Do One Thing (DOT) #4: Eat Real Food (and Less Sugar)

Time for DOT (Do One Thing) #4  – – – Eat Real Food (and Less Sugar!). Here’s a refresher of #1, #2, and #3 if you’re just joining us. But basically, we’re just looking to improve our health and wellness by making small changes that will last.

 

Why We Eat

Obviously, one post on nutrition will not even begin to scratch the surface of the myriad approaches and suggestions to eating well. Our bodies are unique and there clearly is not a one-size-fits-all answer or else we’d all be … well … one size, right?

But we do all need to consider why we eat… Food is fuel. You wouldn’t put garbage in your car and expect it to run well. Why do we think our bodies would be any different? Everything you put in your mouth affects your body in either a positive or negative way.

Just being mindful of this helps me make better decisions {sometimes}.

 

Eat Real Food

With the prevalence of the obesity epidemic, I feel like everyone “knows” what to eat. I certainly don’t want to insult anyone’s intelligence by pointing out that fruits and veggies are better choices than potato chips and Twinkies.

As Michael Pollan says in In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, “Don’t eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.” Your goal is real food that comes from the Earth, not a factory or laboratory.

Shopping mainly the periphery of the grocery store usually keeps you away from {some} of the more processed foods. And, of course, farmers’ markets are usually a pretty good way to find real food as well. While it won’t be perfectly comprehensive, check out Local Harvest to see some of the options near you.

When it comes to eating well, there are simply too many suggestions and tips (some of which come from reputable research and some that do not).  But the key take-away should always be: Solid nutrition comes from REAL FOOD.

 

Limit Sugar

And, here’s one little bonus point for the month — think about ways you can limit your sugar intake. ‘A spoonful of sugar may help the medicine go down’, but we certainly don’t need to be putting it on our cereal – and our fruit – and our coffees….

It’s easier to decrease the extra sugars we, ourselves, put on our food. But the scary part is just how much sugar is in many of the “healthy” processed foods we are eating. When the food industry started creating “low-fat” foods, they had to add something to make their products still taste good. The solution was to add more sugar.

Which brings us right back around to the idea of eating REAL FOOD. The less processed food you consume, the more control you have over the amount of sugar you’re eating as well.

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Now, I know Easter is right around the corner. And for many people, that means LOTS (and LOTS!) of extra sugar. I’m definitely not a spoil-sport – I’ll be eating a Reese’s peanut butter egg for breakfast, and I certainly love special holiday desserts.

But come Monday morning, I’m taking  a stance this year against the holiday hangover binge. Instead of consuming the extra candy myself, I’m going to do whatever it is I need to do to make sure I. Don’t. Eat. It!

Which for me, will likely be to bag it up and send it to work with my husband. But also – to publicly have you all hold me accountable!

If anyone wants to join me, I’ll be running a little {free} private accountability group on Facebook (similar to the way I run my month-long wellness groups), and we can all encourage each other.

If you’re interested, just sign up here and I’ll get you added to the group. (Even if you’re not on Facebook, you can still join in!)

Looking forward to forging a Sugar Strike with you all! Let’s do this!

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Now, sugar or not, real food is definitely the way to go.

I don’t think we need a research report to tell us we should strive to consume our calories from the food God provides naturally rather than the creations man concocts on his own for convenience sake. If we can learn to fuel our bodies with mainly real food sources, we may start to see a change in our own overall health and well-being.

Anyone want to try? Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Just try one thing today.

Comment below with some of your favorite real food suggestions. And let me know if you want to join me for the Sugar Strike (April 6th-10th).