So you've been trying to eat healthy.
Or maybe you haven't even been trying.
But perhaps it's something you're thinking about.
After all, you're bombarded each day with news that tells you to lower your sodium intake, eat less packaged food, consume less sugar or re-invent your diet.
But the truth is, it can be quite intimidating when you actually throw open your cupboard, pantry and refrigerator and try to figure out what is healthy and what isn't, and many of these fear-mongering articles don't actually tell you how to eat healthy.
And to make the problem even worse, if you actually do throw out those unhealthy items like potato chips, frozen hot dogs, candy bars, white flour and sweet cereal, what do you actually replace them with? How do you eat healthy without starving yourself? Consider this article your "Dummies Guide to Eating Healthy".
With the simple substitutions outlined here, you can gradually eliminate the items in your kitchen that will make you fat, sick, fatigued, sore or grumpy, and easily replace them with the items that will transform your body and make your health rise to new levels.
Here's how it works: I'm going to list a popular item from your kitchen that you may or may not realize is unhealthy, and then give you some alternative choices for that item that you should be able to find at your local grocery store.
You can then make the simple healthy food substitution and move on down the list to prepare for healthy grocery shopping! Are you ready to start? Soda pop, Coke, Dr.
Pepper, Kool-aid, etc.
- Substitute sparkling water with natural flavors, purified water, or nuun (naturally flavored tablets you can drop into water).
Juice "Cocktails" or "Drinks", Powdered or Artificially Flavored Drinks (i.
e.
Frozen Orange Juice Concentrate, Fruit Punch, etc.
) - Substitute unsweetened fruit juices like cranberry or fresh squeezed juices like orange.
Black tea and Coffee - Peppermint tea (decaf substitute) and green tea (caffeine substitute).
Try an energy powder like Delta-E if you need a bigger energy surge.
White Pasta (of any shape) - Substitute whole wheat pasta, spelt pasta, sesame pasta, Miracle noodles (calorie-free noodle).
White Rice - Substitute quinoa, amaranth, brown rice, buckwheat, millet, barley, rye or oats.
White, Wheat, Rye, Barley or Oat Flour - Substitute ground whole grain flour (Arrowhead Mills has good brand).
Boxed "Sweet" Cereals - Substitute Kashi Go Lean, Bob's Red Mill, Nature's Path Corn Flakes, any Health Valley brand, or any Arrowhead Mills brand.
White Flour Crackers - Substitute rice cakes, rye or spelt crackers, or whole grain wafers.
Margarine - Yes, it's actually not healthy.
Substitute butter, in very small amounts.
Vegetable Oils (includes canola oil, sunflower oil, soybean oil, cottonseed oil and safflower oil) - Substitute extra-virgin olive oil or grapeseed oil for low temperatures/dressings, and extra virgin coconut oil for high temperatures.
Regular Milk - Substitute plain rice milk, plain almond milk, or powdered goat's milk (I recommend Capramilk).
Cheddar Cheese or Swiss Cheese (or any other high calorie "blocks" of cheese) - Substitute pre-shredded fresh parmesan, crumbled goat or crumbled feta cheese.
Better for you and you'll use less.
They also make something called rice cheese, but it's more expensive.
Flavored Yogurt - Substitute plain, fat-free yogurt, and add flavor with a handful of frozen or fresh berries.
You'll save yourself from consuming over 4 teaspoons of added sugar.
Distilled Vinegar - Substitute apple cider vinegar with fewer toxins.
Aluminum Baking Powder/Baking Soda - Substitute aluminum free, low-sodium baking powder.
Cocoa, chocolate - Substitute "carob" (extremely low calorie and tastes similar, you can get it as chunks or powdered).
White Sugar & Corn Syrup - Substitute raw honey and pure maple syrup, or Stevia for zero calories.
Splenda, Sweet n' Low, Artificial Sweeteners - Substitute Stevia.
Brown Sugar - Substitute molasses or dried raw can juice.
Potato Chips - Substitute baked chips or vegetable chips.
Dried Fruits (with sulphur) or "Packaged" Trail Mix - Substitute dried unsulphured fruits and raw, unsalted nuts from bulk foods aisle.
Regular Peanut Butter - Substitute natural peanut butter with no added sugars or salts or, better yet, almond butter or cashew butter.
Canned or Frozen Fruits with Added Sugars - Regular raw fruits from produce aisle.
Commercially Raised Animals Fed Grains/Hay Treated with Chemicals and given Chemicals to Keep Them "Healthy" - Substitute lean free range chicken and turkey, locally raised or organic, grass-fed beef, venison, buffalo or bison.
Also eat more beans, peas, lentils and whole grains, and use protein powders.
Here's an easy way to do it: get out a pen and piece of paper, go through your pantries and refrigerator, find any of the "bold" type unhealthy foods above, and write down on the piece of paper what the substitute should be.
Then go shopping.
Once the healthy food substitutions are in your house, you'll be set to go! Did I miss any popular foods for which you still need substitutions? Just e-mail ben@bengreenfieldfitness.
com.
And remember: the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting the same results.
Don't get stuck in that rut.
Once you commit, make these changes, and re-invent your diet, I can guarantee that you will be able to watch the fat literally melt away while your health, performance and energy levels soar!
Or maybe you haven't even been trying.
But perhaps it's something you're thinking about.
After all, you're bombarded each day with news that tells you to lower your sodium intake, eat less packaged food, consume less sugar or re-invent your diet.
But the truth is, it can be quite intimidating when you actually throw open your cupboard, pantry and refrigerator and try to figure out what is healthy and what isn't, and many of these fear-mongering articles don't actually tell you how to eat healthy.
And to make the problem even worse, if you actually do throw out those unhealthy items like potato chips, frozen hot dogs, candy bars, white flour and sweet cereal, what do you actually replace them with? How do you eat healthy without starving yourself? Consider this article your "Dummies Guide to Eating Healthy".
With the simple substitutions outlined here, you can gradually eliminate the items in your kitchen that will make you fat, sick, fatigued, sore or grumpy, and easily replace them with the items that will transform your body and make your health rise to new levels.
Here's how it works: I'm going to list a popular item from your kitchen that you may or may not realize is unhealthy, and then give you some alternative choices for that item that you should be able to find at your local grocery store.
You can then make the simple healthy food substitution and move on down the list to prepare for healthy grocery shopping! Are you ready to start? Soda pop, Coke, Dr.
Pepper, Kool-aid, etc.
- Substitute sparkling water with natural flavors, purified water, or nuun (naturally flavored tablets you can drop into water).
Juice "Cocktails" or "Drinks", Powdered or Artificially Flavored Drinks (i.
e.
Frozen Orange Juice Concentrate, Fruit Punch, etc.
) - Substitute unsweetened fruit juices like cranberry or fresh squeezed juices like orange.
Black tea and Coffee - Peppermint tea (decaf substitute) and green tea (caffeine substitute).
Try an energy powder like Delta-E if you need a bigger energy surge.
White Pasta (of any shape) - Substitute whole wheat pasta, spelt pasta, sesame pasta, Miracle noodles (calorie-free noodle).
White Rice - Substitute quinoa, amaranth, brown rice, buckwheat, millet, barley, rye or oats.
White, Wheat, Rye, Barley or Oat Flour - Substitute ground whole grain flour (Arrowhead Mills has good brand).
Boxed "Sweet" Cereals - Substitute Kashi Go Lean, Bob's Red Mill, Nature's Path Corn Flakes, any Health Valley brand, or any Arrowhead Mills brand.
White Flour Crackers - Substitute rice cakes, rye or spelt crackers, or whole grain wafers.
Margarine - Yes, it's actually not healthy.
Substitute butter, in very small amounts.
Vegetable Oils (includes canola oil, sunflower oil, soybean oil, cottonseed oil and safflower oil) - Substitute extra-virgin olive oil or grapeseed oil for low temperatures/dressings, and extra virgin coconut oil for high temperatures.
Regular Milk - Substitute plain rice milk, plain almond milk, or powdered goat's milk (I recommend Capramilk).
Cheddar Cheese or Swiss Cheese (or any other high calorie "blocks" of cheese) - Substitute pre-shredded fresh parmesan, crumbled goat or crumbled feta cheese.
Better for you and you'll use less.
They also make something called rice cheese, but it's more expensive.
Flavored Yogurt - Substitute plain, fat-free yogurt, and add flavor with a handful of frozen or fresh berries.
You'll save yourself from consuming over 4 teaspoons of added sugar.
Distilled Vinegar - Substitute apple cider vinegar with fewer toxins.
Aluminum Baking Powder/Baking Soda - Substitute aluminum free, low-sodium baking powder.
Cocoa, chocolate - Substitute "carob" (extremely low calorie and tastes similar, you can get it as chunks or powdered).
White Sugar & Corn Syrup - Substitute raw honey and pure maple syrup, or Stevia for zero calories.
Splenda, Sweet n' Low, Artificial Sweeteners - Substitute Stevia.
Brown Sugar - Substitute molasses or dried raw can juice.
Potato Chips - Substitute baked chips or vegetable chips.
Dried Fruits (with sulphur) or "Packaged" Trail Mix - Substitute dried unsulphured fruits and raw, unsalted nuts from bulk foods aisle.
Regular Peanut Butter - Substitute natural peanut butter with no added sugars or salts or, better yet, almond butter or cashew butter.
Canned or Frozen Fruits with Added Sugars - Regular raw fruits from produce aisle.
Commercially Raised Animals Fed Grains/Hay Treated with Chemicals and given Chemicals to Keep Them "Healthy" - Substitute lean free range chicken and turkey, locally raised or organic, grass-fed beef, venison, buffalo or bison.
Also eat more beans, peas, lentils and whole grains, and use protein powders.
Here's an easy way to do it: get out a pen and piece of paper, go through your pantries and refrigerator, find any of the "bold" type unhealthy foods above, and write down on the piece of paper what the substitute should be.
Then go shopping.
Once the healthy food substitutions are in your house, you'll be set to go! Did I miss any popular foods for which you still need substitutions? Just e-mail ben@bengreenfieldfitness.
com.
And remember: the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting the same results.
Don't get stuck in that rut.
Once you commit, make these changes, and re-invent your diet, I can guarantee that you will be able to watch the fat literally melt away while your health, performance and energy levels soar!