By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    Health
    Healthcare organizations are operating on slimmer profit margins than ever. One report in August showed that they are even lower than the beginning of the…
    Show More
    Top News
    grief
    Coping With Depression from Loss After a Preventable Accident
    November 14, 2024
    medical research
    The Key to Medical Progress in Clinical Trials
    March 13, 2025
    HIPPA compliance
    How Medical Office Staff Can Make Your Practice HIPAA Compliant
    October 29, 2021
    Latest News
    7 Most Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs: Which Should You Use?
    August 20, 2025
    Hospital Pest Control and the Fight Against Superbugs
    August 20, 2025
    Hygiene Beyond The Clinic: Attention To Overlooked Non-Clinical Spaces
    August 13, 2025
    5 Steps to a Promising Career as a Healthcare Administrator
    August 3, 2025
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
    Policy and Law
    Get the latest updates about Insurance policies and Laws in the Healthcare industry for different geographical locations.
    Show More
    Top News
    Image
    Emergency Room – Don’t Use It For Primary Care!
    March 19, 2013
    Encouraging Medicare News From Senate Republicans
    March 17, 2012
    chronic disease
    Lifestyles Cause Most Serious Disease and Deaths
    May 25, 2013
    Latest News
    How Social Security Disability Shapes Access to Care and Everyday Health
    August 22, 2025
    How a DUI Lawyer Can Help When Your Future Health Feels Uncertain
    August 22, 2025
    How One Fall Can Lead to a Long Road of Medical Complications
    August 22, 2025
    How IT and Marketing Teams Can Collaborate to Protect Patient Trust
    July 17, 2025
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Commonsense Diet: How many more things do we have to avoid to be healthier
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > Wellness > Commonsense Diet: How many more things do we have to avoid to be healthier
Wellness

Commonsense Diet: How many more things do we have to avoid to be healthier

StevenShie
StevenShie
Share
6 Min Read
Image
SHARE

I had my first cultural shock in this country in a supermarket. For the first time, I saw so many types of milk and yogurt. I had no idea what “1%” and “2%” meant on milk boxes. I also had a hard time understanding how come the country has 35.7% obesity rate when there are so many “fat-free” food items.

If the million choices in food are not enough, then you have daily stories in the media about things you should eat, ingredients you should avoid, dishes you need to swap, supplements you better start taking…

I had my first cultural shock in this country in a supermarket. For the first time, I saw so many types of milk and yogurt. I had no idea what “1%” and “2%” meant on milk boxes. I also had a hard time understanding how come the country has 35.7% obesity rate when there are so many “fat-free” food items.

If the million choices in food are not enough, then you have daily stories in the media about things you should eat, ingredients you should avoid, dishes you need to swap, supplements you better start taking…

More Read

5 Tips To Get The Most Out Of Dietary Supplements
3 Ways to Enhance Your Appearance in time for the Holidays
How To Look For A Drug Addiction Treatment Center
Of Cows, Milk, and Humans
Collaborative Care for Living Well with Chronic Disease

I kept wondering: should the capability to pick the right food be a natural skill that we, as humans, are all born with?Image

A few weeks ago, a New York Times article wrote of  a study about a new pathway that links heart disease to carnitine, a substance in high concentrations in red meat. So red meat is once again off the table. I stopped eating red meat on a regular basis after taking a course from Yale’s Kelly Brownell. But the main reason is not because I worried about my cholesterol but because red meat is bad for the environment.  Then last week, The New England Journal of Medicine warned us, eggs, too, may provoke bacteria to raise heart risk!

I have great respect for researchers focused on food and diet. But as similar studies keep emerging as a result of  our capability to analyze everything we have been eating for thousands of year on a micro level, I can’t stop wondering: are we a bit too obsessed with food science?

I am a strong believer that science makes us stronger. But the origin of many pressing public health problems we are facing today—obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease—may not be the food itself but the environment where the food is produced. A fact is that that environment has significantly changed over the last few decades.

You may be just fine if you eat beef every day when you work in a farm. But now you have a much better chance of having a heart attack because you work in an office, which is much more sedentary. Meanwhile, the meat itself may also have changed. Cows used to eat grass and were raised in real farms. But most of the beef you get from grocery stores nowadays is from cows fed with seeds in factory-like facilities where the use of antibiotics and hormones is common. Therefore the meat quality is also different.

Results of scientific studies are important, but from a public health perspective, what’s more important is to offer context to people who don’t have the expertise to interpret data and translate the results into something people can easily understand and take action. However, if you follow news about food research closely, you may be left with few choices when you go grocery shopping. The media is good at calling out problematic food items but it offers little insights into how we as consumers should respond to those studies. As we are struggling to pick the healthiest foods from the supermarket, we forget eating is one of the fundamental human needs and sources of pleasure. If we are not happy about thing we put in our mouth, something is wrong.

There is probably one person in this country who understands this more than anybody else. Michael Pollan, the author of In Defense of Food (one of my favorite books), has given us the perfect answer: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. I call it the Commonsense Diet. Eating healthy is like in a good relationship–it shouldn’t be that hard. Use some common sense (vegetables and fruits are always good for you; exercising makes everyone stronger) and have some eggs or steak once in a while won’t kill you.

image: nutrition/shutterstock

TAGGED:dietnutrition
Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

engineer fitting prosthetic arm
How Social Security Disability Shapes Access to Care and Everyday Health
Health care
August 20, 2025
a woman explaining the document
How a DUI Lawyer Can Help When Your Future Health Feels Uncertain
Public Health
August 20, 2025
physiotherapist at work
How One Fall Can Lead to a Long Road of Medical Complications
Health care
August 20, 2025
Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs
7 Most Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs: Which Should You Use?
Health News
August 20, 2025

You Might also Like

health benefits of coffee
Home HealthWellness

Need an Energy Boost? Here’s How You Can Get the Most Caffeine Out of Coffee

April 27, 2022
Wellness

5 Ways Diseases Are Transmitted

July 28, 2017
Image
Health ReformNewsPolicy & LawWellness

Physician Burnout and the Changing Approach to Practice

February 14, 2013
Strategies for Managing Grief and Promoting Emotional Wellness After Losing a Loved One
Wellness

Strategies for Managing Grief and Promoting Emotional Wellness After Losing a Loved One

April 8, 2024
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?