Be Conscious of What You Eat
Posted by Brandon Harshe on December 10, 2007
One of the things I always do, no matter what, is read the ingredients. I don’t care what it is. It could be the healthiest, organic-iest thing around… I’m still reading the ingredient label. I’ve learned a lot about different ingredients and what they contain and whether they will be a benefit or a detriment. Because of that, I’m very picky about what I eat or drink.
In my opinion, the first step toward a healthier life is to read the ingredients. The way I look at it, if you look at the ingredient label and see a long paragraph of scientifically wordy items, avoid it at all costs. I’m talking about things you can’t pronounce, things you can barely read, things that end in -ine, -ite, ate, etc. It’s even worse if it’s a two-word ingredient and they each end in -ine, -ite, -ate, etc. If I see this, I put it back on the shelf… whether I’m at Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, or Safeway. Who, am I kidding? I don’t shop at Safeway.
If you already have food at home that contain these novels of ingredient lists, and chances are about 100% that you do (unless you are a vegan-raw-foodist), look up what they are. Seriously, just Google it. You might be very surprised as to what you are eating.
Once you do find out what’s in the stuff you’re buying, you might reconsider what you have been buying. It’s not that exciting to find out that you bought something really tasty and it contained yeast extract… which contains MSG… which can give you a killer headache as it’s destroying brain cells… etc., etc., etc. At that point, you might want to reconsider what you are putting into your body by being a little more discretionary.
So, read ingredient labels, make sure you can pronounce the ingredients, and if you can pronounce them, make sure you know what the ingredients are.
From that point, you should be good to go!
That is why I am overweight. Along w/being addicted to sugar and other crap. Well, I’ve kicked the addiction by not eating any sugar the last 2 weeks. My physical cravings have subsided. Unfortunately I can’t just kick my emotions to the curb as well! The last few days I’ve had some things to deal with…basically life. The other night I wanted to eat bad, bad food. This is why you can NOT have it in the house for an "occasional treat". I would have binged and eaten way too much, then felt guilty, then beat myself up only to eat more. So, I am happy I didn’t have any bad food in the house. Last night I wanted something sweet, so I had another banana smoothie. YUM. Today I have eaten too many snacks. I just feel blah. The good thing about eating healthy and not turning to bad food is that you have to learn to just deal w/your emotions and rewire yourself. You become a healthier you not only physically, but also mentally.