Here are a few simple guidelines on how to choose FRESH over PROCESSED.
If you are still getting back on track to eating healthily and reclaiming your figure,
one easy way to do this without having to take out the calorie counter is to simply choose fresh, whole food compared to processed food products.
We all know by now that processed food products contain artificial ingredients that do absolutely no good to the human body and cause not only seemingly inexplicable weight gain, but also lead to degenerative diseases such as diabetes and certain cancers. These artificial ingredients come in the form of chemical additives, preservatives, coloring, sugars, and the like.
How to choose fresh over processed? Simple. Have the apple, not the microwaveable apple pie. Purchase fresh organic chicken instead of that bag of frozen nuggets. Squeeze your own oranges and leave the boxed, sugared orange-colored juice on the grocery shelves. Snack on blueberries and not on the blueberry-flavored pop tarts.
This may take away some of the convenience that processed food products provide the modern consumer. But let us not forget, we may have saved time and perhaps a bit of money (after all, oranges cost more money than colored, sugared water) but in the long run it is our health and our body that pays for this supposed convenience. Many of us try not to fill our carts with perishable products because with our busy lifestyles, we oftentimes forget that we have produce languishing in the fridge’s oft-forgotten bottom shelf. However, if we are to start eating healthily again, we must stock that bottom shelf with fresh produce.
Here are a few simple guidelines on how to choose FRESH over PROCESSED:
1. Shop the periphery of your supermarket. - In the normal layout of your local supermarket, fresh vegetables & fruits, fish, eggs and meats are usually located along the outer sides of the store. Scour these areas and avoid the inner aisles where you find the deep freezers full to the brim with frozen dinners and the shelves lined with packaged cookies and cakes.
2. If it goes bad, it’s good. - Just think about it, if a food product does not spoil until the 22nd century, what business does it have to be in your stomach??
3. Rediscover your kitchen - One way to regain your figure is to befriend your kitchen once more. By preparing your own meals you know exactly what you are eating, minus the added oils, sugars and seasonings. Most popular restaurants will do anything and add everything to make you keep coming back for more. Good for their pockets, not good for your waistline.
4. It’s all in the packaging. - If it will take you a little more time to give up those colorful boxes and shiny foil, at least choose processed food products with only a few ingredients in them. If the ingredients list is a mile-long and you can barely pronounce most of them, put the item back and choose a healthier alternative, one with preferably less than 5 ingredients listed.
Copyright 2010, Brendan McCarthy. All Rights Reserved.
