Calories vs. Chemicals Part 1

Happy Monday everyone! Welcome to Calories vs. Chemicals part 1. 

In an effort to not gain the freshman 15 in college, I survived off of diet coke and lean pockets.  I thought diet coke was the most amazing thing since sliced bread and the lean pockets had way less calories than actual pizza... If I only knew what I was putting into my body! Once I stopped obsessing over calories and actually started to look at the ingredients in the food I was eating, (along with juicing) I then became successful in losing 30+lbs. 

 Throughout my year long journey as an avid juicer, I have learned so much about food and the myths behind what the food industry has had us eating up for years.  The biggest lesson learned has been that calories are not scary... the toxic chemical overload in food is.  Toxic chemicals are constantly accumulating in our bodies because the industry has had us obsessing over calories for years with labels like: "Low Calorie" "No Calorie" "100 Calories" 

Let me ask you a question... When you are purchasing your groceries and you turn your food or drink item over to check the calories, protein, fat etc.  How often are you checking the ingredients? 

   

When we focus only on the calories, we miss the fact that in exchange they are filling our food with toxic chemicals.  

& the scariest part about this is 

The more we fill our bodies with nutrient dense foods & empty calories, the harder we make it on ourselves to lose weight and the more we put our health at risk.  

Here is a short 2 minute video on chemicals in our food! I love this video and the way it describes what science and technogoly is doing to our food.

Let's take a look a protein bar.  Most of us think a protein bar is an optimal healthy snack.  They have protein, tons of delicious flavors, they're portable... something we can keep in our car or purse.  In hindsight, it's perfect! Not to mention that it comes off as a healthy alternative. 

At a first glance we see 20 grams of protein 

Flip it over and read

Calories: 280 

Fat: 10g 

Carb: 29g 

Protein: 20g 

Ingredients: 

Soy protein, isolate, beet juice concentrate, organic brown rice syrup, organic dried cane syrup, palm kernel oil, organic peanuts, cocoa, organic rolled oats, vegetable glycerin, soy protein concentrate, natural flavors, peanuts, peanut flour, rice starch, organic sunflower oil, unsweetened chocolate, inulin (chicory extract) sea salt, organic oat fiber, soy, lecithin, calcium carbonate, organic vanilla extract, cocoa butter, vanilla extract, natural vitamin E, calcium, carbonate, magnesium oxide, ascorbic acid, DL-Aplha tocopheryl acetate, thiamine monoitrate, beta carotene, niacin amide, D-Calcium pantothenate, riboflavin, pyridoxine hydrochloride, erocalciferol, cyanocobalamin, potassium iodide.  

Can you pronounce that last sentence?  I know I had a hard time with it.  I am not in any way trying to discredit protein bars or say that you should never eat them. I am just simply trying to bring awareness to the chemical overload in foods we think are better than others.  

3 Rules of Thumb

 If you can't pronounce it, Don't eat it 

Try to stick to prepackaged or frozen foods that have 10 ingredients or less 

If it has a long shelf life, put it down 

If anything, I encourage you to start reading the labels on the back of food.  When you can, buy local. Food should always come from the farm and go straight to your table.  Ditch the diet and just be the healthiest, happiest version of yourself that you can be! 

Stay tuned for part 2 later this week, where we will compare and decode labels! 

XoXo

-Ashley 

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