A Retort on Behalf of 'Unhealthy' Food

Disclaimer: I hereby disclaim all responsibility on writing this blog in the case of someone holding me accountable for this during my future career as a dietitian. Please note that I am only a second-year Dietetics Undergraduate, and therefore am still ignorant in many areas regarding food. ;D

What do you think of when you see these pictures? Scrumptious? Beguiling? Or 'ZOMG THESE ARE DEVILS TRYING TO GIVE ME HEART DISEASES DIABETES PIMPLES AND MOST IMPORTANTLY.... MAKE ME FAT!'?


With the popularity of eating a fat-free diet and losing weight nowadays, more and more people are falling into the third mindset. As a result, foods such as these are getting increasingly stigmatised and looked upon with a criticising eye.


I do not deny that these foods, eaten consistently in the long term, will most probably give you heart diseases diabetes pimples... you name it. Pastries with the best crumbly texture are made with the most butter. The juiciest steaks are marbled with the most fat. The delectable crisp of fast food can only be produced by frying in oil. 'Kaya' tastes the best when made with the high-cholestrol duck egg. However, the key here is eaten consistently in the long term. It is not the food's fault if you decide to ingest these food and only these food for a fortnight and then suddenly find that you can't fit into your jeans anymore.


And that's exactly it. These foods are perfectly harmless when taken in moderation, like everything else in life. Even some vitamin supplements can become poison when eaten above a certain intake level. What is to say these foods are lesser than other foods such as health supplements? If you exercise in a proportionate amount to the amount of calories consume, you won't even feel the effects of the extra calories consumed, as the law of input and output goes. Thinking along these lines, eating these foods can even motivate you to exercise more!


They are not all bad, either. They all contain carbohydrate, a fundamental nutrient needed at high levels in the diet. Some of them such as pizza actually has scientifically and research proven health benefits - the cheese topping is in essence milk after removing the liquid content, so it is basically a densely packed form of calcium; the elementary ingredient tomato is high in the cancer-fighting antioxidant lycopene; even the pizza base contains antioxidants which are strengthened after the dough is baked in the process of making a pizza. Another stigmatised food, chocolate, is made from plants, which means that it has many of the health benefits of dark vegetables as well. And the difference between chocolates and vegetables? Chocolates definitely taste better!


I love food. It saddens me to see people avoiding so-called 'junk food' like the plague and subsisting on celeries. Food is a luxury, an enjoyment of life. All foods can and should be enjoyed equally. Just remember - the key is moderation.