As I ponder the way that things were growing up as opposed to the way that things are today I am hit with the irony of how as our dietary “conveniences” increase we become more physically inconvenienced in regards to allergies, obesity and illness. We are truly a fatter and sicker nation than we were 40 years ago and I can only speculate as to the culprit.
I believe that the main offenders are the foods that we eat. They have been so badly tainted that without true awareness you maybe accidentally “poisoning” yourself and those that you love.
Here are some basic rules that will hopefully help you live a longer healthier life:
Buy Fresh Food – you’ve all heard me say it. “If it doesn’t come from the ground or have a mother don’t eat it!”
The box you hold in your hand never had a larger box that birthed and nurtured it so pitch it. Of course if you choose to start slowly and not discard your entire pantry, toss out anything that has sugar, salt, high fructose corn syrup or crystalline fructose listed in the first 5 ingredients. Throw away anything with hydrogenated oil, BHT, added colors or unpronounceable words listed as an ingredient.
Move Towards Organics – nothing upset me more than to find out that all the beautiful fruits and vegetables I ate and had fed to those I love were ridden with pesticides and obesogens.
The items that are deemed the most chemically dangerous are apples, pears, peaches, nectarines, grapes, strawberries, peppers, celery, cherries, kale, lettuce and carrots.
The 15 fruits and vegetables that have a low pesticide count are onions, avocados, pineapple, asparagus, mango, peas, kiwi, cabbage, eggplant, papaya, watermelon and sweet potato.
If you’re having problem losing weight, try to eat organic fruits and vegetables; studies show that after just 5 days of eating the right foods, pesticide consumption can be reduced to undetectable levels.
Shop the perimeter of the Store – all the fresh foods are located on the outside aisles while all the boxes of preservatives live in the central aisles. I recommend you work the perimeter of the store and just dart through the center aisles for the staples you know that you need like cleaning supplies and paper goods. Try to buy very little edible items from the central aisles.
Some Vicky Secrets –
- Haagen Daz and Dove have no preservatives! Treat yourself to the real stuff – just have a little less.
- Go Natural and Skip the Nitrates – roast a turkey or roast beef for lunchtime sandwiches.
- Use Raw Sugar instead of Refined.
- The Best of the Worst in regards to Granola Bars are Cliff bars.
- Be aware that Washing Fruits & Veggies does NOT Eliminate all of the Pesticides. Peeling helps but then you are also peeling away valuable nutrients.
- Eat Wild not Farmed Fish. The farmed fish are fatter with bad fat but lower in the beneficial Omega 3 fat. Farmed fish are filled with dye, pesticides and antibiotics.
- Snack on Whole Grain vs. Multigrain. Multigrain often means refined white flour is mixed in with just small amounts of whole grains. Don’t be fooled by 100% wheat, stone ground or multigrain.
- Buy Organic Chicken – they have no chemical, pesticides, hormones, drugs or antibiotics in them,
- Purchase Grass Fed Meat – the rest have been fed obesogens and steroids. The obesogens create 7x as much fat as the grass fed meat which becomes your fat if you eat it. Purchasing leaner cuts of meat helps as well.
Food allergies were unheard of 30+ years ago –I believe that if we went back to the basics and stopped eating all the chemicals they would again be silenced.
