Common Sense Living

I was surfing some weight loss sites today to see what kind of information is being peddled out there today.

I had to shake my head. A well known health publication was still blasting banners about cholesterol – even though current reasearch indicates that cholesterol is not the cause of heart disease. What’s up with that? Oh yeah – they’re advertiser supported. Duh! Big pharma runs a zillion ads in this publication.

Another ad for a popular information site asks, which is lower in calories – and shows a glass of orange juice, and a glass of pop. Ounce for ounce, juice does have more calories. But your body doesn’t see it that way. This simple comparison does not account for nutrient value, or how your body responds to the chemical additives and unnatural sugars.

That’s why calorie counting as a diet aid is usually misguided. It’s why people are guzzling gallons of zero calorie pop and not losing an ounce. But this very popular information provider gives you the impression that it’s better to drink the pop than the orange juice.

From here, I was led to one of their weight loss blogs. This blog stated ‘weight loss since 2000′, but the picture of the author showed a definitely overweight woman. Should you be taking advice from someone who doesn’t know how to lose weight?

From there, I clicked on a link that led to one of the bogus ‘how I lost weight using 2 free products’ sites. Sigh….

You’ve got to be tired of chasing your tail. Aren’t you glad you found me? Listen. There is one proven way to lose weight and keep it off. It’s called a healthy diet, and exercise. That sounds like a death sentence, doesn’t it? Actually, it’s quite the opposite. It’s your ticket to living life.

See, that same diet that will help you lose weight will also keep your blood pressure down, cut your risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and a whole slew of other chronic diseases, protects your vision, keeps you thinking clearly, keeps you looking and feeling younger longer, and in general will keep you out of the nursing home longer.

OK, now do a search for healthy eating. Now that sounds like a death sentence! Vegetable juices, greens, seeds, tofu, soy, Special K. I especially love the raw foods people. Are you serious? I did actually find good articles here -  http://www.helpguide.org/life/healthy_eating_diet.htm and here – http://www.helpguide.org/life/healthy_weight_loss.htm

Ellie Krieger’s Healthy Recipes on the Food Network look really good. I have to try that cherry vanilla oatmeal. I wish we could get rid of the big soyjoy commercial – since you and I both know that soy has turned out to be a bad thing.

Have you noticed that I don’t run ads here? You know why? I don’t want ads running here for somethng I do not believe in, and do not endorse. My article might be about how bad soy is, but because the word soy is used – ads for soy products would show up. How confusing is that?  On one side I would be talking about how bad it is, and over to the right, there’s links to go buy soy products.

Oh, and you might notice that Ellie uses salt in every recipe. You might be shocked. The truth is, most people do get too much salt, but those of us who do not eat packaged foods may not be getting enough salt. Salt is actually one of the 4 electrolytes that our bodies need to function properly.

Low salt? Low carb? Soy? High protein? Raw foods? Vegan? No wonder everyone just gives up.

The real solution is simple. A balanced diet of real foods.

Of course to do that, you have to make your own food. But don’t get scared here. It’s really easy. Just hop on over to Rebel With a Fork, sign up for your 10 day free trial and try some of the brain dead simple recipes for yourself.

Tasting is believing.

The proof is in the pudding – so to speak…

Really, its easier than you think -

If you’re like most people, you don’t eat anywhere near the recommended 7-9 servings of fruits and vegetables a day.

As a matter of fact, many people barely eat one serving.

Here’s a ton of ways to get your 7-9 servings in everyday.  

Have fruit and a glass of fruit juice with breakfast. Precut the night before to make it easy. 2 servings knocked out right there.

Have a fruit and/or fruit juice (with no corn syrup!) at morning break.

Have lettuce and tomato on your sandwich at lunch.

Have a salad.

Have fruits or vegetables.

Drink fruit or vegetable juice.

Drink Green Tea.

Drink fresh squeezed lemonade.

Have cut up fruits or vegetables with your afternoon snack.

At dinner, have at least 2 servings. You can have a vegetable and a salad, or cut up fruit and a salad, or a vegetable and a fruit, or vegetables in your main course and a salad or cut up fruit. Dizzy yet?

Spaghetti sauce counts – tomatoes

Fajitas are a great choice.

Mandarin oranges are a sweet treat.

Canned or frozen vegetables count too, but fresh is better.

Applesauce is too processed. Doesn’t count.

Have a glass of wine. (ONE)

Drink Green Tea.

Remember, a serving is only a half a cup of most fruits and vegetables. Leafy greens are a cup.  Not very much. A good salad can easily have 2 or 3 servings worth by itself.

For dessert, put fruit on your dessert, or go the European or Mediterranean route and have fruit and cheese.

Now I’m sure that the fact that I’ve included juices, and wine and green tea will raise some eyebrows. They all contain powerful anti-oxidants and therefore they count – but they shouldn’t be your only source. You need some sort of greens everyday, and we all know that the real thing is healthier than the juice. But we’re busy and not perfect.  Shoot for lots of colors and you’ll be pretty well covered.

As you can plainly see, it’s really not that hard to get your fruits and veggies in, no matter how busy you are.

If you’re just starting out, try for 3 servings a day and work up from there. Let’s try to stay out of the nursing home as long as possible, OK?

Visit Rebel With a Fork for more healthy eating inspiration

Have you ever wondered? I mean, to hear some tell it, you have to wait months for treatment. Right? Haven’t you heard that?

But when you actually talk to someone from Canada, they say that’s not the case at all. And if you saw Sicko, it painted a totally different picture from what we’re being told.

Well, I stumbled across an article written by Dr. Simeon Roger, from Canada – and he had a lot to say about what we’re being told.

U.S. Health Care Debate: This Irate Canadian Speaks Out!

What do you think?

I just put a post up at Rebel With a Fork about how we can make a difference this Lent.

Please click here to read it -

http://rebelwithafork.com/blog/we-can-make-a-big-difference-this-lent

It will give you something to talk about at church today.

Please spread the word!

I just watched a talk on nutrition and weight loss, and I’m banging my head against my desk…

Did you know that broccoli is less calorie dense than Oreos? Duh.

Did you know that people who eat the most fruits and vegetables have a lower calorie intake overall? Um, Duh…

Or how about the fact that people who eat the most fruits and vegetables have a lower incidence of obesity?

And they spend millions on these studies. You have to be kidding me.

How about the fact that much of the calorie dense processed foods weren’t available 30 years ago?

OK, a lot of people may not realize that we didn’t always eat this way. I still don’t. And that’s what I’m trying to teach you at Rebel With a Fork. How to eat the way we used to eat, only a lot faster and easier.

In a previous life, good food took all day to prepare. But who can do that now? And I think that most people think that’s what it takes. Believe me – it’s not that hard at all. You can make truly great tasting meals in no time.

Why don’t you make a promise to yourself to hop on over to Rebel With A Fork and try something new this week?