Fresh or Packaged Food?

Prepared food may be convenient to use, but it is important to balance packaged and fresh foods for a healthy food intake.

Packaged foods are convenient because they are easy to buy and prepare. They are obviously a bonus to anyone who has to cook for the family every day or comes home tired from work. But when we consider our diet, we have to think not only about nutritional value. 

Drawbacks of prepared food

Whenever food is processed in any way, some of the nutrients will be lost or destroyed. The main case of nutritional loss is cooking or dehydration, which is applied to many fresh foods during industrial processing to reduce the enzyme activity, which would cause them to go bad. This is especially the case with tinned foods, which tend to lose vitamin C, folic acid and thiamine, all of which are heat sensitive. Protein also does not stand up well to heat. 

Apart from nutrient losses, many packaged foods are inferior to fresh ones because they contain additives. These include those chemical stabilizers, flavorings, colorings, antioxidants, and preservatives which are intended to improve qualities, color, taste, and texture. Medical opinion differs widely on the effects of these additives. Some doctors argue that many of them can cause allergic reactions. 

Nevertheless, it makes sense to keep to a minimum the amount of unnecessary chemicals we consume. The more food we buy fresh and prepare ourselves the more we can cut out chemicals that have no nutritional value but are added solely to make food more attractive or to preserve it better.

This is even more important when we look at compound foods made up to manufacturer’s recipes. Most packaged sweets, biscuits and cakes, for example, contain not only chemical additives especially artificial flavoring but also white flour and hard margarine rather than wholemeal flour and soft margarine, which are recommended by nutritionists. In addition ‘all in one’ packaged meals tend to include flavorings like mono-sodium glutamate. These flavorings have recently come under suspicion as being the cause of dizziness, migraine and addiction. 

Generally, however packaged foods are not in themselves harmful; the point is simply that they should be eaten in moderation rather than being a major part of your diet. And you should be aware of what you are buying and consuming: make a habit of reading the labels of packaged foods and choosing those, which contain fewest unwanted ingredients. 

Using fresh foods 

Though you might not have the time or the inclination to stop buying packaged foods altogether, you should try to eat some fresh foods every day. Fresh produce not only contains more nutrients, it generally has a more attractive appearance and texture and can provide a wide variety of interesting textures. And it doesn’t necessarily take longer to prepare; for example fresh  fish can be grilled in the same amount of time that it takes to cook fish fingers, potatoes baked in their skin need a minimum of preparation and many other vegetables and most fruits can be eaten raw, either plain or combined in a salad. The key to a good diet is to maximize the convenience of processed foods when you need to use them, but at the same time to include as much fresh foods as and when you can. 

 

What Women Should Know About Special Diets

Following a special diet demands a certain amount of self-discipline and the co-operation of those around you. However, if you are determined to get and keep well it is worth any inconvenience.

With the increased awareness of the relation between diet and health, and recent scientific discoveries about the connection between certain foods and illnesses, more and more people are being advised to follow special diets.

These are usually prescribed because some part of the body is not working properly. For example if there is some problem with your digestive system a change in your eating habits will give it a chance to rest and heal. Dietary restrictions may also be imposed after serious illnesses when appetite is impaired or certain foods cannot be tolerated. And sometimes people develop allergies to specific foods which should be excluded from their diets. 

Special diets can vary from only slight modification to the normal eating pattern to a complete change in the type of food consumed. But whatever the diet, it is essential that it is followed carefully for maximum benefit.  

Preparing special diet foods 

When the restrictions imposed by the special diet try to make sure that the food you prepare is tempting enough to help restore the appetite - whether yours or someone else’s. 

One way to do this is to vary the menu as much as possible. On a low-fat diet, for example, it may be easy to serve grilled white fish every day but the dish will very quickly lose its appeal. A little advanced planning is really worth the extra effort to provide a changing menu, which makes the person on the diet look forward to mealtimes. 

You can also enliven special diet meals by experimenting with different flavorings and seasonings. Although some diets specifically exclude sodium products such as salt, most permit at least a small amount of herbs. But do use heavy species with discretion - special diets do not usually permit spicy foods such as curries and some also exclude highly flavored vegetables such as onions and garlic.

Because most special diets permit only a limited variety of foods, it is important to get the maximum goodness out of those that are allowed. You should therefore use the freshest possible foods and if you buy, packaged products read the list of ingredients on the label carefully to make certain they do not contain any of the foods excluded by the particular dietary restrictions. 

The correct cooking process is also important as cooking can reduce food’s nutritional value and make it hard to digest. Cheese, if permitted, should be cooked only lightly; meat should be lean and well-cooked without being overdone. Vegetables should be lightly cooked in as little water as possible so that their vitamins and minerals are conserved. They should also be served immediately and never reheated. 

Being on a special diet should not prevent you from eating out as long as you take steps to overcome any possible problems. For instance, if you are invited to a dinner party warn your host in advance and tell them which foods you cannot eat. When eating out, it may also help to suggest a dish that they could easily provide in restaurants, it is not always possible to trust the menu descriptions so you may have to ask the waiter exactly what the various dishes contain and to specify anything you may want left out.