Simple Dietary Changes for a Healthier You

The American diet has gone to an all time low. You might wonder, how can anyone say that? We have supermarkets overflowing with food selections; pantries stuffed full, and restaurants near every strip mall or main thoroughfare. We eat well, not much starvation going on in this country. No, we aren't starving for food; however we are starving for healthy food. Just a few changes in your diet could help you to lose weight, have more energy, feel better, and live longer. Reduce processed foods and beverages, reduce your portion size, eat organic and fresh, whole grain, healthy fats, and drink water. Sounds like a simple plan doesn't it? No need to count calories, just plain old common sense.

Processed foods have got to be killing us. They are loaded up with preservatives, artificial colors, hidden high calorie sugars, chemicals to increase shelf life, highly processed and bleached flour. Think about the ingredient list of the foods you have been buying. Let's look at a simple and straight forward example. Instant mashed potatoes, the ingredients include: dehydrated potato, mono-and diglycerides, sodium acid bisulfate, and citric acid, preservatives, milk, natural flavorings. How many of those ingredients leave you wondering what those things are? Now pull out a potato, the ingredients: potato! This is a very simplified version but it clearly shows how we do not think about the things we eat. Instant potatoes are quick and easy though, right? It only takes about ten minutes to whip them up. In ten minutes you can wash a medium sized potato, pierce it, microwave it and have a nice fluffy real potato on your plate. Pick up any processed packaged food, look hard at the ingredients; do you really want to eat that?