Face it, you’ve been duped.
High fiber cereal, whole wheat bread, granola bars, yogurt, multigrain whatevers, low fat this and that, salads, frozen diet meals…My list could go on and on. Maybe you know better than to eat the real junk (aka cake, candy and cookies), and you think you are a relatively good eater (especially when you exercise self-control in the face of others who are stuffing their face full of cake, candy and cookies), but you still feel a little fat and fatigued. Here’s the deal; you’ve been sold a bad bill of goods. Let’s just say, you start your day with a big bowl of fiber cereal with soymilk, you grab a sandwich on whole wheat bread and a yogurt for lunch. You’ve got a granola bar and some dried fruit packed as an afternoon snack, dinner is a frozen diet meal and dessert is a low fat “skinny” ice cream and a few organic cookies. It all sounds so healthy, right?!? I say, maybe yes—maybe no. Health foods are not at all created equal. So, while there are a bazillion yogurt, granola and whole grain options out there, only a few really are good for you. There are only a few that aren’t loaded with refined sugar, preservatives, chemicals and other garbage.
Here is one of my favorite examples of a classic “I’m on a diet/trying to eat healthy” lunch:
Weight Watchers 100% Whole Grain Bread with Oscar Meyer Oven Roasted Turkey Breast, Lettuce, Tomato and Light Mayo. Sounds super healthy right?!? Okay, let’s break it down.
Weight Watchers bread is loaded with high fructose corn syrup (known to cause obesity, diabetes and cancer) and really horrible chemicals and preservatives like Calcium Proprionate (linked to Attention Deficit Disorder), Azodicarbonamide (a chemical banned in EU and Singapore that is linked to respiratory distress and asthma), and Ammonium Sulfate (a flame retardant). The seemingly harmless turkey breast has sugar, sodium phosphate (the laxative you take prior to a colonoscopy) and sodium nitrite (a chemical linked to cancer in animal studies). The light mayo you’re spreading on that bread, has sugar and Calcium Disodium EDTA (made from formaldehyde, this chemical is linked to liver and kidney disease, seizures, respiratory and cardiac distress). Bottom line, I would only eat the lettuce and tomato off this sandwich.
Here are a few quick tips to get you thinking like a YouAnewer…
1. Labels, Labels, Labels. You’ve got to read those food labels. Just because it says whole grain, high fiber or low fat does NOT mean it’s healthy.
2. Fill your cart with foods from the earth. In other words, eat from the earth not a test tube.
3. Minimize your exposure to the junk. Limit the number of boxes, bags and cans you buy.
Eating healthy (for real), being thin and feeling great is not as complicated as it seems. You just need the right frame work to learn how to make Lifestyle Nutrition work for you. Lifestyle Nutrition is learning how to eat in way that will make you look and feel great. I think today should be the day you start rethinking your approach to those “healthy” foods you throw into your shopping cart. Be duped no more!
