The foods we eat either (1) trigger hormones that stimulate hunger, and create energy storage (fill up fat cells); or (2) trigger hormones that lead to satiety and induce fat cells to give up their contents.
It’s one or the other.
If the foods stimulate hunger, and energy storage, (this would be starchy, sugary, chemical enhanced, processed foods), they create Bad Health: heart disease, diabetes, auto-immune conditions, and mood disorders. If you’re eating foods that cause satiety and fat burning, you’re making choices that lead to better health and better moods.
This goes for you and your children. The foods we eat 100% directly create our health, our moods, and our weight. If you’re unhappy with your health, your moods, or your weight, then focus on cementing that connection in your mind. That way when “opportunities” arise, you’ll be able to make good choices that you feel happy with AFTER you’ve eaten.
What if you’re addicted? What if you truly believe that we’re 100% what we eat, but still give in to chips, cereals, and desserts, as in you just couldn’t say no?
Then you need to look at your habits and patterns. Do you go out to a regular happy hour and always indulge because you deserve it after a hard day? Do you have a group of friends that you regularly indulge with? Do you have a particular night of the week when you sit down for hours of TV and snack foods? Do you feel like you “need” a sweet after dinner? Start eating in the late afternoon and feel unable to stop?
Every time I run a Nutrition Group, I survey everyone’s “worst habits”. I’ve asked hundreds of people now but it’s always a similar group of answers. There aren’t a lot of original bad habits.
Identify yours, and then make a plan to eliminate it. Email me if you need help, because Habits and Patterns are tricky to reverse, but if you Don’t, and nothing changes, then,…. nothing changes.
Here’s a little ammunition:
Cheesecake Factory Oreo Cheesecake, 1 slice: 1204 calories, 90g Carbs
Cheesecake Factory Chinese Chicken Salad: 535 Cals, 63g Carbs
FiberOne 90 Calorie Brownie: 90 Cals, 18g Carbs, 11 sources of sugar and starch, hydrogenated oils, 2 sources of soy(estrogenic and thyroid slowing), several chemical flavors, scents, emulsifiers, thickeners, and preservatives
Tostitos Artisan Southwest Tortilla Chips: 8 chips are 140 Cals, 19g Carbs, 13 sources of starch and sugar, 3 sources of Omega 6 vegetable oils, and brain cell damaging MSG (yeast extract and natural flavors)
Kellogg’s Frosted Blueberry Pop Tarts: 200 Cals, 36g Carbs, 11 sources of starch and sugar, 3 sources of vegetable oil and soybean oil, more chemical flavors, scents, preservative, and emulsifiers than you can count.
Digiornos Stuffed Crust Pepperoni Pizza: 1 slice, 380 Cals, 40g Carbs, more than 40 ingredients, with numerous sources of starch, sugar, hydrogenated oils, soy, and chemicals.
This may seem like an eclectic list of foods, but they have a lot in common. All these foods contain chemicals and enough starches that when you eat them, you want more. Areas of the brain are triggered that leave you craving more food. They all also contain ingredients that DAMAGE your body and mind.
Practice looking at foods like these and NOT focusing on the pleasure sensations (yep, I’m comparing them to drugs and alcohol); focus on the AFTER effects of eating these foods. Think of these foods as poison in the package or on the plate. Really. You wouldn’t let your kids smoke, but what’s the difference between the chemicals and damage from cigarettes, and the chemicals and damage from Pop Tarts? One causes cancer,…. and the other causes cancer.
Want to feel good, look good, and be healthy? Want your kids to feel good, look good, and be healthy? Eat Real Whole Foods. Get in the habit of planning, shopping, cooking, and packing. Schedule cooking, schedule shopping, schedule packing. Eating Real Foods takes a little effort. Eating Processed, Refined, or Restaurant foods takes NO EFFORT and the results are disastrous: 70% of America is OVERWEIGHT, and Disease and Poor Health are RAMPANT.
You can make the switch. You can feel good, you can look good, and you can be healthy.