People everywhere now have the ability to eat a healthier, more balanced diet whenever they choose, due to an increase in the variety of foods on the market.
A balanced diet is depicted on the Food Guide Pyramid and, according to the USDA website, “calls for eating a variety of foods.” By variety, the USDA means eating at least the minimal amount of servings from every group with each serving being from a different food.
There is a movement to start dieting and losing weight due to the rise of obesity in America. This movement has led to the formation of countless numbers of “fad” or “trend” diets like the Atkins Diet, South Beach Diet and Sugar Busters. “These diets are boring and expensive and make eating a chore,” said Colette Leistner, a registered dietitian and associate professor in the department of family and consumer sciences. She also said that these diets are hard to follow in all circumstances so the novelty of these diets wears off.
“These diets only work short term for some people and rarely last over the long term. Plus, these diets are not 100% safe,” Leistner said. These diets give people a meal plan to follow but don’t push for an increase in life activity or exercise to balance the calories being taken in. When questioned on this, she said that the authors may not have the appropriate background so do not know what type of activities to suggest.
“These authors may only have taken one or two nutrition classes and now consider themselves experts,” Leistner said.
The fast food industry has also picked up on this trend. Almost all fast food restaurants now offer some sort of salad or “healthy” menu item(s). Subway was the first to offer a menu that was specifically aimed at people looking to lose weight with their seven subs under six grams of fat. Burger King is now advertising its new BK Veggie, a garden vegetable burger, and its Sourdough Chicken Caesar Club sandwich. McDonald’s has its new Premium Salads and even Taco Bell has some sort of a Caesar salad burrito. Almost all of the fat food companies’ websites contain a section dedicated to the nutritional information of their food.
The fast food restaurants aren’t the only food companies getting on the low fat bandwagon. Frito-Lays recently released its new product to the market, an all-natural Cheetos, which contains no preservatives, artificial colors nor added colors. Frito-Lays already had five other products out on its “Natural Products” line.
Many full service restaurants are also getting into the market by offering and creating more low fat menu items than just salads. Chili’s Grill and Bar offers three guiltless chicken dishes and a basil pasta dish, all of which are low fat. Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill and Bar offers two types of grilled fish, a lean sirloin steak and a vegetable platter. Bubba’s II of Thibodaux Seafood Restaurant has on its menu: broiled fish, a Cajun snapper, broiled lean hamburger steak and two types of low fat chicken dishes. Peppers Pizzeria offers their chicken sandwich grilled and on wheat bread instead of white. They also offer a salad bar for the tradition healthy approach. Caf Milano, in Houma, is about to change what they offer on their menu to include more lower fat choices but right now they gladly serve a grilled tuna steak, salads with oven roasted chicken or shrimp and low fat marinara based pasta dishes.
Grocery stores are also helping with the healthy eating by bringing in more fresh fruits and vegetables with different varieties and types almost every time you enter. They are also bringing in more ethnic foods, from seasoning to meats to plant based foods, to help create a diverse diet for its customers.
All in all, the choice is out there if someone wants to eat healthy. It is not a matter of limiting all negative foods but just remembering that foods are necessary but only some in moderation with a variety in everything.