Welcome to week 3 of the Your Best Self Program. I apologize for the posting delay but life has been getting in the way! I promise come fall, we’ll be back to normal routines!!
Now that we have discussed the key components to living a healthy lifestyle, which will ultimately help you achieve your BEST self, I want to start focusing on the weight-loss portion of this program. How the heck are these concepts going to help you lose weight!?
These next two weeks, your goal will be to focus your time on honoring your health! Natural eating is about becoming mindful of your body’s hunger and fullness cues and accepting and loving your body leaves you yearning to do healthy things for it!! One thing to keep in mind though? Just because you are given permission to eat whatever you want, doesn’t mean that bowl of ice cream is going to provide all the nutrition your body needs!
When you eat for health first, you will find that there is very little room for “junk.” You might also begin to discover that you feel BETTER when the “junk” makes up just a teeny portion of your day!!
How to weed out the “junk” you say? Let’s start with a cupboard cleanse! Weed through the products in your cupboard based on these tips for reading a nutrition facts label, and get rid of stuff that falls outside the criteria! Your health is worth it!
Calories, Saturated and Trans Fat, Sodium, Cholesterol
- Calories: If you consume more calories throughout the day than your body needs, you gain weight. The calorie section of the label is what you want to pay close attention to; 400 calories or more (per serving) is considered high, 100 calories is moderate, and 40 calories is low. Remember to pay close attention to serving sizes! If there are 2 servings per container, then that is double the calories!!
- Fat: ~30% of your calories should come from fat. Ideally, 7% of those calories should come from saturated fat, and <1 g of trans fat should be accounted for. So anything in your cupboard that contain trans fat or has partially hydrogenated or hydrogenated oils in the ingredients list—> GET RID OF IT! (How many of you have Jif in your cupboard?)
- Sodium: The average American diet is plagued with sodium (~4000 mg). Our bodies’ really only NEED 500 mg of sodium per day to function properly. Since that is close to impossible to maintain, the current recommendation is 2400 mg of sodium per day. Try to get rid of products with >400-500 mg of sodium per serving!
- Cholesterol: Cholesterol is only found in animal products. Try to limit to ~300 mg per day. Animal products should only make up a small portion of your diet!!
Vitamins and Minerals
- These are the good guys! 10% of your daily value constitutes a “Good” source and 20% of your daily value equals an “Excellent” source! Example: 20% Calcium = an Excellent source of calcium!
Ingredients:
- High Fructose Corn Syrup: Some studies link this ingredient to higher rates of obesity. While there is no substantial proof, it’s still a key ingredient to get rid of. Learn more in my post devoted to carbohydrates!!
Source- Artificial Sweeteners: Although they lower the calorie content of certain foods and help people with diabetes control their sugar intake, it is still wise to practice moderation. Particular caution should be given to products containing acesulfame-K (sucralose), saccharin (sweet n’ low), and aspartame (Equal or Nutrasweet) as they have all been suspected for being cancer causing agents!
- BHA (Butylated Hydroxyanisole) and BHT (Butylated Hydroxytoluene): The names alone should scare you! These ingredients are used to retard rancidity in fats, oils, and oil containing foods. The U.S Dept. of Health and Human Services considers them “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen,” and yet the FDA still permits its use in our foods. Safer alternatives? Replace BHA and BHT with vitamin E, package foods under nitrogen instead of air, or just leave it out!
- Sodium Nitrate: Found in most processed meats (lunchmeat, bacon, pepperoni, ham, etc), used as a preservative, sodium nitrate breaks down to nitrite, which can lead to the formation of potent cancer causing chemicals! Avoid or use these foods moderately!!
The bottom line? Choose foods with the least amount of processing possible! You will be doing wonders for your body!! Honor it!! YOU are worth it!!
Thanks for taking these steps with me! I truly appreciate all the wonderful comments and questions over the past two weeks! I hope you will help me share this information with others! Why not help others be their BEST self!!???
[...] impossible. How can I avoid all those other foods?” How about we start with learning how to read an ingredients label. It’s quite simple really; if you can’t pronounce an ingredient, then don’t buy [...]
[...] influence the weight and health of you and your family. Just as you choose certain foods to you honor your health, the same consideration should go in to the beverages you consume! Although it can be a struggle [...]
[...] My message is simple: be kind to yourself, love who you are, and honor your health. [...]
[...] Your BEST Self Week 3: What’s in a Label? [...]
Your bottom line is right on…if we just ate more natural, whole foods we would all be healthier and happier!
WOW–incredibly informative. You always have such fantastic tips on your blog! I didn’t know about BHA or BHT–scary stuff!
I always try to avoid processed foods. I’m with you! Let’s all be our very best selves (:
I miss you by the way!
I love this info especially the BHA and sodium nitrate stuff. Who knows what that really is anyway? Just found out the other day that a favorite snack had MSG in it. Might explain the headaches.
Love your site! Great job on health buzz! Inspired me to write about running snacks.
Great tips! I definitely feel better – both physically and mentally – when my diet is filled with more “real,” whole foods and less packaged, processed stuff.
I absolutely agree with this advice! Pretty much everything I eat is “real” and even my packaged food is “real” food, like Larabars and similar.
You’re right — once you start properly fueling your body, your cravings for “junk” will vanish, so when you DO crave that ice cream, you can eat your portion of it then walk away satisfied.
Such great advice! Thanks for sharing