Recently, I joined my relatives on a family camping trip. Being on "vacation," we had left all nutritional rules and guidelines back home.

We enjoyed many foods that weekend that rarely show up in a daily meal at home. We went out to dinner one night and ate everything from fried green beans to onion rings. I especially enjoyed stealing my niece's french fries and dunking them in the ketchup. I washed it all down with a draft beer. A quick mental calculation led me to believe that my meal most likely consisted of more than 50% fat and did not follow any of the prescribed dietary guidelines published by every national health agency in the United States.

My brother-in-law is a curious man and likes to learn about many things. His interest in nutrition typically leads to one or two nutrition questions to me, "The GD" (The Good Doctor"), during our visits. This time, his question was especially compelling. He wanted to know about the foods at this meal and wanted me to confirm that the fried green beans weren't bad since he was only eating them this once and likely wouldn't eat them again in the next several years.

The simple answer was "No." Fried green beans every couple of years is not a bad food. I gave him that answer but knew there was something more that needed to be addressed. I silently pondered and shortly it became clear. He was asking about an individual food and was asking me to make an assessment of that food outside of the big picture of his overall diet.

It is our tendency to want to know if foods are "good" or "bad." Once we categorize the food it becomes easy to either eat it or not. Two lists. One decision. However, food is a complex matter, and refuses to be simplified in such a way.

Any food can be considered "OK once in awhile." But, if we include several foods on the "once-in-awhile" list everyday, than we are actually eating once-in-awhile foods much too often. The meal my family and I enjoyed on vacation included only foods high in fat and sodium, and low in fiber. They needed to be balanced with low-fat, high-fiber foods so that the big picture of our diets was overall healthier. Fortunately, vacation only lasted another couple days.

Yes, fried green beans are OK once in awhile; so are french fries, potato chips and hot fudge sundaes. Health problems start happening when we make meals out of a combination of these foods and leave out the foods we should eat all the time. Limit those once-in-awhile foods to just once in awhile. Focus on the all-the-time list for good health!

In health,

Dr. A. Jean Well