Everyone has a different opinion. Everyone is talking about the harm of something. There are plenty of people saying “this is harmful” about everything we eat or do, thank goodness. I wonder if everyone can live this isolated life?

We get caught up in such small details that we miss the big picture. I want to give some examples from the questions I receive.

Apparently, grinding oats in a food processor is harmful.

There’s a truth to this. Eating all foods in their natural form is the healthiest. Wheat as grains, apples as apples, tomatoes as tomatoes… Everything that is cooked, pureed, or ground loses something from its natural state. Our bodies use less energy to digest them, but does that mean we shouldn’t cook? For goodness sake, don’t. The benefit of slightly reducing the size of oatmeal is so small. Instead of consuming packaged, processed bread, if you put ground oats in your eggs, don’t worry about the reduced benefit. Compared to bread, be happy with the beauty of your choice.

Exercising at night is harmful.

There’s no set time for exercise. Just do it. Of course, morning exercise is better, your metabolism works harder throughout the day, but should we not exercise at all just because we can’t exercise in the morning? Should we deprive our bodies of it? It’s said that the increased heart rate during exercise can disrupt sleep. We’re already a society that finds exercise difficult. So we immediately cling to this excuse. Exercising in the evening doesn’t disrupt sleep. On the contrary, because you’re moving, you sleep more deeply and soundly.

Let’s not use baking soda, but let’s eat packaged biscuits.

Baking powder and packaged yeast contain some chemicals. There’s no arguing about that. It would be much better if we didn’t use them at all. Baking soda does the same job as baking powder and is a more innocent option, but its ingredients aren’t exactly clean either, yet we use it in homemade crackers, pastries, and bread. Then people say, “Oh, baking powder is harmful!” Believe me, homemade pastries made with healthy flour and baking powder are hundreds of times better than store-bought, cardboard-like biscuits or bakery pastries made with greasy, white flour, whose ingredients are unknown.

The examples could go on and on. And because these things are constantly written about on social media, it confuses us all. Because of this, healthy eating seems so complicated, and we can’t figure out where to start, so we just give up. Do those who constantly focus on these details live in a bubble? Currently, all the fruits and vegetables we consume are heavily treated with pesticides. Unfortunately, our farmers don’t monitor or reduce their use. All legumes are treated with pesticides. Legumes are among the foods that contain the most pesticides.

And the animal industry is already a deplorable state. The feed given to animals is full of chemicals. Chickens don’t get enough oxygen, they can’t walk. Fish are raised on feed in farms without ever being able to swim, and so on and so forth…

I think we should talk about these things instead of the fact that oats are harmful when they are turned into flour.

So, how should we eat in general?

I recommend trying to buy organic everything you eat raw, all dairy products, grains, and legumes. Yes, I know they’re expensive, but once your health is gone, even millions can’t bring it back. If you don’t buy a pair of shoes you like at the mall that day, or eat out less one night, you’ll already have recouped the difference in your monthly budget between regular and organic vegetables.

Try to eat everything naturally.

Don’t even bring processed, packaged products into your home. Make it a habit to read the labels. Even salty products contain sugar and glucose syrup. All packaged products contain E-labels and preservatives that we can’t understand.

Consume plenty of vegetables, fruits, and legumes. Our salvation lies in nature.

Consume the most natural of everything; don’t get bogged down in more details and create more problems for yourself. Enjoy your life and what you eat. When you eat 90% clean, leave yourself 10% to indulge so you have the strength to keep going.

I complained a bit today, but I’ve wanted to write this for a long time. I’ve been getting so many questions that I wanted to clarify some of the confusion.

I wish everyone healthy, happy, and sugar-free days.

NOTE: This article was published on my column at www.hthayat.com on July 14, 2018.