The Rule of Thumb for a Healthy Diet

1. Diversify the diet: That is, incorporate as diverse food into your daily diet as possible. Different food contains different nutrients that your body needs, and some nutrients are only available in specific kinds of food. A balancing diet is one that includes different kinds of meat and vegetables (for vegetarians, vegetables only). Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) suggests five colors (green, red, yellow, white, black) and five flavors (sweet, salty, sour, spicy, bitter) as a general guideline for a balancing diet. Five colors correspond to the five elements that form our body, which are balanced when our body is healthy and out of balance when not. As long as you follow the general rule of diversifying the diet, you will find yourself eating five colors and five flavors of food naturally. In other words, you need not count the bits and pieces to maintain a healthy diet.

2. Diversify the source of food: While the previous one is about eating different kinds of food, this one is about eating the same food but from different sources. This may include different farms, different producers, or different supermarkets. The same food company tends to use the same food additives or other substances in their products which may not be good for your health. Other food companies may use different additives, and that's the whole point of diversifying the source. Because by diversifying, the chance of your body accumulating a particular chemical over the years to the level that's detrimental to your health is greatly reduced. Of course, it would have been better if eating more natural food with little or no additives in the first place. But even the "natural" food is prone to environmental pollution, or something of similar sort that science has not discovered yet. So, as a rule of thumb, diversifying the source of food is simple, easy, and making sense.

3. Eat in-season food: Although nowadays any kind of food seems almost available all year round, thanks to the technology, there are still some advantages for eating in-season food. For instance, eating watermelons in summer is almost guaranteed to be cheaper, sweeter, juicier, more natural and containing less pesticides than eating them in winter. Same for many other fruits and vegetables. So although technology allows you to indulge in your favorite fruits anytime - you don't need to wait another half a year - it's still a smart move to eat them in their season. This also forces you to diversify food on a yearly basis!

4. Eat less processed food: Less processed food are one that's more natural and original. For instance, whole-grain and whole-wheat bread are less processed than white bread; fresh vegetables are less processed than canned vegetables; and so on. The problem with processed food is that it's often added with preservatives (as in canned food) or has removed nutritious parts of food (as in white bread). Besides, processed food such as refined cakes or desserts are often too sweet and contain too much sugar compared to the less processed one. So, the last general rule for a healthy diet is to eat less processed food which is generally more natural, original, and healthy.