If you wake up every morning and reach for some orange juice, maybe a banana to go with your cereal- then well, you probably think you are doing a pretty darn good job eating healthy. But do you know what is in that juice? Are you adding an artificial sweetener to your coffee? And what about lunch time- are you reaching for a microwaveable diet meal? You are?! Well good, I’m glad you stumbled upon this article.
I know how hard it is to know exactly what you are putting in your mouth. The food that we consume is so processed that it barely resembles the food it started out as. Think about it- pick up a candy bar. Thats food, right? But what exactly did it start as? It doesn’t even slightly resemble a food in nature. Did you know that 90% of the average American’s diet is processed foods? 90-freaking-percent! Somebdy is majorly slacking on eating their veggies.
To make healthy eating a little bit easier for you, I have come up with 5 things that you probably do everyday- that you are now going to avoid like the plague. Because I told you so 🙂
1) Artificial Sweeteners. I know you are probably super fed up with hearing this already- artificial sweeteners are seemingly amazing because they have no calories. Or carbs. So automatically, dieters everywhere are going to be completely devoted to using them and plug their ears when someone starts trying to spout off the dangers of consuming them. But unfortunately- Aspartame is dangerous. It’s a chemical people! I know you are really healthy right now, so you don’t see the benefit of avoiding aspartame- but there is benefits. Many.
Technology and medical sciences are advancing at such an amazing rate. We are blessed to have brilliant doctors. So why are there so many more people getting and dying of diseases, then there were 20 years ago? It’s because of what we eat. In our journey to become skinny-minis, we are eating dangerous chemicals like aspartame without giving it a second thought. Just for fun, let’s list some of the side effects of aspartame: Headaches/migraines, fatigue, depression, heart palpitations, muscle spasms, and weight gain. Oh, I forgot- it can also cause: parkinson’s disease, lymphoma, Brain tumors, and alzheimer’s.. just to name a few lovely side affects.
So no matter how delicious that sugar free desert looks, don’t eat it. And if you just NEED to eat it- go find one that has realy sugar or honey.
2) Diet soda. Why is this touted as a dieters best friend? I’m going to rave about the evils of artificial sweeteners again, so bare with me. This should probably be listed as ‘bad health habit 1.5’, but since so many people rely on their diet soda to get themsevles thorugh the day- it gets it’s own spot.
Soda is acidic enough to strip the paint from a car. Yet, we drink it. First off- if you must drink soda, then drink full calorie soda. You will not lose any weight by substituting diet soda anyway, so just go for the one that doesn’t contain artificial sweeteners (which we now know are the devil, right?). I say this because when you consume artificial sweetener, your body gets ready to metabolize the sugar that never comes. You throw your body off balance and then you end up hungry and craving sugar.
Also, carbonation has been proven to inhibit calcium absorbtion. So next time you see a cute old lady walking down the street hunched over, look at that soda in your hand and realize that in a few years- that is going to be you. Thanks soda!
3) Meat. I’m not going to tell you that people were meant to be vegetarians- so don’t worry. However, I am going to tell you that people were abosutely not meant to eat meat that has been pumped with hormones and antibiotics. Consuming these hormones and antibiotics can cause fatigue, hormonal disturbances, body aches, and a foggy memory. Also, if you eat too much of those antibiotics in your meat- you can actually begin to become resistant to antibiotics. You know, those pesky pills you take when you get sick? Yeah, you probably don’t want to become resistant to those.
4) Pre-packaged meals. Okay, it’s lunch time- you have twenty mintues to eat and get back to work so just popping a meal in the microwave is the easiest way to go. And what do you know, they come in low-fat! They must be great for you, right? Wrong.
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. When was that meal made? A week ago? A month ago? How has it not gone bad.. it’s nowhere near fresh!
Because it is laden with preservatives. Preservatives are everywhere and they are not good for you. But because they are used in basically every processed food, and processed foods make up 90% of the average person’s diet- we obviously eat a lot of them. So I beg you, for your future (or even present) health, please do not eat meals that are so full of preservatives. If you must every once in awhile because of time or convienence issues, then fine. But please for the love of God, do not make this a daily thing.
If you need to know some of the side effects of preservatives to listen to me, then here you go- they can worsen ADD/ADHD, have shown to cause tumors in rats, difficulty breathing, stomach aches, rapid heartbeat, nausea, weakness, and fatigue. Just to name a few.
5) Multivitamins. It is always best to get your nutrition from fresh fruit and veggies whenever possible. And even if you take a multivitamin, you should still eat as many fresh fruits and veggies as you can. But you probably don’t get enough vitamins and minerals from your food alone, so you should absolutely take a good multivitamin. I personally, take JuicePlus. They are a bit different from regular multivitamins, because they actually grind up your daily fruits and veggies and put they in convienent little capsules. So you are getting the WHOLE food. And they are picked at their freshest. I could really go on and on about how wonderful JuicePlus is- when everyone around me is suffering with a cold, I feel bad for them, but I can’t comiserate. Because I haven’t had a cold in years- and I was ALWAYS the sick kid. They are a bit on the pricey side though- about $60.00 a month, but you could say that they pay themselves off in the doctors visits that you won’t be making. You have to buy them from a consultant, and while I don’t sell them myself, I know a great lady that does. If you could do ONE thing for your health- this is what I would suggest.. I really believe in them that much. I would be happy to help anyone that is interested in JuicePlus get in touch with my consultant, or you could also probably find them online. Either way, they are worth looking into.
Well folks, I hope you don’t have any of these poor health habits on my healthy eating list. But if you do- I hope this article helped you take a look at your behaviors and start working towards changing them!