Last night at dinner was rather interesting...discussing the pros and cons of weight watchers plus a big discussion on unprocessed foods. The thing I am realising is more and more to eat "light" we cut out nutrients. Every ww'er knows the diet lemonade pancakes I suspect..we omit milk and use diet lemonade instead. Now if we think about this...for half a cup of milk (combined with one egg and half a cup of flour - enough for 2 pancakes for one person)you are saving a WHOLE 55 calories by omitting low fat milk - wackado !! But what else are we missing? calcium, potassium, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin D, phosphorus, iron - really to miss out on a bunch of of nutrients...electing to instead have diet lemonade which is Carbonated Water, Sweeteners (952, 954), Food Acid (330), Flavour, Preservative (211). All those items with numbers after them are just chemicals.
Yes weight loss is about the numbers on the scales reducing...but think about it...for your body to perform at its best (ie daily activities, exercise the FUNCTION of losing weight) doesnt it make sense to firstly focus on building the strongest body you can? In other words ensure you get all the nutrients you need?
The thing i have discovered in the last 6 months more then anything...is chemicals, processe foods etc do NOTHING to assist our weight loss...all they do is inhibit your weight loss. To successfully lose weight I believe we do need to go back to more what food was like many years ago. Fresh fruit and vegetables...protein....quality grains (and no that doesnt include white pasta and rice no matter how yummii they are!!) healthy fats and dairy. The sooner we do that...the better and more consistant losses will be, i am not saying be perfect and never eat another processed food...but eliminate it where possible. Think also about the cost of these processed foods that these huge companies such as birds eye etc charged so you will have the convenience of opening a bag of oven fries to save the 5 minutes it takes you to peel and cut fresh raw potatos.
NB...just for the record these are my opinions ONLY...and whilst i respect some may not agree with me...bottom line...my journal...so ill have my opinion lol
7 comments:
Hi there, couldnt agree with your post more!
Since Jan this year when I embarked on my weight loss journey, I cut out all processed crap where possible.
I have never felt better! Its also helped me lose 14.9 kgs.
I still have the occasional junk food here and there but I see a difference in my body if I eat junk! (and not a positive one lol) Love your blog too! :)
Hi Kazz
I totally agree with you on the processed thing - I also have been eliminating processed food and going back to the basics (fresh fruit, veg, meat, fresh fish etc..) and you are dead right on the effect it has on our weight loss - I have been doing this for probably the last 4 months and I have been pretty consistent with my weight loss.
I didn't think I ate a lot of processed before until I took a really good look and realised there was actually quite a lot and it does not take that much more effort to prepare fresh.
It was actually my WW leader who I was chatting with and discussing my tracker with that pointed this fact out to me - she is very much into fresh (and not a big advocate of WW food...)
I have even started to make my own bread! The hardest part was giving up the daily coke zero...I am now only have probably 2 cans a week...but I refuse to give us my daily coffee (I only have 1)
Hahaha never heard of the diet lemonade pancakes..... and great post :-)
Yes, Yes, YES!!!
You know I'm on the same page as you on this one.....What an amazing journey of personal growth and knowledge you are on.
What do you think of The end of Overeating?
Natalie
Whoa! What I'm shocked by is the timeliness of your post. I made lemonade pancakes today!!
I'd actually never thought about how we cut out nutrients when we 'go diet', but you've given me a LOT to think about.
I do actually agree on eating non-processed food. I make basically everything I eat at home, all my 'complex' food is from scratch (with the exception of bread, which I buy from Burgen)... but I guess I'm an 'in moderation' sort of person because I still cut corners sometimes.
For example, the pancakes today were because it was my birthday, I had friends coming over and wanted to splurge with as little damage as possible. Also, diet lemonade is cheaper than water litre for litre. Personally I think that's a pretty sad reflection, lol!!
I've never had a problem with processed versus non-processed food, since I basically revert to "non-processed food = junk food" status, but I've never thought about the nutrition side of it before. Fascinating!
Natalie - I am finding the end of overeating so interesting!!! Really confirms my thoughts the more processed foods we eat the more we crave it. I am only about 30 pages in but yes really good book!
I totally agree with you.
I haven't heard of Lemonade pancakes, but that sounds quite disgusting in my opinion. I have a friend who is doing the shakes - she hasn't eaten a meal for the last 6 or 8 weeks. No food at all. It blows my mind that people can do that. I would rather eat healthy food and feel good about it than deprive myself of something (that isn't necessarily bad for you) and crave it like crazy. (For example - I crave apples when I don't have any in the house!)
:o)
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