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Weight Loss Exercise

Foods to Avoid for Better Health




Today I want to write about the foods to avoid for better health. So yesterday, just as a recap I wrote about the five things you should eat. Meat, veggies, fruit, milk, water. I know that these are the staples of what we should eat but I know that as a core we do not tend to eat just those things.

But here is the thing, eat those foods as the basis of your daily diet. Everything else is extra and not as good.

So I want to make a short list of what to avoid or not eat as much of. These may seem obvious but the point is that what we put in our mouth is often not well though through.

Foods to Avoid for Better Health

Foods to Avoid for Better Health

Foods to Avoid for Better Health

1. Bread – I know that this is a very broad one but bread, although offering some carbs and nutrients is not a core food to me. I eat it but I also do try to avoid it (breadsticks anyone?). This is not the worst food but your body can turn this into fat fairly quickly as the calories are pretty dense.

2. Rice and Potatoes – Another complex carb these two are the basis of most people dinners. You have a piece of meat, a vegetable, and a half a plate of mashed potatoes or rice. Both of these do have some nutrients but because of the carbs per once of food the calories will add up quick and be stored as fat in your body

3. Fried Foods – Frying food in many parts of the world is a constant and normal type of cooking. Fried chicken, fried fish, french fries, deep fried snickers bars. There are a couple problems with these fried foods and these are the loss of nutrients in the frying process and the gobs of calories in fat added needlessly to the food.

4. Pop or Soda – Apparently what I call pop in Canada is called soda in America. Anyway these are of course empty calories and I am as guilty as many for this. I have a can a coke a day which is the equivalent number of calories as a regular meal. There is no redeeming value in sodas, no nutrients, contain caffeine, and they work as a diuretic robbing your body of water.

5. Sweet or fried Snacks – This should be obvious to everyone so it was an easy one for this list. Sugar turns to fat easily, no nutrients, blood sugar peaks and valleys. These snacky foods that can fill a pantry easily are not at all good, mostly very bad and should be avoided.

So lets have a caveat here. I take shots at the food above and we all know why we should avoid it but they are around and we still want to eat them right? I am a real person and I do eat all of the above but the fact is that we need to realize the importance of good eating and the result of bad eating. I would not expect anyone to completely take all of the above out of their eating plans but at the same time you have to be careful.

This leads me into what I want to write about tomorrow which is sacrificing food habits and how to avoid it.

Hope this list of foods to avoid for better health just helps you think about things as they are today.

Categories
General Weight Loss Tips

Waiting for Hunger W1D2: Filling Without Food

Yesterday was a great success. I have to thank all of you for taking the time to leave feedback, not just with me, but with everyone else in the comment area. That was so nice and encouraging to watch.

There were times yesterday when I would eat small meals in anticipation for hunger. Which would push hunger back even more. I’m fine with this. I don’t want to get caught up in the mind swirls of “what is hunger” , “am I truly hungry?”, “is starving hungry?” because it could go on for hours and days. And at the heart of it, I know what overeating looks like, and that is what I’m aiming to avoid.

For example, I made a delicious dinner of chickpea coconut curry with rice. I wasn’t hungry when I made it so I took a bite, because it just looked good. A couple of hours later, I still wasn’t overly hungry, but I pulled out a tiny bowl that holds about a cup of food and I enjoyed a little bit. And that was that. As I look over yesterday I see one trend: several small meals scattered throughout the day. I was never stuffed and never starving.

I counted my calories out of curiosity and vowed to myself that I would not feel guilt over whatever the number came out to be. After exercise, I net about 1,300 calories. That is extremely good for me. I also baked, twice, and did not overeat. I feel like I’m playing with fire, but vowed that I would be honest with whatever happened. I made two loaves of pumpkin chocolate bread, ate one thin slice and put the rest way for later. I also made a batch of French Madeleines. Ate one, put the rest away for tea time today. I. Put. Them. Away. And they aren’t haunting me. I really believe removing guilt, removes the power of food. As does eating for the wrong reasons.

Today, I want to work on a list of things to do to keep my hands busy when I’m taking a break from work, but don’t want to watch TV. Art journaling is at the top of the list. I’ve been longing to paint and create collages lately. I think this will be a good thing for me artistically. It will also keep me from eating from emotions.

And finally, I think I will keep this post open throughout the day for updates and picture posts. Please feel free to use the comments area of this post if you need support, want to chat, or just want to say hello throughout the day.

I woke up super early today to get a lot of work done. Right now, I’m more thirsty than hungry. Drinking lots of water. Maybe an iced coffee soon and then breakfast. Avoiding the scale until this weekend, I’m in the water retention portion of the month and I’d just rather wait it out.

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Categories
General Weight Loss Tips

Waiting For Hunger Week1D1: Smaller Plates

Welcome to day one, week one of the Waiting for Hunger Challenge! I’ve compiled a list of participants in hopes that we can encourage each other in the coming days and weeks as we form new habits. It’s not too late to join us; feel free to leave a comment in this post if you’d like to be added to the list.

Waiting for Hunger Participants

BCGirlie

Happy Girl 

Kayla 

Erika

Lindsay

Kelsey

Jackie

Rennie

Ella

Yaya

Jen

I’ll be using the comments section as a chat area too for communication throughout the day. Today’s theme is using smaller plates and bowls. I’ve heard this tip numerous times, and it wasn’t until this morning that I decided to actually see how it would work.

I woke up around 7am pretty hungry. Because I’m in a cold cereal phase right now I grabbed one of my smallest bowls off the shelf. I know that cereal doesn’t do much for my hunger and I’ve had issues in the past with overeating it, but I’m ready to try again. It’s what I wanted. Small bowl of Mother’s Choice Honey O’s with whole organic milk.

About three hours later I could feel hunger pangs again. I got a few chores and work done and decided that I would make one of my favorite big breakfasts for me and Josh. Doing this would require a few habit changes 1) getting over the guilt of feeling hungry again 2) using a smaller plate 3) eating slowly and enjoying my food 4) being okay with leftovers and 5) instead of dividing the food in half I presented everything buffet style and filled my little appetizer plate without layering. By doing this, I was eating a fourth of what I normally would. In the future I hope to get used to preparing smaller amounts of food and being comfortable with having less on hand. For now, I’m okay with putting it in the refrigerator for later.

Another tip was cutting things like bread into smaller pieces. Normally I would have two large slices of bread, four slices of bacon, two eggs and a cup of fried potatoes. No wonder I have food issues.  Today, using the small plate method, I at 1/2 slice of bread, 2 slices of bacon, 1 egg, and about 1/4-1/2 c. potatoes. That’s a significant difference and I’m full, but not uncomfortably so.

I’m realizing and truly trying to understand that I don’t need so much food. I ordered a salad last night and couldn’t believe how enormous it was. It was enough for 2-3 meals.

 

 

 

 

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