Are you focusing a lot on what the scale says or how much weight you may or may not have lost? Are you often frustrated and exhausted trying to select what foods to eat and are left feeling helpless seeing that the scale isn’t budging? You may want to lose weight but no matter how hard you try (increasing exercise, counting calories, fasting, and food journaling) the scale does not seem to move in the right direction. Could this be due to the foods you are consuming?
Flash back 4-5 years ago my main health goal was to lose weight too. I increased my exercise, counting calories, and was the queen of the weight loss app also counting carbs, proteins, and fats…I’m exhausted just thinking about it. This system never seemed to work What if there’s a better way? I promise you, there IS and it took me years to figure it out.
Today I am here to share all I’ve learned with you. The short answer is, it’s about properly nourishing your body.
Instead of worrying so much about the quantity of my food I learned that when I pay attention to the quality of my foods, the weight just started dropping. According to Raymond Francis, an internationally recognized leader in the field of optimal-health maintenance, there’s really only one disease, a malfunctioning cell. There are two reasons this happens:
We are not delivering to the cell what it needs to operate properly (deficiency) and/or
We are delivering to the cell things it doesn’t want (toxicity).
What do I mean by quality of food? You want to concentrate on whole foods instead of processed foods mainly because whole foods are full of nutrients which you don’t find in packaged foods or fast foods which become void of nutritional value in the process of creating the “food.” For example, eating a fast food burger is full of calories but has very little, if any vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants our bodies need. Instead it can be full of food coloring and preservatives which are foreign substances and therefore toxic for the body. This issue is leading to an epidemic of an overweight yet malnourished population.
Organic vs. Conventional or GMO produce
Organic farming bans use of most synthetic pesticides, chemicals or fertilizers. Many chemicals used in conventional farming have been shown to be detrimental to human, animal and environmental health. These synthetic substances are sprayed on crops or used in soil, meaning that the food you’re eating may be coated with harmful pesticides, that farmland may be contaminated, and that local streams and waterways may wind up full of these harmful chemicals.
According to the Non GMO Project, “A GMO, or genetically modified organism, is a plant, animal, microorganism or other organism whose genetic makeup has been modified in a laboratory using genetic engineering or transgenic technology. This creates combinations of plant, animal, bacterial and virus genes that do not occur in nature or through traditional crossbreeding methods.” You can identify these foods by looking at the label on the produce.
How can you tell if you’re buying organic or not? By looking at the label on the produce.
GMO produce sticker on your produce start with 8
Conventional sticker on produce starts with 4
Organic sticker on produce starts with 9
Good vs. bad fats
It is not only important to know the quality of your produce but to also consume a regular amount of healthy fats. Fats used in cooking that have been shown to be detrimental to our health include soybean, canola, safflower, sunflower, and margarine (please throw these out of your cupboard and fridge). Healthy fats include coconut oil, olives (oil), nuts, wild caught salmon, and avocado just to name a few.
Should we take supplements?
Supplementation can be an important part of any food plan to provide much needed nourishment. Even if you eat really well it is hard to get the amount of nutrients you need today because our food is grown in soil that is depleted. To get the same amount of magnesium in a carrot from 50 years ago now you have to eat 20 carrots. Who’s eating 20 carrots? Nobody.
The foods we are eating are vastly different from the foods people ate 50 years ago. This is why supplementation is essential. The National Academy of Science states it is not possible to get the nutrition you need even if you eat a good diet and everyone should be taking at the least a good multivitamin. Make sure supplements are of high quality, highly absorbable, NSF and SCS certified.
Today, I don’t even have a scale anymore. When I go to the doctor I find that my weight is pretty consistent and rarely changes. What’s the secret? And to simply come back to the topic of happiness we’ve been talking about these last few months…eating healthy foods impacts every cell in your body, including digestion, brain power, and hormone levels…everything.
When we nourish our bodies properly, our brain delivers the right amount of happy hormones. Plus sitting in front of a nourishing meal makes you happy even before taking the first bite…just knowing you are doing something good for your body.
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