I'm sure you have heard the term "empty" calories before. But have you taken the time to examine your own diet, the foods you eat on a regular basis, and actually weed out those empty calories?
Some of them might be easy to pick out. We have all heard about Michelle Obama's campaign against childhood obesity. You may remember talk about a soda tax? If you are still drinking regular soda, I'm sure you already realize that those calories do nothing for your body except make you fatter. But what if you have switched to DIET soda? Although you may be getting fewer calories, you are still consuming a product that is completely devoid of nutrition. AND the artificial sweeteners raise insulin levels due to their extreme sweetness which forces blood sugar levels to drop and causes cravings for MORE sweet junk! (See my post titled "Faking It".) Instead, try drinking more water! Make it bubbly water if you must!
What about those "healthy" drinks made out of juice? Well, I run a juice-free household. Sure, when my kids were toddlers they had a juice box on occasion. But juice is a processed food. Whole fruit contains all the fiber as well as the vitamins and minerals, and it fills up your belly without adding excess sugar and calories. Just check the labels on those juice boxes. Juice contains as much sugar as soda! Is it "natural"? Sure, but that doesn't change the way your body handles that load of sugar! It is always better to eat WHOLE foods in their natural state instead of something that has been processed. If you HAVE to have a juice drink, make it a V-8 (made from only vegetable juice) which is low-calorie, low sugar, and therefore a better choice than fruit juice.
Then take a peak through your cupboards. What is lurking in there? Do you keep candy in the house? (Cue horrified scream.) You may have been led to believe that chocolate is now a health food. Well, the healthy part is the cocoa which you can purchase as an unsweetened powder or as baking chocolate. But milk chocolate, candy bars, and basically all forms of candy are made primarily of sugar. And what does sugar do? It offers only empty calories, zero nutrition, and causes insulin to rush into your bloodstream forcing all those excess calories into your fat cells. If your candy bar contains peanuts or almonds, you may be receiving a minute amount of actual nutrition. Chuck the candy bar and grab a few whole nuts instead. If dark chocolate is your addiction, seek out the highest percentage of cocoa you can find and then eat only a small square, balanced with a block of protein.
Products made from grains, the stuff on the bottom of that old USDA food pyramid, have become a staple of the American diet. Bread, pasta, bagels, muffins, cookies, cake, tortillas, buns, scones, these are the products we were supposed to be eating (11 servings a day!?!) in order to have a "healthy" low-fat diet. Instead, these are the products which have succeeded in creating the obesity epidemic. If you are eating only whole, unprocessed grains, you are receiving a small amount of nutrition in return for the rather large amount of calories that grains contain. However, once you compare grains to vegetables, you will see that veggies give you way more vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other nutrients for a smaller calorie expenditure. A simple way to lose weight and increase your health is just remove the bottom of that pyramid and skip the grains all together!
What foods give you the most bang for your buck? Basically meat, fish, eggs and veggies, with dairy and fruit coming in a close second. As far as the healthiest veggies, it is the dark green leafy ones that pack the greatest punch: collards, kale, spinach, swiss chard, arugula, dandelion greens, and romaine lettuce all contain high levels of vitamins A and C, plus iron and calcium. And don't forget the cruciferous (even my spellcheck couldn't spell this word!) veggies like broccoli, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and cabbage. These contain compounds that fight cancers, including breast cancer. So fill up your fridge with the healthy greens, clean out your pantry, dispose of those empty calories, and feel better fast!
Some of them might be easy to pick out. We have all heard about Michelle Obama's campaign against childhood obesity. You may remember talk about a soda tax? If you are still drinking regular soda, I'm sure you already realize that those calories do nothing for your body except make you fatter. But what if you have switched to DIET soda? Although you may be getting fewer calories, you are still consuming a product that is completely devoid of nutrition. AND the artificial sweeteners raise insulin levels due to their extreme sweetness which forces blood sugar levels to drop and causes cravings for MORE sweet junk! (See my post titled "Faking It".) Instead, try drinking more water! Make it bubbly water if you must!
What about those "healthy" drinks made out of juice? Well, I run a juice-free household. Sure, when my kids were toddlers they had a juice box on occasion. But juice is a processed food. Whole fruit contains all the fiber as well as the vitamins and minerals, and it fills up your belly without adding excess sugar and calories. Just check the labels on those juice boxes. Juice contains as much sugar as soda! Is it "natural"? Sure, but that doesn't change the way your body handles that load of sugar! It is always better to eat WHOLE foods in their natural state instead of something that has been processed. If you HAVE to have a juice drink, make it a V-8 (made from only vegetable juice) which is low-calorie, low sugar, and therefore a better choice than fruit juice.
Then take a peak through your cupboards. What is lurking in there? Do you keep candy in the house? (Cue horrified scream.) You may have been led to believe that chocolate is now a health food. Well, the healthy part is the cocoa which you can purchase as an unsweetened powder or as baking chocolate. But milk chocolate, candy bars, and basically all forms of candy are made primarily of sugar. And what does sugar do? It offers only empty calories, zero nutrition, and causes insulin to rush into your bloodstream forcing all those excess calories into your fat cells. If your candy bar contains peanuts or almonds, you may be receiving a minute amount of actual nutrition. Chuck the candy bar and grab a few whole nuts instead. If dark chocolate is your addiction, seek out the highest percentage of cocoa you can find and then eat only a small square, balanced with a block of protein.
Products made from grains, the stuff on the bottom of that old USDA food pyramid, have become a staple of the American diet. Bread, pasta, bagels, muffins, cookies, cake, tortillas, buns, scones, these are the products we were supposed to be eating (11 servings a day!?!) in order to have a "healthy" low-fat diet. Instead, these are the products which have succeeded in creating the obesity epidemic. If you are eating only whole, unprocessed grains, you are receiving a small amount of nutrition in return for the rather large amount of calories that grains contain. However, once you compare grains to vegetables, you will see that veggies give you way more vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other nutrients for a smaller calorie expenditure. A simple way to lose weight and increase your health is just remove the bottom of that pyramid and skip the grains all together!
What foods give you the most bang for your buck? Basically meat, fish, eggs and veggies, with dairy and fruit coming in a close second. As far as the healthiest veggies, it is the dark green leafy ones that pack the greatest punch: collards, kale, spinach, swiss chard, arugula, dandelion greens, and romaine lettuce all contain high levels of vitamins A and C, plus iron and calcium. And don't forget the cruciferous (even my spellcheck couldn't spell this word!) veggies like broccoli, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and cabbage. These contain compounds that fight cancers, including breast cancer. So fill up your fridge with the healthy greens, clean out your pantry, dispose of those empty calories, and feel better fast!
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