I’ve always known that I don’t eat very well, due mostly to laziness and bad habits. In my efforts to reform my eating habits I am trying to practice cooking fast, healthy meals, and also trying to become more familiar with what foods are truly healthy, what nutrients the body needs, etc.
Since I, like most people in my generation and country, didn’t learn proper nutrition growing up, what I really want are simple, reasonable answers to the question, “What should I eat?”
I have recently found some good, easy to understand answers to these questions.
One good all-around resource for health information is Go Ask Alice!, whose Fitness & Nutrition section has good answers for simple concerns like what makes a good breakfast” and what to do if you know you’re eating and exercising poorly but are frustratingly having trouble getting on the right track. “Alice” is actually the Columbia University Health Education Program staff. The site has good information, and it’s neat that you can ask questions and get answers, but I find it difficult to navigate other people’s questions and get the information I’m looking for. That said, it’s a good site with good answers.
Even better for my immediate questions is another site, The World’s Healthiest Foods. It, too, is not perfect, as Nutrition Navigator points out — they have poor information for those with diabetes, they don’t have a truly comprehensive list of healthy foods (what, no mango?!), and just generally some of the advice overstates the connection between food and health.
That said, however, it’s a great site for people trying to get at least a good-sized starter list of what foods are high in energy and nutrients, with links to comprehensive info on what’s good about each food. Best of all, you can even get a simple assessment of your current diet, what nutrients you might not be getting enough of, and what foods you can add to make up for it, by completing a form on the site. This is just what I wanted: a personalized set of food recommendations from a short questionnaire. I know it’s not as good as, say, visiting a nutritionist, but it’s a lot cheaper, and better than having to do all the research and make guesses myself. There are even recipes for some of the recommended foods, which takes away some of the “Yeah, but how do I cook it” excuse. Some of the other information is good, too, like their page on organic foods.
Additional (I’m adding this later in the day): Two other excellent online sources of nutrition information are the British Nutrition Foundation and the Mayo Clinic’s Food & Nutrition center.
