"We are not eating food any more. We are eating food-like products." ~Hungry for Change
This sentence in particular caught my attention because it's been something I've started paying more attention to. (See the video below to understand more.)
These past two weeks I've made a concerted effort to eat only fresh, simple food. And even then, I know that there are probably too many pesticides and antibiotics used in the production of my turkey, chicken, fruit, veggies, and eggs, even when I buy organic whenever I can.
But it is a huge change from my willful ignorance the amount of processed foods I was consuming on a daily basis.
My goal is to use only single ingredients in as many of my meals as possible. If' it's in a package, it needs to read "Oats" on the ingredient list and nothing more. No fillers, or preservatives, or multi-syllabic chemical compounds need apply. Did you know, just because a package reads "No MSG" it could still have it under a different name? Toxicity, be gone.
Yesterday as a sample:
Breakfast: Oats cooked with water, and a handful of blueberries, almonds, and a teaspoon of raw brown sugar tossed in.
Lunch: (I posted a picture of this one earlier this week) grilled chicken breast, fresh cilantro, black beans, sweet red pepper, lime, cherry tomatoes, and salsa (which has too many ingredients. Need to make my own fresh, but one step at a time.)
Snack: shelled pistachios. I love that I can play with my snack, and studies have shown people tend to unthinkingly eat 40% more nuts in a sitting when they do not have to shell the nuts they are consuming.
Dinner: Taco soup made with ground turkey, black, pinto, and kidney beans, salsa, garlic, cumin, onion, chili seasoning, and -- FAIL -- a package of Mexican rice that I've been told by the family is essential for good soup. I let it settle to the bottom and avoided it, but am plotting to change their minds about this soon.
All I've been drinking is water, except for the one glass of diet coke I tried yesterday that made me feel bloated and gross within an hour and it made me want cookies something fierce. I've gone from 4 liters of that poison a week to 8 ounces, and after last night's experiment, the last of the bottle is going down the drain. I can't begin to innumerate the number of dangers diet soda poses to your health and, if you're as much in denial as I have been, you don't want to know.
It is nearly impossible to avoid high fructose corn syrup in any processed food. (click to enlarge)
And don't even get me started on milk. I've switch to Almond milk. One more infographic to overwhelm you with. Let me ask you, if the average cow produced 9700 lbs of milk in 1970, and the average today is 19,000 lbs, what do you think is fueling that rise? Whatever it is, you're drinking it.
Even with a not-completely-clean menu, it is amazing how much better I feel, in just two weeks. I've been eating and drinking badly for decades and within half a month, I can tell a difference. I sleep more soundly at night, which my Fitbit data proves, waking far less. I am not tired in the afternoons, wondering if I'll be able to keep my eyes open another hour. I have very few cravings. I am losing weight, with only minimal cardio work so far, although more is on the horizon in next week's "step it up gradually" plan.
And I am not hungry.
Although I am counting calories, I have found myself more motivated and intrigued by counting ingredients.
It's only a start. But it is a start.
This sentence in particular caught my attention because it's been something I've started paying more attention to. (See the video below to understand more.)
These past two weeks I've made a concerted effort to eat only fresh, simple food. And even then, I know that there are probably too many pesticides and antibiotics used in the production of my turkey, chicken, fruit, veggies, and eggs, even when I buy organic whenever I can.
But it is a huge change from my willful ignorance the amount of processed foods I was consuming on a daily basis.
My goal is to use only single ingredients in as many of my meals as possible. If' it's in a package, it needs to read "Oats" on the ingredient list and nothing more. No fillers, or preservatives, or multi-syllabic chemical compounds need apply. Did you know, just because a package reads "No MSG" it could still have it under a different name? Toxicity, be gone.
Yesterday as a sample:
Breakfast: Oats cooked with water, and a handful of blueberries, almonds, and a teaspoon of raw brown sugar tossed in.
Lunch: (I posted a picture of this one earlier this week) grilled chicken breast, fresh cilantro, black beans, sweet red pepper, lime, cherry tomatoes, and salsa (which has too many ingredients. Need to make my own fresh, but one step at a time.)
Snack: shelled pistachios. I love that I can play with my snack, and studies have shown people tend to unthinkingly eat 40% more nuts in a sitting when they do not have to shell the nuts they are consuming.
Dinner: Taco soup made with ground turkey, black, pinto, and kidney beans, salsa, garlic, cumin, onion, chili seasoning, and -- FAIL -- a package of Mexican rice that I've been told by the family is essential for good soup. I let it settle to the bottom and avoided it, but am plotting to change their minds about this soon.
All I've been drinking is water, except for the one glass of diet coke I tried yesterday that made me feel bloated and gross within an hour and it made me want cookies something fierce. I've gone from 4 liters of that poison a week to 8 ounces, and after last night's experiment, the last of the bottle is going down the drain. I can't begin to innumerate the number of dangers diet soda poses to your health and, if you're as much in denial as I have been, you don't want to know.
It is nearly impossible to avoid high fructose corn syrup in any processed food. (click to enlarge)
And don't even get me started on milk. I've switch to Almond milk. One more infographic to overwhelm you with. Let me ask you, if the average cow produced 9700 lbs of milk in 1970, and the average today is 19,000 lbs, what do you think is fueling that rise? Whatever it is, you're drinking it.
Even with a not-completely-clean menu, it is amazing how much better I feel, in just two weeks. I've been eating and drinking badly for decades and within half a month, I can tell a difference. I sleep more soundly at night, which my Fitbit data proves, waking far less. I am not tired in the afternoons, wondering if I'll be able to keep my eyes open another hour. I have very few cravings. I am losing weight, with only minimal cardio work so far, although more is on the horizon in next week's "step it up gradually" plan.
And I am not hungry.
Although I am counting calories, I have found myself more motivated and intrigued by counting ingredients.
It's only a start. But it is a start.
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