Portion control, Paleo and superfoods: health food myths demystified

Sarah Wilson, author of I Quit Sugar: Simplicious, explains why we need to exercise caution with omega-3s and raw treats.

Many people think they can eat unlimited amounts of healthy foods. How do you exercise portion control?
“My philosophy is to work with human nature. We’re naturally better at doing things rather than restricting ourselves. I have an approach that I call ‘crowding out’ where you start with as many vegetables as you can and flavour with meat and pad out with some fat. This way, you don’t have to worry about restriction.”

Can we over-eat omega-3s?
“The problem isn’t quantity, it’s to do with the quality. Omega-3 can quickly turn into omega-6 when not handled properly. Eating too many nuts and seeds that aren’t stored properly can be an issue. The best way to get omega-3 is with real food, not supplements.”

Can we over-eat cacao and raw treats?
“Raw cacao isn’t really a problem because it contains good quality fats. It triggers the right satiation triggers in the brain making it impossible to binge on. Raw treats, however, are a very big issue. In part because they’re often very harsh on the gut (especially if the nuts etc aren’t prepared properly) but also the raw food industry is very partial to its sugar. My experience is that raw food treats contain way more sugar than your garden variety commercial versions.”

What do you think of Paleo?
“Many of the nutritional principles are incredibly sensible, like for instance, choosing quality meats and going heavy on veggies and fruit. However, basing the whole ‘diet’ on the notion that we know what our ancestors ate 10 thousand years ago just doesn’t add up. And sadly, too many people are too obsessed with the movement, thus obscuring some of the sensible stuff. My solution: just eat real food!”

What do you think of the label ‘superfood’?
“I think any real food eaten whole is a superfood. We don’t need to complicate life with these kinds of faddish catch phrases.”

This article originally appeared on Vogue.com.au^[1]

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