Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Interesting Article

https://authoritynutrition.com/11-graphs-that-show-what-is-wrong-with-modern-diet/

I found this article to be quite interesting and informative.
As a person of an "older" generation, I have seen how food buying and consumption has changed over the years. As Corporations take over and control almost everything in our lives, more and more processed and food substitutes have filled the supermarket shelves. It's gotten so bad, that we cannot trust the fruits, vegies, and meat we buy at the market.
One cannot lose weight without eating healthy, too. It's impossible. Let me explain how I know this.
In 2008, my DH and I were driving team long-haul coast to coast. With team drivers, the big Corporate trucking companies (of which we were employed by one of them) would push them for higher productivity and profit. Our particular company would say one thing to the general populace, and another to their drivers. 
In our case, we were told that teams could not run out of hours. By this, I mean hours of service for the driver. If I recall correctly, at the time, it was 11 hours driving, 10 hours off duty with 2 hours of on duty (not driving) in a 24 hour period without going over 70 hours driving/on duty in a continuous seven day period. Needless to say, yes, team drivers could, legally, run out of hours.
This created a very busy schedule with little time for personal care and eating. Oftentimes, while fueling, we would run into the C-store for quick purchases of junk/fast food and soda. Remember, I call these store's a Junkie's Paradise.
Over the years of team driving, this type of eating, and long hours behind the wheel, caused a massive weight gain for me. It always seemed that my DH ended up with the shifts that required loading/unloading (which was rare, by the way, for team drivers), or drop/hook (dropping a trailer and hooking to another), which was really the only exercise a driver would get during working hours. 
Oh, a few of our company terminals had exercise rooms, but we were rarely brought into a terminal. When we were there, we were busy with laundry, showers and going to Wal-Mart for road food (again, the processed, quick meals and junk snacks). 
So, in 2008, I found it necessary to tackle the problem of losing weight while doing my job. Since eating healthy was virtually impossible on the road, I concentrated on keeping the calories down. 
I spent over a year eating (and drinking) no more than 1500 calories a day, combined. I tried to cut out sugar, but processed foods are loaded with it, so I had to figure out my calories by the packaging info. I was eating shelf meals loaded with preservatives. I'm sure you've seen them on the store shelves. They sound good on the package - turkey and stuffing, chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy, Swedish meatballs, lasagna, etc.
By the end of 15 months of eating like that, I lost weight. Oh, yes, I did. But I also gained stomach problems. In 15 months, everything I ate, or drank, gave me stomach pains. Some of these pains could get severe. 
By the time we quit driving in 2010, and I could cook normal meals, it would take almost 3 years before I could eat without the stomach pains.
So, you see, it is imperative when losing weight to chose your food selections wisely. 
Use butter over margarine, but go with butter that does not have the extra salt. Use Olive oil over Vegetable oil. If you have access to a farmer's market - use it. And wash all fruits and vegies. If you have access to a butcher market to buy meats that are organic or locally raised non-corporate, buy there instead of the supermarket. Do your research for your local food supplies, and utilize what's available for healthy eating. Ask - and read labels. Especially the ingredients. Watch for the added sugars, added salt, and added preservatives. Learn the various names used for these, too. Examples are: sodium=salt, BHT=preservative, corn syrup=sugar.  
Eating healthy isn't about tofu, or becoming a vegetarian. And neither is dieting. Eating healthy is about the foods that have the necessary nutrients for the human body. And dieting is about portion control and exercise.
Learn to eat healthy and learn to control your food portions. That's how to lose weight and stay healthy.

So, today, I had my porridge in the morning, followed by a bottle of water, and vitamins. 
We finished the last of the Baja Lasagna last night, so I made the Skinny Cheeseburger casserole, equally dividing it up between my meal trays for 8 servings. We ended up just having that for dinner, followed by one of my 80 calorie pudding cups. 
I drank 4 oz of my 100% pure fruit juices with dinner. 
That's it. Nothing more. Tomorrow, I'll add a vegie to the dinner meal and some fruit.


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