Don't become obsessed with eating healthy.

• Position: Your Life - Brief Article

Some individuals are so focused on eating a healthy diet that they may actually be damaging their bodies, warns Katherine Beals, professor of nutrition, Ball State University, Muncie, Ind. America's fascination with washboard abdominals and low body-fat levels are contributing to a growing obsession with food and an overemphasis on "eating healthy," she maintains. "While eating healthy is commendable and certainly advisable, some people are taking `eating healthy' to unhealthy limits. People may have a problem if they are counting every gram of fat, restricting carbohydrates, and/or eating large amounts of protein. Not only is it unhealthy, it makes them poor dinner dates."

Beals indicates that food choices play a major role in maintaining good health; promoting growth in infants, children, and adolescents; preventing some chronic diseases and treating others; and speeding recovery from injuries and surgery. Failure to eat a variety of foods could lead to nutrient deficiencies, she stresses. "There are individuals who are eating only protein bars, broiled...