You want to lose weight.
So, you start eating more fruits and vegetables, you add a healthy portion of lean protein to every meal, you reduce sugar, you buy only “gluten free” products, and you finally buy that gym membership (and use it).
You are eating healthy and your macros are on point!
A couple months go by and...OH NO! You’ve actually gained 5 pounds.
First, congratulations on making these improvements to your diet. We know how hard it can be to change diet habits.
So, what gives?
losing weight goes beyond "healthy" food
It might not be a matter of willpower around food, or a lack of motivation in the gym.
Did you know the food you are eating, even if it’s considered a “health food” could be carrying hormone and metabolism disruptors?
That just because a food is healthy doesn't mean it is clean!
Our food industry is laden with chemicals that are meant to make crops look better and grow faster, animals grow bigger, and packaged foods taste better and last longer: chemicals that our bodies are not meant to absorb or digest.
When we consume these chemicals, they send messages to our brain and blood cells that there is a foreign substance in our body.
This triggers an inflammatory response and these continuous inflammatory responses lead to a state of chronic inflammation which is the foundation for diseases such as diabetes, metabolic disorders, auto-immune disorders, ADHD, ADD, and even cancer.
“At first it was thought that these chemicals had to persist in the body to cause harm, like a viral or bacterial infection. Now we realize that though the chemicals themselves are often excreted within a few days, they leave lasting effects. And here is the scariest piece: the effects of this chemical contact can reverberate years later and even be passed on to the next generation.”
- Excerpt from “Sicker, Fatter, Poorer” by Leanardo Tresande
No, one serving of non-organic fruit or vegetables will not give you cancer. But 20, 30, or 40+ years of eating chemically laden food and continuously initiating these inflammatory responses builds up over time. This is what causes disease.
The food you eat must also be "clean"
It’s not simply a matter of increasing your fruit and vegetable intake. We must focus on the quality of food we are eating, not just the quantity.
Our food must be both clean & healthy for us to achieve true, long-lasting health.
“Studies have shown that environmental exposures can modify the expression of genes (without changing the coding sequence), leading to diseases and dysfunctions.”
- Excerpt from “Sicker, Fatter, Poorer” by Leanardo Tresande
It doesn’t end with fruits and vegetables.
The meat industry has gotten a bad rap lately, and not all meat is created (or treated) equal. A cut of meat from a cow that was injected with hormones for growth, fed a grain-only diet, and kept in unacceptable living quarters will not do the same thing for your body that a cut of meat from a cow who was grass fed and allowed to roam fields will.
While you may not be a meat eater, I believe this is something we can all agree on: the way that animals are fed and the lifestyle they are provided greatly affects the quality of the meat from that animal.
“Factory farmed animals are fed cheap, mass-produced grains because it fattens them quickly at low cost. That means they’re eating GMO’s and pesticides. They’re pumped full of hormones and antibiotics because these make them bigger and fatter, too. And it gets scarier: Under federal regulations, it’s perfectly legal to feed livestock and poultry things you would never eat or want any animal to eat. Yet “additives” that are allowed under the law include “feather meal” (ground up feathers); both dried and unprocessed “recycled” animal waste (that’s poop to you and me); food adulterated with waste from rodents, insects, or birds (more poop, but only after it has been heat-treated to kill the germs); “polyethylene roughage replacement” (that’s plastic filler); bacteria, including some that are resistant to antibiotics; toxic chemicals such as PCB’s and dioxin.”
- Excerpt from “Food: What the Heck Should I Eat?” by Dr Mark Hyman, national leading Functional Medicine Doctor
This is why it’s so important to know how your meat was fed and raised.
Watch out for vague marketing terms
And to make it even harder on all of us, food companies are now using vague verbiage to get you to buy their product. You can’t walk through a grocery store anymore without noticing all the labels and advertisements that say “All Natural!” or “Gluten free!” or “Made with REAL cheese!”. When it comes down to it, those statements do nothing to provide me with information on the quality of the product.
It can all be overwhelming. But with this knowledge comes the power to change, the power and ability to reverse and prevent disease, which is priceless.
You cannot put a price on your health!
Simple Tips to start eating Clean & Healthy
So, where do you start? Here are some changes you should start to make:
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Eat organic fruits and vegetables (especially the dirty dozen)
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Buy grass fed (or grass-finished), pasture raised meat and poultry
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Buy pasture raised eggs
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Buy organic, non-GMO dairy products
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Buy wild fish (not farmed)
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Store and reheat your food in glass containers
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Reduce amount of packaged or frozen foods. If you do buy prepackaged foods, stick to organic companies with a reputation for using high quality ingredients
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Cook at home more often. You can control the quality of food you are purchasing, but not what you are eating at restaurants.
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Buy high quality NON-GMO supplements and protein powders (like those from Propello Life!)
Finding your "health" is a journey with a lot of trial and error. There isn't a magic pill or quick fix.
You will learn, adapt, and apply. You will grow and become healthier over time. This is how it is meant to be done. Make changes and listen to how your body responds.
Balance is key. Some days (or holidays?) will be cleaner & healthier than others. Don't be too hard on yourself, and just get back to your healthy practices as quick as possible.
Learn more about holistic living by reading our other blogs: How to Clean The Water in your home
About the author:
Shelly Laurinaitis - Mom of 2!, Propello Life customer, & Holistic Health Enthusiast
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References:
The two books quoted in this article are “Food: What the Heck Should I eat?” By Dr Mark Hyman and “Sicker, Fatter, Poorer” by Leanardo Tresande. They are great resources if this information is new to you or if you simply want to increase your knowledge on how food quality and the environment affect your health.