Healthy food vs. nutritious food

By Monica Nagele

Is it healthy? That’s a question many of us ask ourselves when selecting what to eat. Some of us analyze everything we put into our mouth, basing it on the statements on the food packaging and claims we see on the internet. Food producers and marketers also throw “healthy” around to try to get you to buy their products. This can make the simple act of eating, a necessity to live, frankly quite stressful.

So what is a healthy food? Healthy used as an adjective to describe the food we eat, describes food that is beneficial to our health and would contribute to improving or maintaining a person’s overall health. While the word unhealthy used to describe food means the opposite, food that is harmful or may promote a poor state of health. So, in simple terms, healthy food is good for our health and unhealthy food is bad for our health. But still, what defines a healthy food?

If we look at pizza, for example, it’s often considered an unhealthy food. Pizza in its most basic form is bread with some tomato sauce topped with cheese, none of which are detrimental towards our health. Yes, eating too much fat can be problematic, so let’s assume pizza is only eaten occasionally and in moderation. Then why is pizza considered unhealthy?

Let’s look at the nutrition of pizza. The crust of pizza is a product from white flour so doesn’t provide many nutrients but does provide our body with energy, the small quantity of tomato sauce provides some vitamins and minerals, and cheese provides calcium and protein.

What if instead of looking at food as being healthy or unhealthy, we question if it is nutritious. Really the overarching reason to eat is to provide our body with nutrition.

Determining if a food is nutritious is much easier to define. Nutritious foods would ideally be a nutrient dense food, which is a food that is high in vitamins, minerals, healthy fats, lean proteins, and complex carbohydrates while also being low in calories. A calorie dense food would not be considered nutritious because it is low in nutrients and high in calories.

Fruits and Vegetables are definitely nutritious foods, they provide our body with important vitamins and minerals. Lean meats or plant proteins are a nutritious food, providing us with the very crucial nutrient protein, while being low in fat. Whole grains are important to provide us with fiber and B vitamins. Finally, low fat dairy is a great source of Calcium and Vitamin all nutrients we need for bone development, muscle contraction and supporting our immune systems.

The cheese pizza described above currently has minimal nutrition. But if we swap the crust out with whole grains, add tomatoes, bell peppers and mushrooms for more veggies, and top it off with chicken for a good lean protein source. We now have a much more nutritious food.

We eat for enjoyment and to provide our body with nutrients, but aren’t always sure what food is best to choose. Instead of always looking at food as being healthy or unhealthy think about what can be added to the plate to make a more nutritious meal. There is always more room for veggies on my plate.

Monica Nagele is the County Extension Director and educator of health and human science for the Montgomery County Purdue Extension.