Each January, we are barraged with ads from food manufacturers trying to sell their lighted-up, supposedly healthy products, which they claim will help you shed weight. These products are expensive, don't taste good and are filled with God-knows-what to shave off calories. And each year, people, bolstered by their resolutions to finally change their bodies, eagerly buy into these claims, racking up expensive grocery bills and carts full of nutritionally empty foods.
This year, I challenge you to consider your resolutions differently. If you're serious about changing your body and health, then consider changing your lifestyle. The real diet foods - the ones that work - are the ones provided to us naturally. It's the stuff humans have been eating for millions of years (even though food manufactures want you to think that their invention of a dense diet bar filled with chemicals is somehow superior.)
Produce. Whole grains. Naturally lean dairies and meats.
Where does the fast food fall into this approach? Or the baked chips, diet soda, fat-free brownies or canned light soups? They don't. And you'll find that if you start avoiding these foods, after a while, they don't taste good. If these are the things we eat all the time, our palette changes to prefer them. And the fresh stuff - the good stuff - slowly falls by the wayside.
Bring the real food back into your life. Skip the baked chips (and check out that ingredient list next time you're in the store) and diet soda, and instead eat an apple with a little peanut butter. Drink pure, clean water or unsweetened tea (in moderation). Add lemon to it if you require flavor.
Here are some other healthy snacks to try instead of a 100-calorie bowl of cereal that's more akin to Frankenstien than healthy grains:
- Natural yogurt with fruit and or granola
- Fruit and a handful of nuts
- Whole-grain, naturally low-sugar cereal with skim milk
- A hard-boiled egg
- Raw veggies and a cheese stick
- Popcorn, lightly salted
- Homemade fruit and nut trail mix
The bottom line is this: If you can go with good, old-fashioned, common-sense choices when it comes to eating, and squeeze in some exercise, the weight will come off on its own. And you'll feel better because the quality of what you eat is better.
So, this New Year's, if your resolution is to lose weight, consider these thoughts. And, when your body is telling you it's hungry, eat food.
Want more ramblings? Check these out:
I agree with most everything you are saying here. Whole foods, rather than anything from a package, are always a better option. When I do eat packaged food, I stick with those that have ingredients I can pronounce and understand.
ReplyDeleteI try to eat foods in their most natural form: whole-fat, organic (or grass fed) dairy, fruit instead of fruit juice, Homemade trail mix with raw ingredients.
I love the idea of eating like our ancestors! Have you heard of the Paleo diet? Many see this lifestyle to be similar to what you are suggesting.