Beat the Food Cycle

If you are new to the "make it a lifestyle" movement, here's something that could help you. I made that up, but you know what I mean. I think there's been enough information either through personal experience or research to validate that diets don't work. They're just not sustainable. You don't just want to lose the weight; you want to keep it off.

The main stream food industry is kind of working against you. In many foods, the flavoring is manufactured in a lab and added to the foods you buy in the grocery store. My favorite example is whiskey... food companies actually manufacture "old barrel" flavoring to add to whiskey. It makes it taste like its been sitting in barrels for years; when actually its lower grade whiskey with some magic fairy dust added in... literally.  The extra flavoring makes you crave it more, and guess what... BUY more!

I was having coffee and desserts a while back with friends, and a fruit tart was one of them. I made the comment that "this mango doesn't really taste like mango." The response back was "that's because it's actually a mango and not mango flavor." Touche...

Same goes with food labeled "low fat." The fat content is actually taken out in a lot of cases, but the manufacture has to add sugar so that it tastes good. So in reality you are swapping fat for sugar. Not really a winning situation.

Not all food is the devil, but if you want to reach your goal, you need to be educated. So spend a little time understanding what you eat, and understanding the trade offs between the good options and the not-so-good options. You can run all the mileage and work out forever in the gym, but if you don't assess your eating habits, reaching your goal is that much harder.

When I shop, I like to buy mostly organic stuff that isn't difficult to cook. Now admittedly, converting the offspring is not easy. But they're starting to get it. Slow progress is still progress! Anyone have ideas on converting the pickiest of eaters??

When we change the way we eat, one of the things we give up is convenience. It may take a little more prep time or cooking time. That's what makes meal planning so important. In the chaos of daily life, we need things to be easy. So take a day to plan. Check out this blog for some ideas.

What kind of changes are you making for healthier eating??