How has the concept of healthy eating changed with time

The idea of what to eat and how food influences our well-being has changed many times throughout history. The protocols of traditional medicines show that in ancient cultures, the connection between food and health was well established. Their perception of how the food that we are eating influences our health is clearly shown in a famous quote attributed to the Father of Medicine, Greek physician, Hippocrates: “Let food be thy medicine and let medicine be thy food”.

However, after the new scientific ideas took over at the end of 19th century, the value of food suddenly became reduced to its chemical component parts, which could be either incorporated into the body or burned for energy. Eventually, the ‘calorie’ system was introduced and counting calories began at the expense of other, more qualitative characteristics of food.

Luckily, some modern physicians still paid attention to food and so the ketogenic diet was invented in the 1920s as a treatment for epilepsy ― it was used on a regular basis until pharmaceuticals came on the market presenting an easier way to manage this condition. The ketogenic diet was forgotten and demonised alongside saturated fats and cholesterol in the 1950s, when a major shift happened in the recommended diet from fats to carbohydrates, and from saturated fats to vegetable oils. The following 50 years of low-fat diets saw the rates of obesity and diabetes skyrocket proving that healthy fats, even if saturated, are not a cause of concern. Then we reached the anti-sugar moment! Sugar is, no doubt, bad for our health, but let us not repeat the same mistakes again and demonise all carbohydrates as well, because healthy, whole carbohydrate sources provide us with fibre and a myriad of micronutrients that our body needs to thrive.