by Mariane Wray, WBC Penang Coach
The end of the year is traditionally a time of parties and celebrations, with an abundance of food and alcohol. Christmas is full of mince pies, roast lambs and Christmas cake, and New Year (both 1 Jan & Chinese New Year) often result in overindulgence. Many of you are also about to complete Operation Warrior Transformation, where the gains you have made (no pun intended) can be very easily undone by the upcoming holiday period. This article reviews the concepts of moderation and variety within diet, and how consideration of both can help you to limit the ‘damage’ caused to our diets over the next few months.
‘Everything in moderation’ and ‘variety is the spice of life’ are terms we are all familiar with, and often use them in relation to diet. We use these phrases to justify having a plate of hot chips, or a slice of cake, or fried noodles at the hawkers, and it seems to make sense, right? That we can have a healthy lifestyle and indulge every now and again in the foods (and drinks!) that we love, but that we know are unhealthy.
These phrases, in relation to diet, therefore imply that a little of everything, every now and again, is ok. Even the Dietary Guidelines[1] recommendations advocate for a wide variety of foods within our diet, however this is often interpreted as wide variety of any food rather than just a variety of healthy food.
The dictionary definition of moderation is “restraint; avoidance of extremes or excesses; temperance”, whereas variety is defined as ‘the state of being varied or diversified’. Hmmmm…. these two definitions appear ‘diverse’ within themselves, so how are we meant to know what ‘moderation’ and ‘variety’ in relation to diet actually mean, when the terms are not only conflicting, but also confusing?
Moderation:
First, lets examine the concept of diet moderation and what this may mean in comparison to health. A recent study[2] conducted by the University of Texas and Tufts University suggests that “everything in moderation” may actually be linked to a poorer diet and reduced health. These results are not insignificant. The study included data collected from over 6,800 ethnically diverse participants, including American-Chinese, over a period of ten years. The aim of this study was to evaluate diversity in diet and compare this with health over time.
Variables examined in the study included;
1) Total Food Count - or the number of different foods eaten within one week,
2) Calorie Evenness - or the distribution of calories across the different foods consumed,
3) Food Dissimilarity - or the differences in foods in relation to health, such as fibre, sodium, cholesterol or trans-fat content,
4) Diet quality - or the quality of the foods consumed within a diet.
“A more varied diet was not linked to better health”.
A further result found that those with the greatest food dissimilarity had a worse diet quality. This means that those who ate the widest variety of foods were also more likely to have poor diet quality. These people ate fewer healthy foods, such as fruits and vegetables, but consumed more unhealthy foods, such as processed meats, desserts and soda drinks.
The study found that those with the healthiest diets ate a relatively small range of healthy foods. The variety and amount of foods consumed from the five food groups was more in line with the Dietary Recommendations , and included fewer unhealthy foods. This suggests that eating ‘everything in moderation’ is actually worse than eating a less varied number of healthy foods.
A varied diet that is largely comprised of unhealthy foods - even if these are only consumed in moderation - will likely lead to poor health over time. This is not rocket science, most of us know this already. The hard part is eliminating the unhealthy foods from your diet forever, or reducing the number of unhealthful foods that you allow yourself to include in your diet. Giving up foods that you like or love can be difficult, but will have significant positive health outcomes over time.
This does not mean that you have to give up everything you love, it just means that you choose the things you really love, and eliminate everything else. For example, if chocolate is your food of choice, choose the variety that you like the most and only eat that. If that variety is not available, then you don't eat chocolate. Initially this will need to be a conscious choice, but over time maintaining these habits becomes easier and easier, until they are second nature.
Diet Variety: 
Secondly, lets look at variety within a healthy diet. Most Government nutrition boards and organisations stress the importance of variety in a diet.[4] We do need a variety of foods within our diet as no single food can supply all nutrients in the amounts the human body needs to operate effectively.
Variety in a healthy diet refers to choosing the recommended number of daily servings from each of the five major food groups displayed in My Plate,[2] to ensure that all of the nutrients and other substances needed for health are included in dietary intake.
Variety in a healthy diet does not refer to pies on Monday, cakes on Tuesday, deep fried curry puffs on Wednesday, Beer on Thursday…. although this is often peoples idea of diet variety. Most people do choose a wide variety of foods, however people often choose higher or lower amounts from some food groups than that suggested by MyPlate. MyPlate shows that foods from the grain products group, along with vegetables and fruits, are the basis of varied, healthful diets.
You can achieve a healthful, nutritious eating pattern with many combinations of foods from the five major food groups. Choosing a variety of foods within and across food groups improves dietary patterns because foods within the same group have different combinations of nutrients and other beneficial substances. Choosing a variety of foods from within each group also helps to make your meals more interesting from day to day.
Foods vary in their amounts of calories and nutrients. Some foods such as grain products, vegetables, and fruits have many nutrients and other healthful substances but are relatively low in calories. Fat and alcohol are high in calories. Foods high in both sugars and fat contain many calories but often are low in vitamins, minerals, or fibre. People who do not need many calories or who must restrict their food intake need to choose nutrient-rich foods from the five major food groups with special care. They should obtain most of their calories from foods that contain a high proportion of essential nutrients and fibre, and restrict foods high in calories but low in nutritional value.
“People who do not need many calories or who must restrict their food intake need to choose nutrient-rich foods from the five major food groups with special care”
Therefore, variety in relation to diet, refers to choosing a wide variety of healthy, nutritious food from across the five food groups from MyPlate. Restrict your intake of foods high in calories but low in nutritional benefits, and seek out the foods that provide an abundance of nutrients and goodness.
Summary:
Turns out that ‘everything in moderation’ and ‘variety is the spice of life’ are not particularly helpful in relation to diet and health. Those with greater food diversity were found to have worse health than those who do not consume a large variety of foods, and variety should apply to healthy food choices only.
This holiday period, give yourself the gift of health and make long term dietary changes that support your long term health goals. Your body will love you for it.
References:
[1] Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, 2000; USDA, 1996; National Research Council, 1989a
[4]http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0141341
[5] Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, 2000; USDA, 1996; National Research Council, 1989a
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