Health Advice for Everyone - Keep a clean diet!
Most of the time in my work, I am dealing with people who are obese and do not believe they can ever change. I know this is not true, both from my own experience of losing “half my size” at the ago of 50 and from the many stories of others who have done the same.
In the most recent cdc statistics, approximately 40% of American are overweight and 40% are obese. These percentages have been climbing and climbing each time they are issued.
The sad fact is that it is actually pretty easy to lose the weight and keep it off for many people. Those of us who flip the switch discuss our shock about this often.
This person is succeeding
“I’m so excited to prepare a batch of my yummy, healthy, and energizing XXX this weekend. I love this and will have a lot of servings for the next week. I had no idea food could be this awesome. I love my new life and diet.”
This person is failing
“I wish I could eat some of that chemical-laden, artificially colored, gmo-laced XXXX that my friend is having. I miss my old food and I hate what I eat now. I do not want to live my life when I am so deprived of what normal people can enjoy.”
This person is succeeding
“I’m looking for even more ways to stay healthy. Now that I have energy and a clear head, I can do so many more good things for myself. I’m trying and loving healthy foods I never thought I would like and this is so fun. I am not even worrying about calories. I just eat healthy now and it works!”
This person is failing
“I need to find a way to be able to eat food that looks and tastes like my old food. If I can’t eat XXX, I would rather not live. I would rather be sick and fat than not be able to eat XXX.”
When I started down this path, I had no idea how toxic the food supply can be today. In the US there are hundreds of substances allowed in food that are banned in many other countries. These can be very detrimental to our body, are often addictive and build up in our tissues over time.
Look up any ingredient with a long chemical name on any processed food label. You will find them on a list of GRAS additives. According to our friends at wiki:
How much does it cost to get on that list so that you can just slip into any product without testing? What if 20 of these gras substances are in the same product?
One person who is looking into various substances on steemit right now is @dandays. Here is a post about sodium benzoate. I am also following a couple of people on other platforms who go through this big effort to try to decipher these gras substances. I did it myself for a year or two and now I just try not to eat them instead.
Even though I have a lot of questions about our food supply, I do not dig too deeply into either the health benefits or the concerns about any specific food these days. I just need to eat!
In the beginning of my own journey to health, I did look up many food additives at the fda site and found a lot of bad news. At the same time, I was avidly looking up nutrition information and trying to do the best I could with the food I was eating.
The path I and others take to health, is to eat as close to the source of food while trying not to eat anything newly developed in the last 50 years or so. If my grandma would not know what it was, I try not to eat it. Another way to put this is that I cleaned up my diet. I did not necessarily change what I was eating, I just got it from a better source.
In the beginning, this is a matter of chipping away at it. Pick some area of your food and work to improve it. The idea is to add nutrition and healthier foods, while removing and reducing the toxins that keep us sick and fat. If you do a bit better on each side of this equation, meal after meal, over time, you will have improved dramatically before you know it.
One of the best sites I know for this process is The World’s Healthiest Foods. The site is a goldmine of information and I am linking you to their list of the 100 healthiest foods. For each of the foods, you can click and find all kinds of nutrition information, recipes and tips. Pick a food a week and try it!
A second site I use is the Environmental Working Group and their list of the most and least pesticide sprayed foods in the United States. The foods at the top of the list are the most sprayed and so you might want to go organic for those. The farther down the list, the least sprayed the crop is and so you are safer eating the regular food.
What are some good rules of thumb?
These are the conventions I go by as much as I can. All of this works for any diet – from vegan to paleo. You do not have to be obese to benefit from these tips. They will help you and your family no matter where your are with your weight.
- Eat the less processed food
- Eat the less sprayed food
- Eat the younger/smaller food
- Eat food that adds nutritional value of some type
- Eat the real food
- Don’t eat the fake food
- Don’t eat food with unknown or harmful substances
- Reduce GMO's
- Reduce Fluoride
- Reduce added colors
- Reduce added flavors
- Reduce chemicals
- Reduce any other toxin I find out about
- Eat a large variety of foods at each meal
- Eat smaller servings of each food over time
- Learn to cook for yourself
- Reduce fried and deep fried foods
- I do not eat soy for an abundance of suestions about it.
- I avoid nightshade and inflammatory foods due to autoimmune disease.
You might have some other restrictions based on any chronic health troubles you have now.
In addition, I do not take pills or many supplements. Anything I eat that is powdered in usually 100% of one ingredient such as organic pea powder or hemp powder.
So now what?
I know this is a huge amount of information and a lot of details to keep track of. As I said above – start anywhere and work to improve. Get some good habits going and drop some of the worst you know of.
This is a huge effort in the beginning and becomes second nature at the end. Once you are eating about 80% clean, you can afford some slip ups. The funny things is, the cleaner you eat, the less slip ups you have or desire to have.
In the beginning of my weight loss journey, I used a fitness trainer who helped me decipher all this information. Now I coach others down the same path and I would love to work with you.
My post today is in response to a @steemitmamas post asking for health advice.
I am posting to the steemiteducation tag where your knowledge counts. Please tell us what you know!
Is soy super bad? Cause I have heaps every day haha. Great write up
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In the us soy is 99% GMO, so at least go organic. And no matter what, it is full of estrogen. Think man-boobs :)
I'm so glad you like the post. Thank you very much!
Well damn. That explains a lot haha
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lol - I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Of course this info is not readily available, but easy to find if you look.
I appreciate your sharing this. It is a very timely reminder for me. I liked that rules of thumb.
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I'm so glad you like it and I hope it is helpful. Good luck in your efforts :)
Wow! It's sooo wonderful to read good information like this. And your before and after pictures are stunning. The part which resonates with me especially is the successful vs unsuccessful mindset which you outlined at the beginning. I also lost around 80 pounds a few years back, and I can totally attest that mindset is everything. If you view weight loss as fun, exciting, even like a game--you'll get so much farther. Thanks so much for posting this!
And thank you for the comment! I am stealing the game idea as of now. What a great analogy and I think it will help people get on the train. Big congrats on the 80 pounds. That is a wonderful result and it sounds like you will not be going back :)
i feel sad... all my favorite things to eat are listed under "reduce"..
its really a struggle to stay fit and keep a healthy lifestyle. It takes determination and stong dedication to stop yourself. The fight with yourself is the hardest part.
I know I should start eating clean, we benefit much of it to avoid any illnesses that might arise in the future especially now we are not getting any younger.
so mam, how did you find the courage to change your diet?? what motivates you to swift the change?
"The fight with yourself is the hardest part." <<< You are absolutely correct here. I started on my path to health and a "normal" BMI when I was 46 and got here when I was 50. This was 8 years ago, and I honestly have not had any trouble with my weight since then. This is an incredible result since I was a fat 4 year old and had never lost weight before in my life.
The original moment that changed my life was on October 10, 2007. This was the day I almost crashed my car at high spreed because my big fat stomach would not allow the steering to turn. This happened on my way to work and I had no other path to travel.
It was not so much courage to change as it was fear to remain the same. My goal is to help other people before they get to that terrible place in life. Or even if they are in a worse place, they can still do the same thing I did. I know many other who have since I started paying attention.
As far as "all your favorite things," Please give me the top 2-5 of those and I will see if I can give you some strategies. As I said in my post, I did not really stop eating things I liked, I tweaked them to be more healthy.
oh wow.. it took you long on this journey. Though I dont weigh that much, but I have rather gained more pounds since I gave birth a year ago. Im into breastfeeding my yougest, that is the main factor I ate so much because I need to it in order to lactate. I cant afford to buy lactation capsules, so I just resort to eating foods rich in galactogogues.
the following are listed below:
The whole issue of what to eat while breastfeeding is not one I have worked with up to this point. You need to do what is best for the baby no matter what. If you are on fb (I know!) you can find active groups of moms in your same spot. Try searching for groups with the keywords of "breastfeeding" and "natural." I know you can find support there.
As to whether or not this is the time to get a grip on your health and weight, only you can make that decision. Try looking at this older post and see how long it will take you to get to where you want to be if you started to lose now. Then put this away for a few months and go back to it.
Before I lost weight, one of my doctors told me that the average American adult gains 5 pounds a year between the ages of 30-60. This was a few years ago. So that is 50 pounds each decade.
Another point I will make is that my now 25 year old son @bxlphabet has severe and debilitating ptsd due primarily to my obesity when he was young. I did not lose weight and get healthy until he was 18 and this is the biggest regret of my life. You may never have the horrible traumas I did with my weight. But being the healthiest you can for your child is a very important goal.
My ideas for the food issues you listed:
processed foods
food with added colors and flavors
fried foods
food in large quantities
In conclusion
I will be glad to help you - any time on any post
oh yes! Actually I am already a member in one of those breastfeeding groups.. I am just taking things at my pace, I aint rushing anything right now. As it is my baby's health must comes first before myself.
I was just inspired in your story. :)
OMG I really wish I could be like you. When I was younger I was healthy and into sports. Sometimes chubby but always just on level. When I had my child is when my weight shot up and never came down Being diabetic when Iwas in my early 50 mede me losse some wt. I did but came back. But now I just try to lessen my intake, mild exercise less sweets. Trying to diet here is also expensive where the ingredients are hard to find and expensive. I am trying to keep healthy so I could see my grandson soon.
You are not alone with the pregnancy weight gain that does not come off. I kept mine until my son was 17!
One thing about "lessening your intake" is that you need to boost your nutrition at the same time. If your food is not very nutritious, eating half of it is not really a sustainable change.
I think your best bet in the PI is the wet markets. You should be able to find some inexpensive and healthy alternatives there. I don't really look at my food as a "diet." I am going for long term ideas that I can keep doing forever.
You have a great motivation regarding your Grandson. Keep the goal of visiting him at the top of your mind and you can do this. Try looking at this older post and see how long it will take you to get to where you want to be. Then put the blinders on and go for it. I will be glad to help you in any possible way if you comment on any of my posts, reach me in Discord, or fb or anywhere. I know you can do this if I did :)
Thank you so much for appreciating my article like that @fitinfun, really, I’m flattered!
We could all spend so much time in each aisle at the market, reading, then going to our Webster’s app in our phone, read some more.. That ‘seems’ ridiculous but actually it’s what should be taking place. Unfortunately nobody has time to prtotect themselves. Time spent reading the labels means ‘X’ time is cut short. Thanks for putting together posts like this to save everyone’s time.
Don’t read labels? Then just stick to the stuff that grows out of the dirt, that’s your safest bet. If it’s packaged or bagged.... Use you best judgment I guess.
I really, really suck at leaving short responses! That’s my disclaimer.
I’m pharma free, too, none of that stuff but I am into a few supplements. You don’t like NAC? Maybe I’ve met the proper person then, are you familiar with an uncapsuled NAC I can get ahold of?
Thank you @fitinfun and thank you! Great post.
You're welcome! I read your post with great interest and it brought me back to the days when I was also doing such research. It was such a horrible time and I felt betrayed. Now, like you say, I just try to eat closer to the land and avoid what I do not understand or think to be toxic. We all need to watch out for ourselves as best we can.
I looked at your nac link and honestly, I do not know anything about it. I just made a choice not to take supplements, for better of worse. As far as finding it uncapsulated, I would look for the foods that have this substance and load up on them maybe.
As far as detoxifying my body, I do Dry Skin Brushing and have written two books on that subject. You can take a look and read Chapter One for free if you care to. When I first started this practice I was so sick! All kinds of junk flowed out of me for about 10 days and it was not pretty. Now it is just a part of my daily routine.
I think detoxifying our bodies is an advanced move no matter how you do it. We are so full of poison if we aren't watching out for it.
So glad to run into a like-minded steemer. Just keep on keeping on :)
@fitinfun, we literally, as in, less than a week ago detoxed our bodies and did a 72 hour cleanse. It’s a rush cleanse but periodically we’ll make that adjustment just to get a new start!
It’s so refreshing to meet likeminded people. And congratulations on the books, too, that’s impressive! Ill definitely click that link!
I do take a few supplements, NAC, like I was saying, Glucosomine (I have the worst leg you’ve ever heard of, the WHOLE thing!), B12 (we’re vegan) and a digestive esnyme. That NAC is interesting. It’s a liver cleanser. My logic tells me it’s because my liver is so clean why I have all of the extra energy. Makes sense, what do you think?
If you have a moment, please enlighten me with your opinions on the above supplements I listed. Thank you!
Hi, I’m back again. I meant to say this before and forgot. I just reminded myself when putting together my shake.
I actually stopped before pushing he blend button to drop this line so I wouldn’t forget again! Ha.
Strawberries and spinach at the top hu?! Thank you! Those are my top 2 produce purchases.
lol - You are "clean" enough that you should actually be able to smell the cr*p they spray on the berries. Those and regular apples give off fumes to me now. I could not smell it at all back in the day, but once I cleaned up my act they smell like chemicals. I haven't forgotten your comment about the supplements and will be back to you soon on that one :)
Of course, no problem, take your time. I don’t see Steemit going anywhere, we should have plenty of time.
Thanks for all of the information!
Problem is many people can't afford healthier food
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i have to agree with you on that..
Please look at my comment above. My healthy food is cheaper than the unhealthy.
okay.. i will try to check that one out.. thanks a lot mam!
Thanks
:)
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This is not true. My food costs dropped dramatically when I started cooking for myself. This is one of the fallacies of weight loss that I fight to help people see through. One of the odder things I found was that organic produce was often cheaper than the regular stuff. It went on and on, but my new healthy food was about 60% of the cost of the old unhealthy food. At one point I was on food stamps for 1 person and I was actually feeding two of us.
Organic produce cheaper than regular stuffs, wow
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Amazing but true. And some very good organics often end up in the clearance bins too :)
Organic products end up in bins? Why?
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I think it is because people overlook them for full price - even if they are not that expensive. I've gotten a lot of good deals on organics looking in the sale section of all grocery departments.
Looks magnificent and cool :-)
Looks revolutionary and sublime.
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