Summer Fresh Produce Helps Avoid Processed Nasties

Summer is the perfect time to focus on healthier lifestyles. Farmer’s markets and   fresh produce abound, making it easier to   incorporate fresh and whole foods into your eating plan.

To lose weight, or for more energy, shopping around the OUTSIDE of the grocery store is the most assured way of shedding unwanted pounds.  This time of year consider shopping for produce at the markets to help sustain local farmers and growers. In today's fast paced world, that is not always possible. Here are a few ingredients to be aware of and avoid as much as possible when grocery shopping.

- High fructose corn syrup (even grain breads contain HFS)
- MSG or glutamates
- Partially hydrogenated oils (worse than trans fats)
- Aspartame, surcralose and other artificial sweeteners

HFS and MSG both not only contribute to weight gain and cravings, studies reveal these ingredients are being linked to serious disease, including cancer.

Margarine is NOT your friend.  A recommended read is "Good Calories, Bad Calories" by Gary Taubes.

Beware of "low-fat" foods.  To make up for the taste of removing the fat, food manufacturers load these foods with artificial sweeteners, corn syrups and "ose" words. High fructose corn syrup is a GMO product (genetically modified organism). Corn and soybean crops grown in the U.S., unless organic, are GMO, and what that means for you and me is that the end result food product messes with our endocrine system, and thereby creates a hormone imbalance.

Fructose is sugar derived from fruit, and although it should be  limited in the diet, it is a healthier choice long term than an artificial sweetener. (Unless you have cancer, in which case all sugars and artificial sweeteners should be avoided as they fuel cancer cells, per Dr. Russel Blaylock, renown neurosurgeon and author of Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills.)

A note that may shock some...regular soda, is a "more healthy" choice than diet-soda; because of the artificial sweetener content. Although it is pretty much guaranteed that if a person drinks soda daily, and kicks the habit, they would easily drop at least 10 lbs. in a month's time, likely more. Remember, in this paragraph, healthy is relative. Soda is never a HEALTHY choice of refreshment. It is toxic to your body, but regular is better than diet free. Just saying...

Avoiding these nasty ingredients alone is a step in the right direction for a healthier, and
happier you. Sometimes we need to start with baby steps before we can take leaps and bounds in living a more healthful and energetic life.

To your health,
Rita S.