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The Basics There is no such thing as "junk food." There is food, which nourishes your body, and there is junk. Make your dietary choices carefully and consciously, with regard to the health of your body. 1. Chew your food until it liquefies - digestion begins with the saliva in your mouth. 2. Never eat a meal high in both fat and protein. Different enzymes are used to break down proteins and fats, and it is much more difficult for you to digest both at the same time. 3. Eat 8 to 12 servings of vegetables and fruits a day. 4. NO RED MEAT! A Vegetarian diet seems to be the healthiest for the human body. If you choose to eat meat, eat no more than 3 ounces of meat a day, and make vegetables the mainstay of your diet. 5. Eat a wide variety of fruits and veggies! Splurge and try that interesting veggie you saw at the grocery store. Try some Litchi Fruit Juice. Explore the diversity of fruits and vegetables! 6. Reduce or eliminate your consumption of refined food products and sugars. 7. "Wheat Flour" means nothing - refined bleached white flour is wheat flour - it is just marketing to call it "wheat flour" now. Look for labels that say "WHOLE wheat flour" for nutritional content. 8. FAT FREE IS OFTEN HIGH-CALORIE! "Low Fat" and "Fat Free" on labels do not mean much. Often, the manufacturer has added a LOT of sugars, salts, refined processed products and chemicals to enhance flavor. The added junk, especially the added sugar, negates any benefit that the food's "fat free" status has. Your body converts sugars into fats, so what is the value of a fat-free, high-sugar product? Zip. Look for truly healthy foods, rather than this kind of stuff. 9. Shop around the outside perimeters of your grocery store. Most grocery stores place the fresh produce, breads, and fresh foods around the outside perimeter of the store. The store's market analysis staff have designed the store to get you to walk down the middle aisles and grab the highly processed (filled with chemicals and garbage) items, which have a higher profit margin, so you often need to walk down the middle of a cookie aisle to get to the fruit juice cooler. Shop from the perimeter of the store FIRST - Produce (vegetables and fruits first), then your breads and pastas (find WHOLE wheat pastas if you can - most supermarkets carry them now - they have fiber which keeps you from absorbing as much FAT - so high-fiber helps you lose weight). Then shop the fruit juices, then the frozen foods, and last of all, any dry packaged items. You will not spend as much time with the impulse buying and wandering when you have your frozen foods in your cart already, and you are more likely to stick to your shopping list! 10. Make a shopping list before you go shopping, and stick to the list! Do not buy many items that are not on your list. Exception: fresh fruits and veggies go on sale when they are in season. Once they are harvested, the store gets a lot of them and lowers the price - so you get the best fruits and veggies when they are at the lowest prices. If you see a sale on these, stop and check it out. Otherwise, stick to your list! And be honest when you make your list at home. If you want some chocolate chip granola bars, put them on your list rather than impulse buying them! Contact Us: NOSPAMelena@focalpointyoga.com (remove the words NO SPAM from the email address please!) |
