I was interviewing a fellow colleague Scott Colby on Thursday and at the end of the interview he mentions food logs and checking to make sure you are eating healthy at least 80% of the time.
This started a discussion about what "healthy" really means and how you can tell.
To follow a healthy diet plan you really need to eat as many whole foods as possible with the least amount of ingredients in them.
This means fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, meats, etc.
So Scott had this idea! 
Instead of writing down what you ate and what the quantities were you should do this to determine if you are following a healthy diet plan.
Write down the ingredients listed in each food you eat. 
Now pretty quickly you will realize that if you are eating a lot of processed foods that your hand is going to be tired after writing the ingredients from just one food. Now if you eat these types of foods all the time then you better have a lot of paper handy and some extra pens.
If you feel up to the challenge of knowing if you are truly eating healthy then I suggest you write down the ingredients that are in the foods you eat. 
You could save time by just listing the number of foods that contain over 6 ingredients and compare them to the foods you eat that are 5 or less ingredients.
I don’t want you leaving comments saying you had to go visit your doctor because you couldn’t move your hand after all that writing so I thought I would give you a shorter alternative to the answer. 
Leave a comment here on the blog and let me know what you find out about your healthy diet plans.
Yours in good health,
Jayson Hunter. RD, CSCS
America’s Trusted Weight Loss Expert
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Diet comprizes of 80% fresh fruit & veg. Supplement diet with nuts and seeds in home made museli formula with raw oats, eat with fat free plain yougurt and fruit. Eat oats for breakfast plain nothing added.
Drink coffee black no sugar. Drink water approx 1litre per day. Also drink diet soda about 600ml per day.
Eat at different time each day and shift carbs to be eaten before 3.00pm daily.
Don’t count calories but on ave consume about 2000 to 2400 cals per day. Have cheat day 1 day a week when I don’t monitor what I eat. ( More of a physologigal issue). Rarely eat junk food maybe once a month at the most. Tend to eat more fruit and whole wheat on cheat day.
Make my own tortillas from whole wheat and Quinona with home made nut butter. Also make whloe wheat pita and use home made tahina paste fill with raw veg and some grillled chicken or fish and top with fresh chilli and home made sesame sauce.
Gym exercise 4 to 6 times a week depending on routine.
Have 20kg fat to go to get my BMI under 10% – tough going!!!!!!!! Am looking at health meal plan at 1200cals max for short time period top loose fat.
Do not believe in supplements but take multi vitamin/mineral 3 times weekly and protien smoothie if i miss more than 3 meals in a row.
I am 58 years old and speeding up my metabolism is key to my success and helath.
I work on the parento principle that if I get my diet and exercise right 80% of the time minimum I am OK.
more of a question than a comment – I eat a lot of fruit and my friend says that as it is stuffed with sugar it is not only fattening but can give you diabetes. She says sugar is sugar wheras I thought that as the fruit is a whole food rather than something with processed sugar added it was different. Sometimes I don’t fancy salad or feel like cooking veg so I eat loads of fruit instead. Do you think this is a good idea?
Fruit in general is not bad for you. Yes it is sugar but it is not a processed refined sugar like most of the foods we eat. It is loaded with vitamins and minerals and many fruits when eaten with the skin is full of fiber. All these things effect the way your body digests and utilizes the sugar.
Now you mention eating loads of fruit. Does this mean over 6-8 servings of fruit a day? Do you eat the fruit with skin? If you eat fruit out of a can you do have to make sure it wasn’t canned with added sugar. You are fine eating 4-5 servings of fruit a day preferably natural whole fruits and not canned. Also, choose fruits that have skins or pineapple and oranges as they tend to have a higher fiber count.
Jayson
Hello Jayson
What a great idea! There’s another simple rule of thumb. If you try to read the ingredients on the back and you can’t even pronounce it, it’s not food!
I have tried several different nutrition software packages–enter what you eat and it calculates out calories, fat, protein, carbs, etc. I’ve never been able to find one that lets me enter what I’ve actually eaten easily OR enter recipes and then say what portion of a recipe I ate. So when I bake a cake or make tomato sauce from fresh tomatoes (yummy beyond belief) I wind up having to calculate out how many tomatoes I ate, and enter that, then how much olive oil, and enter that, then how much basil, etc.
Can you suggest a nutrition software package for someone whose diet does NOT consist mostly of fast food and frozen dinners?
Thanks,
j
I agree with Nadine. The more ingredients it has the less it should be in your diet.
There are software programs such as diet master pro and nutritionist pro that do allow you to enter recipes and have it calculate out the calories, nutrients, etc. I believe once it is in the system you can then choose that recipe and the quantity you ate and have it determine the breakdown.
These programs are designed more for health professionals so they do carry a higher price tag of around $300-500. You may find some that are cheaper, but you will have to look at the details to see what they are capable of. I think the dietmaster program does have a lower cost version, but I don’t know what it includes.
Jayson
@Liz
It does sound like you are eating too much fruit. You should make sure you get protein with every meal and snack. You need protein and essential fats and you don’t get this from fruits. Meat and green leafy vegetables should make up the bulk of your diet with one or two serves of fruit a day. Also snack on nuts and seeds. Good health.
Alan.
If I can’t pronounce anything on the label, then i don’t eat it plain and simple. I rarely eat anything out of a box or can… generally follow an organic food diet.
I find home made food, all fresh ingredients, always tastes heaps better than any pre packaged ie canned food. I don’t even use sauces- I make my own. Lately I have been avoiding making enough for leftovers because I prefer food as fresh as possible, straight off the stove