Read Food Labels

If you are still buying pre-packaged & prepared foods, you must read the labels and ingredient lists!

What is “in” the food stuffs you are holding in your hands, considering purchasing and consuming to your body?

First off, look to see if it contains “partially hydrogenated oils.” Partially Hydrogenated fats are the fat manufacturers have invented to make the food last longer on the store’s shelves. It contains artery clogging “trans fats”. Avoid at all costs!

Second, look to avoid the cheap sweetener “High Fructose Corn Syrup,” found in many foods from bread, salad dressings, soft drinks and juices, plus many others. This sugar substance, which has a different molecular structure than table sugar, plays havoc with our appetite suppressing hormone leptin, so you never get the message that you’re full! Plus, High Fructose Corn Syrup does not require insulin to enter our cells, so it is quickly stored as fat.

Third; look to avoid ingredients listed that you don’t know what they are and have a difficult time pronouncing. These could be preservatives, flavor enhancers, food colorings, etc.

So, what do we buy instead? When shopping, stick mainly to the outside perimeter of the store. Buy foods in their most natural forms; fresh fruits and vegetables, low fat meats, poultry & fish.

But wait a minute! Does this mean I will have to do more cooking from scratch? Yes! And you can do it! Checkout some good cookbooks, (I love some by Mollie Katzen), and start cooking! If time is an issue, pick 1 day a week when you have more time to prepare, chop and cook ahead of time. You can do it! Where there is a will, there is a way!