Why I am an obsessive label reader!

The overview of my “diet”

I put quotes around diet because this isn’t a diet to me; it is just how I eat. I roughly count calories as a measure of what I eat in a day. This isn’t all you need to watch out for, but is a good start. There are numerous sites that can give you a general calorie total for foods (like fruit, meat, and other things that don’t come with a label). Also important: eating too few calories is not going to help you. Not only will you not be getting enough nutrients, not eating slows your metabolism way down (this is why eating breakfast helps you for the rest of the day.) Again, there are website that can tell you the amount of calories you should be consuming based on gender and activity. I try at keep around 1600. You shouldn’t drop below 1200 in a day. As much as I am leery of the government, the food pyramid and guidelines are helpful. You can check it out at www.mypyramid.gov

Overall, there are some good tips to follow:

• Everyday you should eat fruit, veggies, whole grains, and milk
• Eat protein!! Fish, Chicken, nuts, beans, and eggs
• Watch out for saturated fats, trans fats, and cholesterol.

One website has a good realization: "If you eat 100 more food calories a day than you burn, you'll gain about 1 pound in a month. That's about 10 pounds in a year. The bottom line is that to lose weight, it's important to reduce calories and increase physical activity.”

I always am a big fan of label reading (see previous post). There is a lot of information on a label. This website gives a good overview of what to look for: http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/foodlab.html


You may have heard, there is a huge debate going on about what exactly is in our food. A lot food bought from restaurants and grocery stores is made to stand up to the test of time and that can end up harming you in the end.

Trans fat: The reason I am worried about trans fat is because the impact this has on cholesterol. I can go into more detail about all the parts of cholesterol if you want, but I can save that for later. I have become quite acquainted with it all. All you need to know is that trans fat increases your bad cholesterol number and puts your heart at risk for heart disease. Yeah, you may only be 20 something but people younger than you have died of a heart attack. There is a chemical process behind trans fats, for you chemistry people you can look it up. The end result is greater shelf life and flavor saving in food. Saturated fat is also not good for you, just be aware of that.

I also am against high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Another wonderful product made from corn. Instead of sugar, many products use HFCS. During a time when sugar cane rose dramatically in price, food producers needed to find a substitute and switched to HFCS. I don’t know all the details because I only half listened when my mother (a nurse) explained it all to me, I just know HFCS does not digest the same as regular sugar and is a direct link to obesity. If you want to read more, this website has a lot of info:

http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/79/4/537


My philosophies:
-Look at the label! you would be surprised where trans fats and HFCS are lurking. Many bread products, yogurt, cereal, soda, cookies—go through Jewel and you will be amazed. Things that seem healthy are also culprits—granola bars, crackers, and whole wheat bread. Trans fats are slowly being phased out but I still notice them in grocery store. The biggest use of trans fat is in fried foods at restaurants. Almost everything at McDonalds has trans fat in it. Oh, and beware of Keebler cookies—they are a trans fat haven.

-Look at the label; if you cannot pronounce half the ingredients, you might want to think twice before eating it. A Twinkie has 39 ingredients and some giant chemical process behind it—you would think it could be a simple cake and filling mixture!

-Fruits and veggies are your friend

-This one gets me every time and I always fight people. Whole foods is not some expensive place that people are going to go poor shopping. Yes, there are some expensive items but there are also some really cheap (and healthy) items. You just have to be a wise shopper.

-Check nutrition on websites for fast food places. The calories, fat, and other junk they cook with are gross when you think about it.


One more important thing and then I will get off my soapbox. Find out about your family history. Diabetes and high disease runs in my family and that is why I have to be careful. However, there are many other family problems that should be looked into. Does anyone in your family have high blood pressure? If so, you may want to cut back on salt (just an example). See, sometimes it pays to live in a family full of medical people.