Are You Wearing the "Healthy Halo"?

There’s an interesting tendency among people who are not nutrition professionals to make certain assumptions based upon the general quality of a particular food, like salads, for instance – salads are healthy. Taking that a step further, one can declare to oneself that if I eat salads often, I am eating a healthy diet. Nutrition professionals know better.The issue is that salads aren’t necessarily healthy- it all depends upon what you put into your salad. We call the blanket assumption that eating a food with a healthy reputation means one is eating a healthy diet the “healthy halo.”To demonstrate, I asked my husband Tony to visit the salad bar at a local restaurant for demonstration purposes, and his salad is the image you see. I can assure you that this salad includes healthy foods – lettuce, spinach, and peppers, to name a few, but let’s look at what’s showing (if you can make it out beneath the sesame ginger dressing). There are eggs, a healthy protein, but that’s a lot of eggs. I recognize bacon bits and sesame seeds, one not so healthy, but both high in fat (meaning calories). I see a number of olives….healthy, but fat and calories to spare…..and some Mandarin oranges. At the top of the photo you may recognize oil packed anchovies, and in the five o’clock position you’ll recognize avocados. Frankly, this is more like the typical salad Americans eat.Here’s the point, even the healthier add-on’s….oranges, avocados, sunflower seeds, eggs, fish, and olives….bring lots of calories and fat (remember, fat packs more than twice the calories of protein or carbohydrate). So, a 300 calorie salad of nonstarchy vegetables can easily become a 1200 or 1500, high fat meal that approaches your daily recommended calorie intake.Don’t wear the healthy halo. Make the decision to actually learn about the food you’re eating, rather than making unfounded assumptions and generalizations. You might be surprised, and even disappointed, to learn how your salad fixin’s add up, but in the end you’ll get the results you want.There’s an interesting tendency among people who are not nutrition professionals to make certain assumptions based upon the general quality of a particular food, like salads, for instance – salads are healthy. Taking that a step further, one can declare to oneself that if I eat salads often, I am eating a healthy diet. Nutrition professionals know better.The issue is that salads aren’t necessarily healthy- it all depends upon what you put into your salad. We call the blanket assumption that eating a food with a healthy reputation means one is eating a healthy diet the “healthy halo.”To demonstrate, I asked my husband Tony to visit the salad bar at a local restaurant for demonstration purposes, and his salad is the image you see. I can assure you that this salad includes healthy foods – lettuce, spinach, and peppers, to name a few, but let’s look at what’s showing (if you can make it out beneath the sesame ginger dressing). There are eggs, a healthy protein, but that’s a lot of eggs. I recognize bacon bits and sesame seeds, one not so healthy, but both high in fat (meaning calories). I see a number of olives….healthy, but fat and calories to spare…..and some Mandarin oranges. At the top of the photo you may recognize oil packed anchovies, and in the five o’clock position you’ll recognize avocados. Frankly, this is more like the typical salad Americans eat.Here’s the point, even the healthier add-on’s….oranges, avocados, sunflower seeds, eggs, fish, and olives….bring lots of calories and fat (remember, fat packs more than twice the calories of protein or carbohydrate). So, a 300 calorie salad of nonstarchy vegetables can easily become a 1200 or 1500, high fat meal that approaches your daily recommended calorie intake.Don’t wear the healthy halo. Make the decision to actually learn about the food you’re eating, rather than making unfounded assumptions and generalizations. You might be surprised, and even disappointed, to learn how your salad fixin’s add up, but in the end you’ll get the results you want.