Eat THIS, Not CRAP

I've had many a lunch hours occupied by browsing the books at Borders. It's right across the street and conveniently near a fabulous eating establishment (Dos Coyotes) and another one that has a pretty darn good hot chocolate (just don't get their "Signature" hot chocolate or you'll be ruined for the regular one for a looong time - trust me).

Many of those visits to the bookstore find me in either the cooking section or the health and fitness section (is that really a big surprise?). A few months ago I ran across a book that ever since reading it has totally changed my outlook on what I put in my body. Don't get me wrong, I still ingest CRAP on a regular basis, but at least I have a better idea of why I feel like CRAP later. The book is Jillian Michaels "Mastering Your Metabolism." Yup, I've talked about it before and you'll hear me talk about it again. I've recommended it to a lot of people and the reason I am writing a post on it tonight is because someone wants to borrow my copy.

I had promised myself that after I got done reading it I would go back through it and right down the list of no-no ingredients. You see, this isn't a "diet" book, or even one about exercise. In one sentence, I would say this book is about how the chemicals that are used in processed foods nowadays are ravaging our bodies in more ways than we could ever imagine. Plain and simple. Some of the "ingredients" seem very innocent. I mean, I know high fructose corn syrup is bad (dont believe that stupid commercial!). But how about something with glutamate in it? I mean, you don't hear anyone talk bad about glutamates!

I'm not going to go over the whole book here, but if you are eating anything in the list below and are overweight or have to work way too hard to maintain your weight, fatigued, have mood swings, more wrinkly than others your age or have adult acne (the list goes on and on).. then you need to get this book and open your eyes world. In order to make money, big production companies are using cheaper ingredients, more preservatives and filling our "diet" foods with fake sugar in order to entice us. Frankly, it makes me a little sick!

No-no ingrendients:

• Hydrogenated fats: Do not, I say DO NOT trust the box when it says "No Trans Fats." If there is less than 1g of trans fat per serving they are allowed to say that. Read the ingredients!! If there is "partially hydrogenated" ANYTHING in the ingredients, it has trans fats!
• Refined grains: another way companies make more money. Refining grains, ie. stripping them of their inherent nutrients, gives them a longer shelf life. These are things such as white rice, white pasta, flour tortillas and white bread. It should say "100% whole wheat" in order for you to want to eat it. 
• High fructose corn syrup: a super cheap sweetener companies use to help boost profits. Would you believe this sweetener actually doesn't allow your body to release hormones that tell you when you are done eating as well as does nothing to dampen the hormone that tells us to consume more!? Yup, bet you didn't know that. 
• Artificial sweeteners: This is a big one of mine lately. You have to read this section, but all I'll tell you is our body doesn't know the difference between no-calorie sweet and high-calorie sweet. If you continue to consume Diet Pepsi by the Big Gulp-ful your body "forgets" that sweet = high calorie. Somewhere down the road that one mini Snickers bar isn't going to the the trick anymore. I mean, isn't it funny how we're only getting fatter as sugar-free and fat-free items are more abundant? Nevermind what it is doing to our hormones. Could these sweeteners actually be making us gain weight? Uhh... YES!
  
• Artificial color and preservatives 

Okay folks, you can take all this information or leave it. Her book has sooo much more, but those are just the big no-no's. I am far from perfect. I still like to have a diet soda now and then and have a hard time staying away from certain foods, but I do feel that doing a little at a time is certainly not hurting me. Do you seriously think the increase in cancer around us is just because it's multiplying? I don't think so. What we put in our mouths, combined with all the stuff around us (she goes into environmental stuff as well) is killing us.

It is literally making us sick.