Do you have a picture in your mind of healthy eating?
Does it include fruits and vegetables?
Now, just go ahead and eatwait, what are you doing?
Youre worried that some arent the healthiest vegetables?
Eating vegetables is the healthy thing here.
Getting picky aboutspecificvegetables is toddler brain stuff.
But even more harmfully, these comparisons send the message that whatever factor were judgingmatters.
Most of the time, it does not.
False dichotomies arent healthy
Remember the Dirty Dozen?
Doesnt that sound like it means you should avoid the dirty produce in favor of the clean stuff?
If some fruits and vegetables wereactuallybad for you, the logical response would be to avoid the bad ones.
Or if youve heard that fruits have a lot of sugar, you might avoid eating fruit.
There are people out there, we imagine, who areperfectly healthy.
They dont just eat vegetables, they eat thehealthiestvegetables.
They get the perfect, optimal amount and types of exercise.
They do everything right, and most of us will never attain those levels of greatness.
But eating healthy isnt some far-off fantasy.
It doesnt mean dedicating your life to researching and shopping for the perfect foods.
Most of us can do some approximation of that.
If celery is supposedly healthier cooked, that doesnt mean theres anything wrong with eating raw celery.
Or even, for that matter, never eating celery at all.
Maybe you dont like celery.
Youre not doomed to a life of poor health; you might just eat the vegetables that youdolike.
What should I actually eat?
The first step is pretty easy.
According tothe CDCs latest survey, only about 12% of Americans actually meet the requirements.
Id move on and look at other aspects of your diet (are you eating whole grains?)
and your life (are you getting a good nights sleep on a regular basis?
Does your exercise routine include both cardio and strength training?)
Ultimately, eating vegetables is a success when it comes to taking care of yourself.
Dont go looking for a way to turn that into some kind of failure.
