How to Differentiate Between Healthy and Unhealthy Foods?

Who doesn’t love to eat tasty food every day? But while enjoying the tasty food, people forget the quality of their meals. Different foods contain various types of healthy and unhealthy fats, so you need to choose the food options that are good for your body.

When ordering food in a restaurant, most people think about the taste of their meal and not the actual nutritional value of the food coming their way. You should be aware of healthy and unhealthy food choices.

But still, if you give preference to the taste and neglect the nutritional value, you’re asking for trouble or a health risk. This is because unhealthy food options like junk food may be too delicious but it contains bad fats that will adversely affect your overall health in the long run.

Before finding out the reason why some foods are considered healthy and others unhealthy, let’s find out what is healthy food and unhealthy food.

What are Healthy Foods?

Healthy foods are considered to be the food items that are rich in nutrition and have a beneficial effect on our overall health. Healthy food includes many organic food options like natural food, whole foods, etc.

Nutrition is essential for every individual. If you want to stay fit, healthy, and strong, eating well is crucial, besides being physically active, to maintain a healthy weight.

Healthy eating is usually referred to as eating clean meals that provide nutrients and are important to give you energy, maintain health, and make you feel good.

What are Unhealthy Foods?

Unhealthy foods can be described as foods that have less nutritional value and are high in fat, sugar, and calories. Such food may be high in protein but your body needs a certain amount of protein – not in excess.

If a food item is not helping you maintain a healthy weight, it’s considered unhealthy. For instance, some unhealthy foods include high tropical oils and salt, low fiber content, low vitamins, unhealthy fats, etc.

Mostly, unhealthy foods contain processed items like snacks and fast foods, which are low in essential nutrients that our body requires for healthy living.

Why are certain foods unhealthy?

Food becomes unhealthy due to its preparation method. If there is a high amount of sugar, fat, and sodium in food, it’s not good for your health.

According to the American Heart Association, one must keep their consumption of saturated fat lower than 7% and consume trans-fat below 1% in daily calorie intake.

What is the difference between healthy and unhealthy foods?

Now that you know what makes a food healthy and unhealthy, let’s find out the basic difference between healthy and unhealthy food based on different factors, such as:

Energy

Generally, healthy food helps in providing more energy to your body so that you can work all day long without feeling exhausted. Some high energy foods are fresh fruits, green leafy vegetables, sprouts, raw nuts, honey, yogurt, etc. On the other hand, unhealthy foods are low in energy and high in fat content.

Some unhealthy food options are fried chips, burgers, pizza, fried meat, etc. If you consume healthy foods, the problem of fatigue, headaches, depression, joint pain, etc. could get resolved, whereas the unhealthy foods invite obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and other chronic diseases.

Taste

Many people avoid eating healthy, nutritional food because they don’t find it tasteful. On the other hand, unhealthy foods are available in various varieties and are tasty as well. So, you are tempted to eat cheeseburgers, pizza, or more unhealthy foods because of their delicious taste.

User consumption

According to a research-based study, over 92% of people choose unhealthy food options but only 8% of participants preferred healthy food in their daily life.

So, after looking at this huge percentage difference, you can figure out why most of the population across the globe are suffering from unwanted health conditions even at a very young age.

Here’s the list of healthy and unhealthy food

Let’s find out which food you must eat and which ones to avoid, according to the following healthy and unhealthy food list:

Conclusion

By the aforementioned differences, you can spot the difference between healthy food and unhealthy food to make better food choices for yourself and your family.

Even if you go out to a restaurant with your family or friends, it’s best to order healthy food options based on factors like calorie content, low fat, nutrients, etc.

Amritsr Restaurant in Dubai has been serving various healthy Indian food recipes to the patrons. You must try their scrumptious and healthy food to enjoy tasty meals that have high nutritional value as well.

FAQs on Healthy and Unhealthy Food:

1. Why is unhealthy food bad for you?

If you eat junk food daily, you’re likely to be obese and more vulnerable to chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, fatty liver disease, and certain types of cancers.

Some major harmful effects of eating unhealthy food are that it causes learning or memory issues, increases vulnerability to dementia, reduces control on appetite, and makes you impatient due to uncontrollable cravings.

2. What are the benefits of eating healthy?

Having a healthy diet high in vegetables, fruits, low-fat dairy products, and whole grains can reduce the risk of heart diseases and other health issues by maintaining your normal cholesterol levels and blood pressure.

Healthy eating includes the consumption of food that is high in nutrients and helps you maintain your overall health while keeping your body high in energy. Some essential nutrients in a healthy diet are carbohydrates, proteins, good fat, vitamins, minerals, etc.

3. What are healthy and unhealthy fats?

Here’s what you need to know about healthy and unhealthy fats:
Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats are considered “good fats” due to their overall health benefits.

These fats also help in reducing the risk of heart diseases, stroke, etc, as they decrease bad LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol levels and increase good HDL (high-density lipoprotein) levels.

Saturated and Trans fats are unhealthy fats, as they can increase your HDL and LDL cholesterol levels while putting your body at the risk of getting various cardiovascular diseases.

4. What are the examples of unhealthy fats?

Here are two main types of unhealthy fats:

• Saturated fat: This fat type comes majorly from animal food sources, such as red meat, full-fat dairy, poultry, etc.
• Trans fat: This fat type comes in certain foods in small portions. Some food items that contain trans fat are frozen pizza, microwave popcorn, and baked items like cookies, pies, cakes, etc.