How many of you feel lethargic?
How many of you feel gross?
How many of you feel moody?
How many of you drag out of bed or from 2-5 in the afternoon?
How many of you ache?
How many of you bloat?
How many of you have skin that is irritated (dry, oily, acne, etc)?
How many of you have joint pain and inflammation?
Ok. You can put your hands down now.
There is a reason for this and you can find it in your cabinets and pantries.
I know I am not the first person who ever told you that you eat like crap, but I am just here to remind you. And it's coming from someone who really cares about you and hopefully from someone you trust. I want to help you (and MYSELF) make the transition into healthy living in ways that are practical and useful.
I feel like I need to take a moment and get serious...so please hear me out. We can sit around all day long and make excuses for why we do or do not do certain things, but here's the truth...if you want something bad enough then you WILL work hard for it. But you don't figure out how to do anything over night. It takes time and patience to grow. A lot of you have heard my dad (he's a minister) say "Christianity is not a product. It's a process." You don't say I believe! And then automatically you're a perfect person. Well, the same thing is true for your health and your fitness. It is such a fun and exciting journey with awesome discoveries and amazing benefits. You just need to be patient and see it as a growing and learning process.
If you can just stop the dieting....SERIOUSLY and begin nourishing your body and do it all in stride then you can really begin to focus on LIVING!!!
Skinny people are always cranky cause they're hungry, but a woman (or man) who glows and smiles and loves and sacrifices and is strong and is confident and is fearless and fun....THAT is beautiful. We fight our flesh every day, but instead of fighting it let's begin taking care of it and the best way to start is to STOP. STOP DESTROYING IT. Not in a way that we idolize it, but in such a way that our flesh can serve our greater missions. If we are strong and healthy in our bodies then we can be strong in healthy in all that we do. For the LOVE, take CARE of yourself!
OK! Moving ON!
Here is what you should remove from your pantry and NEVER buy again. If you eat it again...Fine...but let it be at a pot luck, a special dinner out, or a friends house. YOU are responsible for what you put in YOUR home, YOUR body, and YOUR family. Harsh? Yes. TRUE? Also a yes.
I will list several things, but they all fall under the same umbrella of PROCESSED FOODS. Processed foods mean in essence that they are not real and they are FILLED with things that are SCREWING YOU UP! Got a pen and a piece of paper? Write these things down and when you go grocery shopping, leave the kids with someone, give yourself a few hours, and go take your time. Eventually, you will shop so fast for food and it will be SO easy. You just have to take the time to figure out what to get.
AND I am bored and have no life now so I will be giving you lots of tips and advice. If you have a favorite food you can't live without...hit me up...I bet your bottom dollar I have an alternative.
#1. Hydrogenated Fats and Oils and Trans Fats.
Please, for the Love of God and all His creatures, get this out of your LIFE!!! Do you want to know the hardest thing in the world was for me to give up? My coffeemate coffee creamer. But you know why I did? Because here's why...
"just a 2% increase in trans fatty acids in your diet increases your chance of heart disease by 23%. Therefore, you'd need only 20 to 60 calories from artificial trans fats a day to start damaging your health." A New England Study
Guess how many calories are in a few tablespoons of coffeemate? Yep, you guessed it.
2. Refined Grains/Bleached/Enriched Wheat Flour.
Read the link I attached because it says it best. The title says white bread, but that would just be an example of a refined grain.
3. High Fructose Corn Syrup=EVIL
Get it out! Recent studies show HFCS contains mercury. Most kids eat this stuff all day long. Let's not just love our children in their present but also in their future. This crap catches up with them and it catches up with YOU. HFCS is the MAIN culprit in the obesity epidemic. Evil I tell you...Evil! Don't do it.
More info on this poison...see link attached.
4. Artificial Sweetners Aspartame/Splenda/Nutrisweet etc
See my earlier post please.
"Aspartame is an excitotoxin that may cause permanent damage to our brains appetite center." Jillian Michaels Master Your Metabolism
YIKES! LAY OFF THE DIET COKE! IT's MAKING YOU EAT MORE OF YOUR BURGER!
5. Artificial Colors and Sweetners: Blue this, Yellow that, Red this...
Can you say ENDOCRINE DISRUPTOR? And can you say HYPER KIDS? Don't do it. Below is a link to a printable list of food additives. It will overwhelm you when you see it, but trust me...there are lots of foods out there without these disgusting chemicals in it.
6. Glutamates/MSG
There's a reason why you feel like you want to roll over and die after you eat at a Chinese buffet. But that's not the only place you'll find MSG. It's in SO many things. Want a list? Here's one
* Food Additives that ALWAYS contain MSG *
Monosodium Glutamate
An AWESOME book I recommend is Jillian Michaels....Mastering Your Metabolism.
You will learn SO much.
Alright! Let me know if you have any questions!xoxo
Wow, Liz! I had no idea that all those foods contain MSG. Isn't it just so wrong that food labels don't have to be forthright about it... esp because I know a few people that have allergies/intolerences to it. The info about the trans fats was really interesting, too.
ReplyDeleteDon't you also love how juice will say "no sugar added," but don't mention that there's sugar in the concentrate, which is the main ingredient. It's just wrong. Don't even get me started.
Or, how even lunch meat (except from Whole Foods) contains casein. Yuck.
Oh, and one more thing! All this COUPONING is not good for health... look at what people get... 500 packets of rice-a-roni for nothing... except poor health.
Guurrlll.... I wish you lived close by. All my hippie friends in Chapel Hill/Durham are great for knowing about this stuff. We have finally totally given up on the regular grocery store and started shopping exclusively Whole Foods and farmer's market.
I cook Gluten and Dairy free (no milk or cheese, but do use some butter on occasion, and sometimes goat cheese). Dave has family members with Celiac and Crohn's diseases. Dave was having constant digestive and sinus issues, and though he didn't test conclusively positive for either disease, going GF and DF (about 5 years ago) has helped tremendously. I cook pretty much everything we eat, and we eat little to no processed stuff.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I am always looking for suggestions/ideas of things to make that are healthy and easy. Would love to know what sort of stuff your family eats.
Also, what about sugar (the regular white stuff)? Of course it is bad for you, and my regular diet includes very little. But I have a hard time going too many days without something sweet! :-)
-Sarah W.