Are you healthy or healthful?
Is what you’re eating healthy or healthful?
Healthy is typically used to describe people in good health, as in:
“How Broadway Actors Stay Healthy”
The New York Times
Healthful, according to Oxford Dictionaries, means “having or conducive to good health,” as in:
“Think something is healthful just because it’s chock full of fruit or labeled as a salad?”
Los Angeles Times
Though you might notice that healthy is also used to describe objects or concepts that suggest good health. For example:
“31 Healthy Snacks for Adults”
Reader’s Digest
Centuries ago, the debate was whether healthful and healthy can be both used to describe things that are favorable to one’s health. Some disagree with the use of healthy, but the Oxford English Dictionary states that healthy has been a synonym for healthful since the 1500s. Hence, using healthy to describe something “conducive to good health” is now acceptable too:
“Most Americans Think Burgers Are Healthy”
TIME“A Healthy Diet’s Main Ingredients? Best Guesses”
The New York Times