Summertime, the season of BBQs, pool parties, beach or lake get togethers, and vacations that include a lot of restaurants.  I hear all the time that it’s impossible to eat well with all the special occasions. That when someone sees a great dessert, or their favorite hotdog, or chips and dip, or macaroni salad, they just couldn’t say no.

That’s not true, you can say no;  eating well is a choice.

How do you get to the point where you Choose to avoid that foods that make you unhealthy and/or heavier than you’d like to be?  Two ways:

1. Don’t let yourself get hungry.  Fill your body with delicious foods full of good fats and proteins, and plenty of vegetables.  These foods literally trigger satiety hormones in your brain and stomach, and*** fats and proteins take a LONG time to digest.  Carbs zip from mouth to stomach to blood stream in no time at all, and you’re genuinely hungry very soon after you eat them. Maybe you need to eat at home before or bring your own food to the cookout if you know the choices won’t be good – that’s okay, and smart.

You know what I say,  “Want to Gain Weight?  Go on a Diet and Get Hungry.”  Study after study after study proves this, so don’t do it to yourself.

2.  Be aware of what those foods do to your mood, your weight, your health, your behavior, and your emotions, because the effects are pretty profound. Processed foods are FILLED WITH CHEMICALS THAT STIMULATE YOUR APPETITE, AS OPPOSED TO SATISFY YOU.  You’re not SUPPOSED to feel full after processed foods.

 Let’s look at a hot dog with a bun, ketchup, and relish.  Pure Summer fare, right?  Here’s the list for Oscar Mayer Beef dogs Ingredients: BEEF, WATER, CORN SYRUP, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF MODIFIED CORN STARCH, SALT, DEXTROSE, SODIUM PHOSPHATES, SODIUM PROPIONATE, SODIUM DIACETATE, SODIUM BENZOATE, FLAVOR, ASCORBIC ACID (VITAMIN C), EXTRACTIVES OF PAPRIKA, SODIUM NITRITE.

Does this mix of chemicals look like something you want to eat, or feed to your child?  The amount of sodium will puff you like a balloon, the Sodium Benzoate is a KNOWN CARCINOGIN, and the Sodium Nitrite is an EXCITOTOXIN -that means brain cells are overstimulated to the point of migraines/headaches, and bad behavior.

Here’s the ingredients in a typical hotdog bun:
ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, MALTED BARLEY, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMIN MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID), WATER, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, YEAST, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF SOYBEAN OIL, WHEAT GLUTEN, SALT, SOY FLOUR, MONOCALCIUM PHOSPHATE, MONOGLYCERIDES, CALCIUM SULFATE, SODIUM STEAROYL LACTYLATE, AMMONIUM SULFATE, ASCORBIC ACID, AZODICARBONIMIDE, CALCIUM PROPIONATE (PRESERVATIVE), ENZYMES.
CONTAINS: WHEAT, SOY

Here’s Heinz Sweet Relish Ingredients:
Pickles (Cucumbers, Salt, Calcium Chloride)High Fructose Corn Syrup, Cabbage (Cabbage, Salt)Distilled White Vinegar, Natural Flavoring, Sodium Benzoate and Potassium Sorbate as Preservatives, Xanthan Gum, Alum, Guar and Locust Bean Gum, Dehydrated Red Bell Peppers, Extractive of Turmeric, FD&C Yellow No.5 & Blue No.1. Polysorbate 80.

Here’s the Heinz Ketchup list:INGREDIENTS: TOMATO CONCENTRATE FROM RED RIPE TOMATOES, DISTILLED VINEGAR, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, CORN SYRUP, SALT, SPICE, ONION POWDER, NATURAL FLAVORING

And here’s the list for Doritos Cool Ranch Chips, (12 equals a serving size, by the way) Whole Corn, Vegetable Oil (Contains One or More of the Following: Corn, Soybean and/or Sunflower Oil), Corn Maltodextrin, Salt, Tomato Powder, Corn Starch, Lactose, Whey, Nonfat Milk, Corn Syrup Solids, Onion Powder, Sugar, Garlic Powder, Monosodium Glutamate, Cheddar Cheese (Milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes), Dextrose, Malic Acid, Buttermilk, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Sodium Acetate, Artificial Color (Including Red 40, Blue 1, Yellow 5), Sodium Caseinate, Spice, Citric Acid, Disodium Inosinate, and Disodium Guanylate.

Do you see how little actual food is in these manufactured food products?  Eat this and get a whopper dose of cancer causing, diabetes causing, heart disease causing, behavior disrupting, mood plummeting, weight gaining, chemicals.

A little here or a little there – it DOES matter.  This stuff is POISON to your body, that’s how you want to TRAIN yourself to look at it.  You wouldn’t drink the cleaner from under your sink because it’s dangerous;  these foods are dangerous too.  When you quit thinking in terms of Calories, which doesn’t work anyway, and think of food in terms of it’s actual effects on your body, going to a BBQ or party or eating out, becomes easier.

Think you can’t resist?  Quit saying that!  Your brain believes what you tell it.  Plan, pack, choose healthy foods when you’re out;  think in terms of consequences when you see the Chemical Foods.  Don’t let yourself be ruled by a desire for bad foods that make you feel bad afterwards, it’s never worth it.  Once that 30 minute burst of Serotonin fades, any good feelings about bad choices fades away too.  Choose Real Whole Foods everywhere, and every time.