To make a healthy lifestyle change and stick with it, you must learn to eat right. This doesn’t mean giving up everything you enjoy, but eating healthy foods for the majority of the time and having a treat every now and then. Once you start embracing a healthy diet, you will not feel as good when you eat unhealthy, processed foods. This will be your incentive to continue to incorporate more and more healthy foods into your diet. As you get used to eating healthy foods, try incorporating more and more organic foods into your diet. Watch this video to understand why organic is so important.
How to Find Reputable Information
What one person deems as a reputable source may not be reputable to another. When you’re searching online for advice on healthy foods and how to lose weight, please keep one thing in mind: the healthiest food is food that grows naturally from the earth and can be consumed without any kind of processing. Our government created the following websites in an attempt to help us create healthy food choices:
However, much research has been conducted on the validity of our government’s recommendations. Our government has been heavily subsidizing grain farmers whose crops are used for feed for animals that are used for meat, milk, and eggs and become cheap ingredients in processed food. So, it makes sense for the government to create a food pyramid that recommends that we eat grains for most of our daily calories.
What this means to us is this: the food pyramid suggests that most of your daily consumption should come from grains (preferably whole grains) and that you should strive to eat 2-3 servings of dairy per day. However, there are not a lot of grains you can eat (or any dairy products) without some kind of processing, so be wary of eating grains and dairy as the bulk of your diet. If you do eat grains, whole grains are much healthier for you than refined grains (or grains that are added in processed foods). The bulk of your diet should consist of healthy foods that are naturally grown by the earth that do not need to be processed to eat.
Read the following articles, for more information:
How to Decipher between Healthy and Unhealthy Foods
Think of healthy food as anything that grows naturally from the earth and can be consumed without any kind of processing. Unhealthy food is anything manufactured or processed by man. We understand that it is not practical in today’s world to only eat healthy food. The purpose of this article is to help you understand why man made (or processed) food is so bad for you and how you can start making healthier choices in the grocery store.
Think of healthy food as anything that grows naturally from the earth and can be consumed without any kind of processing. Unhealthy food is anything manufactured or processed by man. We understand that it is not practical in today’s world to only eat healthy food. The purpose of this article is to help you understand why man made (or processed) food is so bad for you and how you can start making healthier choices in the grocery store.
Healthy, unprocessed foods are low in calories, high in nutrients, and fill you up so you don’t overeat. The bulk of your diet should include fruits, vegetables and nuts. It’s okay to eat animal meat that is minimally processed without a ton of sodium added. However, you want to limit the amount of red meat you eat because it is high in cholesterol. Leaner meats, such as poultry and pork are much healthier for you. What about beans? Healthy beans are those that are safe when eaten raw or cooked. When was the last time you ate a pile of cooked soy beans? Soy beans are almost always processed (or used as an additive) to be consumed.
Your body needs protein, carbohydrates, fats and oils, and water to survive and function properly.
Protein is made up of amino acids and is used to build and repair body tissues and structures. It produces hormones, enzymes, and other regulatory functions and makes you feel full. Recommended daily intake of protein is 10 – 35% of total daily calories. Athletes and regular exercisers should consume 1-2 grams per kg per day of body weight (so you would multiply 1 or 2 by 2.2046 and multiply that by your body weight in pounds). Like any other nutrient, excess protein that is not used by the body will be stored as fat. So, if you do not burn enough calories or tear apart enough muscle tissues (which is what strength training is supposed to do so that protein is used to repair them), you will store the excess protein as fat. Lean meat, fish, and nuts are excellent sources of protein.
Carbohydrates are made up of sugars, starches, and fiber and are used as energy for the body. They help regulate the digestion and utilization of protein and fat. Fiber provides bulk in the diet and also makes you feel full. It prevents constipation and bacterial infections, lowers the risk of colon cancer and heart disease, and regulates the absorption of glucose. The rate by which carbohydrates raise blood sugar levels to release insulin during digestion (also known as the Glycemic Index) is measured. Foods lower on the Glycemic Index are higher in fiber and more nutritious. Recommended daily intake of carbohydrate is 45 – 65% of total daily calories. It is also recommended that you get 25 grams of fiber per day. Fruits and vegetables are excellent sources of carbohydrates because they contain natural sugars and fibers. Processed foods that contain grains are not as healthy because the food is not natural. It cannot be eaten without any kind of processing. Grains contain sugars and starches that are not broken down easily in the body. Real health foods are foods we were evolved to eat in our native environment: animal meat and organs, fish, fruits, vegetables, and nuts.
Fats and oils are broken down into unsaturated, saturated, and trans fatty acids. Fats and oils provide energy for the body, help the body absorb vitamins, assist the brain in functioning, protect the organs, preserves body heat, and slow down the digestive process. The fats in most healthy foods are unsaturated fats (or good fats) that the body needs (such as olive and canola oils, nuts, cold-water fish, and sunflower seeds). Many foods have saturated fats (bad fats) and must be eaten in moderation because they boost your cholesterol to harmful levels. Examples of these fats include meat, seafood, poultry with skin, whole-milk dairy products (such as cheese, milk, and ice cream), and coconut and palm kernel oil. The fat in processed foods, restaurant foods, fast foods, and snack foods (trans fats) should be avoided (such as partially hydrogenated vegetable oils). These fats not only raise your cholesterol to dangerous levels, but also increase your risk of many diseases. Recommended daily intake of fat is 20 – 35% of total daily calories.
The foods with the most saturated fat content include:
The foods with the most saturated fat content include:
· Regular full-fat cheese
· Pizza
· Grain based desserts
· Dairy desserts
· Chicken and chicken mixed dishes
· Sausage/bacon/hot dogs
· Burgers
· Tortillas/burritos/tacos
· Beef and beef mixed dishes
For years, margarine was promoted as a heart-healthy alternative to butter. However, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health, discovered that margarine contained large amounts of trans fats from partially hydrogenated oils. Instead of using margarine or butter, use a liquid vegetable oil, olive oil, or a soft margarine that is free of trans fats and low in saturated fat.
Water makes up 60% of your body and is absolutely essential for life. Water improves the functions of your endocrine glands, liver, metabolism, and body temperature regulation. It also decreases your appetite, so drink a glass or two of water 20 minutes before each meal – then you won’t be as hungry. Your metabolism slows down when you are dehydrated. On average, you should drink 96 ounces of water per day. If your goal is to loose fat, you should drink an additional 8 ounces of water for every 25 pounds that you carry above your ideal weight. Drink 16 ounces of water 2 hours before exercising and 20 – 40 ounces for every hour of exercise.
To learn more about the right types of food to eat for weight loss and overall health, please click on the following articles:
The healthy recipes that we make come from these sources:
The healthy recipes that we make come from these sources:
Don’t get hooked on the so-called “Low Fat Diets” and go buying everything at the grocery store that claims to be “low-fat”. Many of the foods that claim to be “low-fat” have been manufactured in a way that takes out the good fats and replaces them with chemicals!
According to the Harvard School of Public Health, a low-fat diet leads to weight loss over the short-term. However, they discovered a high-fat, low carbohydrate diet; a high-protein, low-carbohydrate; or almost any diet that helps you eat fewer calories works over the short-term. Over a two-year study, they found that lower-fat diets (20 percent of calories from fat) were no more effective for long-term weight loss than higher-fat diets (40 percent of calories from fat).
Marketing companies label foods so that we think they are healthy. However, if you read the ingredients, you will find that most of their claims to be healthy are false. Beware of foods labeled as:
· 0 grams of trans fat
· Sugar free
· Low carb
· Low fat
· Fat free
· Non-fat
· Low sodium
· Corn fed beef
· Organic
· Free range
· Soy
· 100% natural
· All natural
· No artificial ingredients
· 25% fewer calories or reduced calorie
· No trans fatty acids
· Filled with antioxidants
For more information on bad foods that are labeled as healthy, please click on the following articles:
Understanding nutrition labels can be a daunting task! In order to select the healthiest foods, you must understand the ingredients portion of the nutrition label. As a general rule of thumb, choose foods that have the least amount of ingredients with ingredients you can pronounce and know that they are. Remember that the ingredients are listed in the order in which the food contains the most. So, if high fructose corn syrup is listed first, high fructose corn syrup is the main ingredient.
Choose foods low in sugar. Sugar raises your insulin levels, which, in turn, increases fat storage and weight gain. It also lowers your metabolism. Sugar has also been known to promote asthma, mood swings, personality changes, mental illness, nervous disorders, heart disease, and arthritis. Marketing companies have found many ways to disguise sugar. However, there are good sugars and bad sugars. The good sugars are those that occur naturally in milk, fruits, and vegetables. The bad sugars are the sugars that are added to foods during preparation or processing. Try to limit your sugar intake to less than 32 grams per day, or 5 – 10% of total caloric intake.
Foods that are high in sugar include:
· Soda/energy drinks/sports drinks
· Grain based desserts
· Fruit drinks
· Dairy desserts
· Candy
· Ready-to-eat cereals
Choose foods low in sodium. Avoid eating foods with more than 200 mg of sodium per serving. Consuming more than 2,300 mg of sodium per day can cause high blood pressure and water retention. When your body retains too much water, you tend to bloat.
Foods that are high in sodium include:
Foods that are high in sodium include:
· Yeast/bread
· Chicken and chicken mixed dishes
· Pizza
· Pasta
· Cold cuts of meat
· Condiments
· Tortillas/burritos/tacos
· Sausage/bacon/hot dogs
Choose nutrient-dense fruits and vegetables. Nutrient-dense means that the food is full of vitamins and minerals, has few calories, and is low in fat, added sugars, refined starches, and salt/sodium. All vegetables, fruits, whole grains, fat-free or low-fat milk and milk products, seafood, lean meats, nuts and seeds (prepared without added fats, sugars, starches, or salt/sodium) are nutrient-dense. Choose whole grain foods instead of refined or enriched. Refined or enriched products indicate that they are heavily processed. The recommended daily intake of whole grains is 3 ounces.
When reading nutrition labels, beware of ingredients containing the following words:
· Partially hydrogenated
· High fructose corn syrup
· Corn syrup
· Modified corn starch
· Sucrose
· Molasses
· Dried cane juice
· Cane concentrate
· Erythrol
· Mannitol
· Xylitol
· Sugar alcohols
· Monoglycerides
· Diglycerides
· Potassium sorbate
· Calcium disodium
Also, watch how many servings of a food you eat. Marketing companies usually shave the serving size down so that their foods appear healthier.
For more information, please click on the following articles:
Why Processed Food is So Bad for You
Most processed foods contain lots of sodium, preservatives, additives, and chemicals so that they have a longer shelf life and don’t spoil as quickly. These ingredients have been known to cause obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.
The best rule of thumb, if it doesn’t spoil within a week or two, don’t eat it!
For more information on which ingredients in processed foods are healthy and unhealthy, please read the following articles:
Organic Food
Watch this video to understand why organic is so important. Organic food is food that is free of chemicals, pesticides, preservatives, additives, growth hormones, and antibiotics. This type of food is more nutritious. When food is processed, the nutritional components are stripped from the food. Foods grown on pesticide and nitrate-abused soil are depleted of the minerals we need in our bodies to function properly and the chemicals that are used to ward off insects causes diseases like cancer in the human body.
Animals on factory farms are given growth hormones and grow fat so fast that they can’t even stand up. They are packed in small cages or pens so that they can’t even move. These animals stand or lay in their own manure for their entire lives. When cows are taken to the processing plants, they are ground up and mixed with parts of cows from all over the world. The meat is so full of bacteria that it has to be treated with ammonia gas to bring it to “safe consumption” levels. Beef products are packed with fillers that are made up of different parts of the cows and the actual product may only contain 40% beef.
In terms of cost, organic food is only 20% higher than chemical food, but it’s actually cheaper, gram for gram, even when ignoring the astronomical hidden costs of industrial processed food (damage to health, climate, environment, and government subsidies).
Don’t let the food marketing companies fool you into buying food that appears to be organic, but is not. The USDA Organic symbol must be on the package. If a product claims to be 100% organic, made with organic ingredients, have no drugs or growth hormones used, use free range animals, or be sustainably harvested, but DOES NOT HAVE THE USDA ORGANIC SYMBOL, it is not organic. To see what the USDA Organic symbol looks like, and for more information on organic labeling, read Organic Labeling and Marketing Information.
For more information on organic food, please read the following articles:
· Food, Inc. the Movie or search for Food, Inc. on Netflix.
Protein Supplements
Protein supplementation is not typically recommended for athletes. No substantial evidence proves that using protein supplements to replace food or increasing protein intake above the recommended daily allowance will enhance performance or build bigger muscles. However, protein supplementation may be useful to quickly get amino acids into the bloodstream before and after weight training, replace whole-food proteins, or when preparing for bodybuilding competitions.
· Creatine
Dietary Supplements
The Food and Drug Administration define a dietary supplement as:
The Food and Drug Administration define a dietary supplement as:
· A product intended to supplement the diet and contains one or more of the following dietary ingredients: a vitamin, a mineral, an herb or other botanical, and an amino acid
· A substance that is meant to supplement the diet by increase total daily intake
· A concentrate, metabolite, constituent, extract, or combination
· Intended for ingestion as a pill, capsule, tablet, or liquid
· Not represented for use as a conventional food or as the entire meal
· Labeled as a “dietary supplement”
Almost anything that is not already classified as a drug can be put into a pill and sold as a “dietary supplement”.
People who engage in the following eating patterns may need supplementation because they are not getting enough nutrients from their food:
· Consume mostly junk (nutrient deficient) foods
· Avoid eating foods from specific food groups
· Eat only one major meal per day
· Have irregular eating patterns (low-calorie diet one day, high-calorie diet the next)
· Eat too much or too little protein or carbohydrate
· Food phobias and are picky eaters
Source: Lippincott, Williams, & Wilkins, NASM Essentials of Personal Training
Our best advice? Get the nutrients your body needs from whole, organic foods and supplement to fill in the gaps to avoid the health destruction caused by processed foods later in life.
If you need help selecting the right dietary supplements, please research them first and make sure they are right for you. Here are some reliable sources for you:
