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Week 8

Wow it's been 8 weeks! So who is the biggest loser going to be? How has every one done? Did you at least accomplish a few of your goals? I hope you have picked up a few new habits along the way that you plan to keep implementing and make part of your new healthier lifestyle! If I could give you only ONE habit to keep and hang on to for the rest of your life it would be this last weeks challenge! Being aware of and doing this one thing is so simple yet will make a huge difference in how you look and feel. And really the health of the whole fam! I want you to from now on and forever be aware of and.......





READ INGREDIENTS!

It would be nice if we only ate food that had not been packaged! But since that is simply not the world we live in we are going to be eating quite a few packaged foods. So what you need to do is get really familiar with that little paragraph labeled "INGREDIENTS:" on EVERY package, can, box, or container of food you bring into your house.








Don't worry about all the numbers and percentages just look and the INGREDIENTS: Know what you are putting into your body! ALWAYS!! Be aware it makes a huge difference.
Alright to help you out just a bit I'm going to give you an example using a loaf of bread! In fact why don't you go get the kind you buy out of your pantry and look at the ingredients on it while I show you this little comparison.



Here is a pretty average loaf of bread that you will find at your grocery store. I believe it is what most people would consider "healthy." But I look at the ingredients and a few things pop out at me. First why are there so many ingredients in a simple loaf of bread! That can't be good. Next ENRICHED that's code for, "We took all the healthy stuff out and added synthetic stuff that your body really can't use." Then I see HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP I won't get into that, you can do your own research on it but just know it's way overly processed and very very unhealthy. Next I do notice that it doesn't have partially hydrogenated oils but it does have canola oil which is not quite as bad but really close! Then again just notice all the different things most of which your body doesn't really need or want.

Now if you will look below, I took a picture of a loaf of bread I had in my pantry. I bought this at Costco I have seen different brands with similar ingredients also at Smith's and Wal-Mart. So you can get them you just have to look because out of all the loaves at the grocery store there are probably only one to three kinds that will be like this.



Look at that 6 ingredients! And I know EXACTLY what all of them are. I ONLY buy bread with ingredients like this! Of course making your own is even better but finding time to always do that can be difficult. So look at your bread. What ingredients are in it? Now EVERY time you are grocery shopping read EVERY label before you put it in your cart. I have a pretty thorough ingredient list on my blog that you can look at here. I have pretty much gone by that and it has served me well for many years now. But just in case you are not ready for that here is a very basic list you could start with! Print it up and take it to the store with you and try really hard to NOT buy anything with these things on the ingredient list.


Ingredients I NEVER knowingly eat, buy, or feed my children:

Partially Hydrogenated Oils
Margarine
MSG (MonoSodiumGlutimate)
High Fructose Corn Syrup
Aspartame and all other artificial sweeteners

Ingredients that we may sometimes compromise and eat but it is so very little you can say we pretty much never eat these either:

Sugar (that's the white refined kind)
Artificial Colors (Like Yellow, Lake Blue, Red 40 etc.)

Preservatives (all those big words you can't understand)
Enriched (we want the whole grain not enriched)

There you go short and simple! Start slow but pay attention and be a smart ingredient reader. Being aware is really most of the battle! So from now on always be sure to.....



READ INGREDIENTS!

 

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi I was wondering if you have a menu plan and also how are you planning your food storage thanks

Heather Lynn said...

Thank you Tami for your 8 weeks of info. Your shared lots of really great things. Would you mind if I posted a post on our health blog with links to each week?

Tammie said...

Anonymous: I have never been a good menu planner but I have been working on it. As I get better at it and find what works for me I plan to share it. My list of staples may help with food storage ideas. You can find it at http://simplehealthytasty.blogspot.com/2008/08/my-list-of-staples-and-my-pantry.html

I do hope to share more food storage ideas in the near future.

Heather Lynn: I don't mind at all!

Vanessa said...

Tammie I made the comment about the rabbit a few weeks ago. I just wanted to tell you and Emily thanks, I have been conversing with her through email, but you two have helped me so much. About the rabbit, we were going to go through this whole process of raising rabbits of our own and my cousin let us have one this weekend to try. Wow did it taste fleshy, you were right! BUT, the big thing was that my husband said it is amazing how much more nourished and full he felt from a plant based diet. HOORAY!!! That did it for me. I was praying for this so badly. Needless to say we are NOT going to raise rabbits,.. for eating anyways. But, thank you, your posts have been a tremendous help! The recipes are awesome. I made some snickerdoodles using coconut oil and wheat flour and my kids devoured them. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! And thank you Emily! I know this is what I am supposed to be doing! Man sorry for such a long comment. Thanks again

Vanessa

Emily said...

WELL DONE SIS! I hope Simple, Healthy, Tasty readers are feeling 8 weeks healthier and wiser, too!

Thanks for your continual inspiration....NOW ON TO THE RECIPES! :)

Love you.

Permission to Mother said...

My store bought bread is like your Aspen Mills. Six ingredients. I get it a Publix, our grocery store.

It's amazing the differences in the two labels!!

Strong Family said...

I stay away from white flour as much as possible. Went on a family campout this weekend where someone else was in charge of food. Lots of white refined flour and it was hard for me to eat. It was like glue. It's amazing to me how after a while the "real" stuff tastes SO much better. If you live in Utah, you can get Granny's Delight at most local grocery stores. Has tons of fiber and it great.I love it, and so do my kids! We never eat just white flour anything.

Heather Lynn said...

Thanks Tammie, I did a post about your 8 weeks today. Great Job!

Tammie said...

Vanessa and EVERYONE: You are so very welcome! This is the main reason I started this blog! Thank you all for all your comments! Keep up the great work!

Emily said...

Ahhh Vanessa...you are such a sweetheart! Keep up the amazing work...your body will thank you for it FOREVER!

The Cooking Lady said...

We have started to do this and boy are we shocked at what we find. I went next door to where I work and purchsed a veggie sub and picked up a bag of BBQ chips and after I was eating them I read that they had MSG in them. WHAT?! No more.

My daughter and I also had a container of peanuts in the house that my husband bight a few months back and low and behold there was gelatin in them. What would make a compnay put gelatin in peanuts? I mean really.

So now we are more label readrs than we used to be. Are we 100% rid of processed foods? Not entirely, but we are almost there.

Rebecca said...

I really liked the 8 week posts, especially because I found them after they were all posted through another blog... but I'm going to try to refocus on some of those things, especially dairy. I know all these things so it's easy to accept them, but I'm sort of half in and half out right now. You are so non-fanatical and just logical, about the dairy especially, that I know I can't ignore it anymore.

I was just wondering, I'm young so a lot of my eating is social not with my family, so it's hard to explain to most people why I have trouble looking at a cheeseburger without making a face, etc. Have you had experience with dealing with the social aspect? Any suggestions?

Also, how did the Biggest Loser contest turn out? Were some minds changed?
Thanks!

Tammie said...

Rebecca: With the social aspect mostly I take food with me where ever I go. I DON'T expect people to cater to my lifestyle. But I also don't let my lifestyle keep me from socializing. Most of the time I find I should have brought more food because most people really like good healthy food! ;) And I love sharing it with them!

The person who won the biggest loser contest lost 25 pounds in 8 weeks! She is still losing weight and looks great! She told me the other day that her and her family are still enjoying green smoothies. I'm just thrilled and I hope she has found that the Simple, Healthy, Tasty lifestyle is just that!

Anonymous said...

Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!