Eating Intelligently Is An Art
To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art.
~~ Francois de La Rochefoucauld ~~ (1613 - 1680)
Even though Francois de La Rochefoucauld said it a few centuries ago, it’s even more relevant today.
Even though the public is becoming very conscious about the foods they eat, still, in any super market, you’ll find so much junk food in attractive packaging and under deceptive names that choosing healthy food becomes an extremely fine art.
For example, in a Statistics Canada study in 2007, it was found that most Canadians consume far too much salt in their daily diet than recommended. Exceeding the recommended limits of salt can increase the risks of adverse health effects, especially those linked to hypertension (high blood pressure). It is worth noting that the study did not include the amount of salt people themselves add to their food; it only included the salt added by the producers of the food products. Thus the consumers are consuming more salt than the recommended limit even if they themselves add no salt to their food!
The study further stated that “Even if you were to cut out the salty snacks and sprinkling salt on your food, unfortunately because it’s added (by the manufacturers/producers of food products) to so many of the food products we consume, it would still be difficult to reduce your levels (to the recommended level).”
Thus even if you were a conscious food consumer, you’ll find it extremely difficult if not impossible, to keep your daily salt consumption within the recommended limit. And salt is just one example; the food producers routinely add a lot of other stuff to their food products to enhance its taste and/or lengthen its shelf life.
So, yes, while eating is a necessity, eating intelligently is an art which one must develop continuously so that one can learn to read and understand the labels on the food products, carefully choose the healthy food products and eat it in moderation.
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