs.
If you want to learn more about proteins, fats, carbs, etc, go visit one of the earliest blogs I made: https://www.fitlifeblueprints.com/post/eat-fit-live-fit
If you want a guide to help you choose the right products when shopping for food, you can download my Healthy Eating Guide for free at: https://www.fitlifeblueprints.com/freeresources
And last but not least. If you want to bring your health to the next level, find out what foods work well for you and which ones are to be avoided, you can follow the step-by-step approach from this blog: https://www.fitlifeblueprints.com/post/how-to-create-your-own-diet-plan and create your own personalized diet plan that works best for you.
Expensive doesn’t always mean good quality. In fact, most of the time it means more processed, or better marketed. If you really want to make the right choices and buy quality food, invest in bio, organic products that are grown or raised, with care and love. However, organic and clean, doesn’t always mean that you are doing a favor to your body. If your body can't tolerates a certain food, regardless of the quality, that food is still going to cause problems.
There you have it. The better way to choose food. Or should I say the right way to do so?