Millions of people are doing their best to make wiser food and nutrition choices. We have reached a point where it is becoming common for people to consider nutrition in their meal planning and to create their general health and well-being top priorities. People are shopping otherwise. They are spending more time in the produce aisles. They’re reaching for thinner cuts of meat. They’re doing their best to make smarter decisions.

Unfortunately, poor decisions frequently intervene between the supermarket cash register and the dinner table. The best ingredients in the world can get their nutritional value entirely undermined as a result of poor preparation. People are starting to realize that food and nutrition matter, but they are not quite there yet when it comes to serving up the healthiest foods that are possible.

A green vegetable salad appears to be a healthy way to begin a meal. It is a nutritionist’s dream. Too many people, however, manage to completely ruin an excellent opportunity to receive their meal off to a healthy start. Between the mound of grated cheese, the overdose of fatty salad dressing and a couple of fistfuls of croutons that started out as white bread, what ought to be good turns out to be the type of thing that keeps cardiologists active!

Anyone with an appreciation for food and nutrition would welcome seeing folks dine on broccoli. When that new head of broccoli is steamed until limp, but it loses a lot of its nutritional value. When it’s topped with melted butter to make it more palatable for a family’s picky eaters, it is healthiness declines much more.

It is great to reach for chicken or turkey instead of a fatty cut of red meat. These chicken breasts are an excellent way to enhance one’s diet. Well, they would be a positive development if they were not dipped in eggs, rolled in white bread and fried in three inches of corn oil. Once prepared this way, they’re anything but the picture of health. In actuality, you would be better off eating just about anything else. Never underestimate our capacity to transform a totally healthy food thing into an obesity grenade!

We are making great strides concerning food and nutrition. A few years back, the salad would not have made the table. We would have mashed potatoes and sauce instead. The broccoli would have been buttered corn. Instead of chicken, we would be eating gristle-laden chicken fried steak. We’re doing better.

But there’s a good deal of room for advancement. It is time for all those who’ve made the first step toward a healthier diet to take another step. We’re purchasing the proper things. It is time to bring our knowledge of food and nutrition to the actual preparation of these products.