November 2009

It always seems odd to me that we need health food stores, after all, food is essential, so shouldn't all food be healthy? Why have we ended up using labels such as good and bad foods? For example, “good carbs” and “bad carbs”, “good fats” and “bad fats” and here's a new one you may not have heard of “good chemicals” and "bad chemicals”. Not surprisingly the healthiest foods contain the "good" versions. The term "good carbs" usually refers to high fibre or whole wheat carbohydrates. Good fats are the unsaturated kind but what are good chemicals? The most numerous and abundant “good chemicals” are found in plants and even have their own name - “phytochemicals “ this basically means chemicals of plant origin! But what is so good about these phytochemicals?