Real Food Real Diet

There is plenty of controversy about what constitutes a healthy diet for losing weight and maintaining good health and what does not.

Many people say that a diet made up of processed foods that you get with most diet food delivery companies may be okay for losing weight but does nothing for your overall health and well being because there are too many additives and salt in the food.

food additivesOthers disagree and think that these foods are perfectly okay.

Who is right and who is wrong?

The problem is that there is really no hard and fast right or wrong answer. Only degrees of rightness or wrongness.

And which way the opinion swings will be mostly dependent upon the individual needs of the person choosing the diet along with any medical restrictions their doctor places on the constituents of the food comprising that particular diet and of course the overall cost of the food.

Additives

While it may be true that artificial additives of any kind in food constitutes an impact to health to some degree, the kind of additives used in processed foods are passed by government food agencies in different countries, so they must adhere to their guidelines for safety.

However, for purists who prefer the idea of real food being the only way to really be sure of eating healthily, here is something that may open up some thought provoking discussion.

There is only one real, sure-fire way to ensure the food that you eat is completely free of any additives, pesticide and herbicide residues, chemicals and pharmaceuticals. That's to rear your own meat and grow your own fruit and vegetables on land that is certified for organic use.

That is the only way you can be truly certain that there is nothing untoward added to yoru food, because you are the only one who can add or not add these things to it.

The Organic Solution

Even certified organic farms are permitted the use of several biodegradable pesticides that are believed not to infiltrate the cell structure of plants.

Sure they are organic and free from the incredible cocktail of chemical poisons that larger industrial farms use on their crops to maximize yields and minimize pests. Yet they can still put some of that stuff on them to keep the worst of the bugs away.

They may rear their chickens, pigs and cows in open pasture, but they are still allowed to give them antibiotics to fend off illness. The sentiment may be in the right place, but organic farms also need to turn a profit.

And if their yields are below a certain level, they will go out of business.

So if you really and truly want real food without anything added or taken away, then you have no choice but to grow your own. You also need to make sure the soil on your land has not been sprayed with anything for at least a few years.

As for animal based foods, if you can rear your own and then have the heart to kill them for their meat, you can actually ensure you'll be eating completely organic food.

However, not everyone is OK with that. So the next best thing is to eat as organically as you can while compromising on some things that you just don't have the heart to do yourself.

Of course keeping chickens is a great option for getting your own truly free range eggs. And that's well worth setting aside some land for! If you can do at least that, then you deserve to raise a glass to your good health!