Ever since I was a kid, healthy food has been a hot topic. My mom had the food pyramid on our fridge and I remember staring at the thing wondering if I had gotten the right amount of each food group in. I remember that the food pyramid being such a magical tool for healthy eating. That was before the Internet. Now we have a ton of information at our fingertips about how to eat, what to eat, and when to eat. Everyone has a different idea of what healthy food is, but if we are honest with ourselves, we pretty much know the basics of eating healthy. The following are some quotes on healthy food that may remind you what healthy food is really all about and inspire you to eat more of it.
1. Healthy Food Is Accessible For Many Of Us
Support a strong and healthy food system by supporting our local farmers! – Danielle Nierenberg
Most of us have a farmer’s market close enough to us that we can make it there. It’s important to go to these markets or buy from our local farmers. Why? Well, for one, they sell all those healthy foods that we should be eating. And those foods are in season, which means they are fresh and are not covered in preservatives to make them last longer than they should.
For instance, if your farmer’s market has a fruit stand, and apples are there, buy them! Apples you buy in the supermarket travel long distances and are treated with chemicals and wax so that they will last up to a year. Why eat apples with chemicals when you can buy apples that were picked yesterday or last week?
The more you buy from local farmers, the more they can sustain their farms and produce healthy food for you. It’s a win-win situation.
If you can’t get to a local farmer’s market, then you may be able to take part in your local farmer’s share food box. Each week you will get a new box with fresh foods from their farm. Believe me, it’s a fun and fresh surprise, and it will encourage you to plan healthier meals for the week.
2. Healthy Food Can Taste Good
I love when healthy food tastes good. – Zach Herron
There are some people who still believe that healthy food has no taste. On what planet? Some of my favorite recipes are ultra-healthy. I think it’s just a matter of eating way less salty, sugary, and fried foods. When you do that, and let your taste buds come back to life, you will notice how good healthy food can really taste.
Challenge yourself to make healthy food and discover all the delicious recipes there are out there. Rediscover (or discover) the herbs and spices that bring real food to life. Grease may taste good to you now, but I guarantee there is food that tastes better.
You do need to try different recipes to find what healthy food tastes best to you, so get online and do that. Here are a few places to start looking.
3. We All Deserve Healthy Food
Access to healthy food is an absolute human right! Let’s focus on creating a racially and economically just system! – Danielle Nierenberg
Do you remember your mom telling you that there were people starving who would love to have your food? Well, it wasn’t just a ploy, even if she meant it like that. It’s absolutely true. So many people are not getting access to healthy food. And then you have so many people who DO have access to it but decide to slowly kill themselves with unhealthy food. So all that healthy food goes to waste when it could be going to people who actually want and need it.
If you want to do something about it, start appreciating your healthy food first. Be grateful that you have access to it and let that gratitude help you to move towards a healthier way of eating.
You can also help support organizations like the one Danielle Nierenberg co-founded, Food Tank. There are people out there like her who are working towards making healthy food a right – not a privilege or a pipe dream – because we ALL deserve it.
4. It’s So Simple
Exercise, good healthy food, being in nature, helping others & a good chat with a friend. Free & simple things that help you to feel better. – Chloe Brotheridge
I’m sure Chloe was not implying that healthy food is free. An oversight maybe? I think what she was trying to say, and what I’m going to say, is that there are some basic things you can do to feel good.
- Eat healthy food.
- Exercise.
- Get out in nature.
- Be kind and helpful.
- Maintain strong relationships.
When you focus on doing healthy things, you become healthier. Bottom line. It’s just that simple. Stop trying to find the latest diet or fad for being healthier and do the above things to actually become healthier.
5. It Doesn’t Matter How Busy You Are
It makes sense to eat out for a lot of people, so I wanted to show them that they could do that and still make healthy choices. – Frank Beard
There is a healthy food myth going around, and you need to stop buying into it. It’s that if you have to eat out, you can’t eat healthily. The truth is that if you need to eat out a lot because of your lifestyle, you are not screwed. Now more than ever, you have access to healthy food wherever you go.
For 30 days in the summer of 2016, Frank Beard only ate at gas stations to prove that you can eat healthy while eating out. You can check it out on Instagram here. He survived and thrived by eating in gas stations, and you can too. In an interview, he said that you should look for the cooler because most stores will have an open-air cooler where they will store fresher food.
Besides gas stations, you can always pack a lunch. Spending your time cooking healthy food in the evening so you have a healthy lunch is well worth it. Much better than spending your time on the couch or online watching cat videos. (By the way, you can cook and watch cat videos if you want.)
6. But Unhealthy Food Is Always There!
When you remove the unhealthy options, wholesome and nutritious food becomes both plan A and plan B. – Luke Durward
If it’s not there you can’t eat it. So, you need to be diligent if you want to eat healthier. Stop allowing unhealthy food in your home. Stop buying it as a necessity on your weekly shopping trip. Just stop. Decide that you will only put healthy foods in your house so that you will only be able to reach for healthy foods when a craving hits.
7. Again – Be Grateful You Have Access To Healthy Food
Lack of health care, clean water & healthy food put most disadvantaged children at HIGH risk of death before age 5. – SC Campaigns
I just thought I would drive this point home even further. Some children would do anything to get their hands on healthy food. It could literally mean the difference between life and death for them. Make sure you always remind yourself of how important healthy food is when you are deciding whether or not to eat it.
8. A Healthy Diet Means A Longer Life
There are some basic principles of human longevity. The first one is eating a diet high in nutrients per calorie. The other principle of human longevity is not to eat foods that push hormones to unfavorable levels. – Dr. Joel Fuhrman, MD
Want to live longer? Healthy food is the answer.
This is one of my favorite healthy food quotes because it points out the fact that the foods we eat can wreak havoc on our hormones… something many of us don’t consider.
For example, fatty foods can raise insulin and cause insulin resistance. That can lead to type 2 diabetes, which you will soon learn is one of the biggest killers around.
Once you start to think about food interacting with your body – and not just fat or calories, you will have a new appreciation for eating healthy.
9. Some Of The Biggest Killers Out There Could Be Prevented With A Healthy Diet
Diet-related disease is the biggest killer in the United States right now. – Jamie Oliver
This quote was taken from a popular TED Talk that Jamie Oliver did about 7 years ago, where he, in part, showed that the leading causes of death are correlated to health and diet. Interestingly, if you look at the top 10 leading causes of death in the U.S. recently, you will see that the main causes of death haven’t changed much and food still has a lot to do with them.
For instance, according to an article that lists the top 10 leading causes of death in 2014, cancer was number two on the list. And they say that one-third of cancer cases are related to being obese and having poor nutrition. In other words, they are preventable. Heart disease (number 1 on the list), stroke (number 5 on the list), Alzheimer’s disease (number 6 on the list), type 2 diabetes (number 7 on the list), and kidney disease (number 9 on the list), can all benefit from eating a healthy diet.
So, stop worrying about all those ways you think you might die – that will probably never come true – and start focusing on taking action on improving your health so you don’t die in a way that is already killing so many people.
10. Vegetarian Or Meat Eating?
I knew that eating a mere hamburger a day could increase my risk of dying by a third – Graham Hill talking about why he hadn’t decided to go vegetarian yet
When it comes to healthy food, the debate around eating meat or not is high. Graham Hill had that debate with himself and decided that he would go meatless Monday to Friday and then eat healthier meat on the weekend.
He said something that I once heard a 90-year-old woman say about why she lived so long (she did a great depression cooking show on YouTube here) – he said, we are eating double the amount of meat we used to eat.
That 90-year-old woman had said that eating meat was a treat when she was younger, not a constant, and she still ate that way into her 90s.
Could meat be a part of the problem? Well, we know that red meat and processed meat are unhealthy for us. And we know that more people are eating them than ever before. So, maybe.
I have my own personal feelings on this, and it affects my diet in a big way. I’ll let you decide what is healthy or not for you. It’s definitely something to consider as you move towards healthier eating and better health.
