I don't know who needs to hear this but it's time to change up your eating habits. Take any of these four food modifications and apply them to your diet. Coronavirus is changing our eating and shopping habits. Let's change them for the better.
I had a really health-conscious co-worker who would talk about food nonstop and I never realized how much I was listening to her ramble about food until I started just knowing things and rethinking my shopping list. Bless you, Jess.
I have never met another human being who was so into types of food, ho they worked, what they did, etc. I think everyone needs a Jess in their life because she got me on a health kick that was easy enough to tune into. I am hoping that this post can be your Jess, in a sense.
I started cutting out oils, then looking at ingredients, and started really looking at what was inside the foods I was buying. One step at a time I've seen major differences in my eating habits and overall health. My teeth are literally in better condition now just because I switched my diet around. Alongside that, I was able to reach my weight and fitness goals.
Im telling you, if you took each of these modifications and applied them to your shopping list, you would see how easy it is to adjust your eating habits.
Let's take a look.
1. Stop Buying Hydrogenated Oils
If you make one change to your grocery list, let it be this. Stop buying hydrogenated oils. I'm sure you have heard of Hydrogen Peroxide, right? Well, think of that in oil form, going into your body. Hydrogenated oils are so bad for your insides. Vegetable oil? Canola oil? There is no such thing as a canola plant, so how is this considered vegetable oil? Vegetable oils are unnaturally produced, highly refined and extracted using heat and chemicals. Vegetable oils contain an unnatural amount of Omega-6 fats which can cause an uneven ratio of Omega-3s to Omega-6's and can lead to many diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, and autoimmune diseases. For more helpful oil resources check out Tasty Yummys blog post on 4 Reasons to Avoid Vegetable Oil.
So, what oils should you be eating
- Coconut Oil
- Tallow/ Suet (beef fat)
- Lard/Bacon Fat (pork fat)
- Butter
- Ghee
- Goose, Duck or Chicken Fat
- Extra-Virgin Olive Oil*
- Avocado Oil*
- Palm Oil (sustainably sourced)
- Other fats (not necessarily for cooking, but essential to good health) include meats, eggs, dairy, and fish (nuts are also good in moderation as they have a high level of polyunsaturated fats).
*my favorites
2. Learn to speak food
If you don't know what it means, your body probably doesn't either. If you can't process the word in your brain, your body cannot process that food in your body. There are a lot of really long words in ingredients and you need to know what they are. Very few times will a long word actually be something healthy for your body to ingest. If you cannot pronounce the first word, put it back. The first ingredient signals what the product is mostly made up of.
3. Know the many names of the white devil
Sugar. If you're a 90s kid you know this reference. Sucrose, fructose, dextrose, galactose, glucose, lactose, maltose... anything that rhymes with "gross." Too much sugar can lead to weight gain as sugar tends to be super dense but contain no nutritional value. However, some sugars are okay for a healthy diet. Foods with natural sugars tend to be lower in calories and sodium, and high in water content. Things like fruits that have many important nutrients and vitamins. Those are the natural sugars your body likes!4. Colors to Die For... Literally
Artificially colored foods are not great for your body. For starters, don't trust anything blue, unless it is a blueberry. If you see a color and a number in your ingredient list, it is not a code name. That is a low-quality, artificial, food coloring going into your pre-packaged food, then into your digestive system. Put it back. Each unnatural food coloring is linked to unhealthy qualities. Avoid these just by looking for numbers in your ingredient list. Red40, Yellow5... last I checked I didn't think there was a plant named after a color.My inner food nerd is going to come out in me but, it can be really entertaining and informative once you start becoming an ingredient checker. The fewer ingredients, the less time you waste staring at the package. It's a win-win in my book. And it's funny when you're in like a Whole Foods and you find something that you think is going to be totally healthy and it's SO off base. You feel like you've found a mistake in a published book.
What health-conscious choices are you making? How have you modified your grocery list?
Let's chat in the comments below!
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