Tag: fuel

When you hear the words “baby food,” what comes to mind is probably something along the lines of a small glass jar of pureed sweet potatoes or carrots purchased from a grocery store shelf. Or, maybe you’re thinking of a slice of toast with the crusts cut off.

You almost certainly aren’t envisioning a quarter of an avocado, a scoop of sauerkraut, eggs fried in coconut oil, and a small serving of steamed vegetables…but that’s exactly the sort of breakfast that Brisbane, Australia, mother Shan Cooper serves her infant daughter on an average morning.

Eating Like a Caveman

Grace, Shan Cooper’s daughter, has eaten according to the paleo diet since birth. The controversial diet, originally created in the 1970s, but more recently popularized in Australia by celebrity chef Pete Evans, centers around eating the sorts of foods that “cavemen could scavenge for,” as Cooper tells the United Kingdom’s Daily Mail.

The idea behind the diet is that human genetics haven’t yet caught up to the changes in our diet caused by agriculture and industry. So, according to Evans’ logic, humans should eschew the foods that have come about as the result of these technological advances.

Foods to avoid include those such as cereal grains, dairy, refined sugars, legumes, refined vegetable oils, and salt—basically anything that couldn’t have been hunted or scavenged by our ancient ancestors. Instead, Evans’ diet tells us, we should consume only foods that were available during the Paleolithic era (the prehistoric era of history which lasted from the first use of stone tools by humans roughly 2.6 million years ago, until the dawn of the Mesolithic Era, about 12,000 years ago). This includes foods such as grass-fed meats, fish and other seafood, fruits and vegetables, eggs, nuts and seeds, and a small set of non-refined oils like olive and coconut oil.

Proponents of the diet claim that it presents a slew of advantages to those who follow it, including weight loss, reduced the risk of disease, increased energy levels, reduced sensitivity to allergies, and and even improved brain functioning, among a variety of other boons.

Critics of the diet point to factors including increased grocery bills, negative effects on energy resulting from lack of grains and dairy, and the diet’s lack of protein sources for vegetarians. Cooper has decided to press on.

A Day in the Life of a Baby Caveman

Considering the fact that an infant’s teeth can’t exactly handle a regular diet of raw vegetables and steak, you may be wondering to yourself, you may be wondering exactly what Grace does eat. So what does the paleo lifestyle look like for a 13-month-old child?

Cooper says that when it comes to feeding Grace, she does deviate from the usual paleo diet restrictions in one small, but enormously important way: She violates the restrictive diet’s strict prohibition on dairy consumption by breastfeeding Grace twice daily. Aside from breastmilk, Cooper gave the Daily Mail an example of what Grace’s meals might consist of on an average day.

Cooper says that breakfast usually starts with a couple of eggs cooked in coconut oil (generally fried, scrambled, or poached). Alongside the eggs, Cooper serves Grace leftover vegetables from the previous evening’s dinner—this might include roasted sweet potatoes, carrots, potatoes, and steamed broccoli. On Thursdays, Cooper supplements the eggs and roasted vegetables with a small scoop of sauerkraut and quarter of an avocado.

For lunch, Cooper says she feeds Grace organic roasted chicken, and more leftover vegetables from the previous night’s dinner.

When it comes to the daily afternoon snack, Cooper feeds Grace a small serving of fresh fruit. While she says she aims for variety, Cooper admits that Grace’s favorites are strawberries and bananas.

For dinner, Cooper says she feeds Grace spaghetti Bolognese prepared with organic beef. Zucchini noodles take the place of traditional grain pasta noodles, and the tomato sauce is all organic.

In case you were wondering about dessert, Cooper says that Grace generally doesn’t eat dessert, though Cooper did make her a strawberry panna cotta with coconut cream for her first birthday.

Staying Healthy

Cooper, who has a degree in agricultural science, has written an e-book of healthy recipes—in addition to maintaining her popular healthy-eating website, “My Food Religion.” She claims that the diet she serves her daughter has strengthened Grace’s immune system and prevented her from getting sick as frequently as other children whose parents feed them a more conventional diet. According to Cooper, Grace has only been sick once in her life, and that even then, it was a minor cold that passed quickly.

In an interview with Daily Mail Australia, Cooper is quoted as saying of Grace, “She spends a lot of time around other kids who are sick all the time—who have snotty noses, coughs, colds—but she just doesn’t pick it up.”

She continues, “It’s certainly not because I’m shielding her from any of that stuff. I absolutely think a nutrient-dense diet is giving her a strong immune system.”

Cooper, while she’s always been health-conscious, didn’t adopt the paleo diet herself until around five years ago, when she read a book on the subject. She had been suffered ongoing problems with food allergies for years and, as a result, had already imposed many of the paleo diet’s primary restrictions on her diet, including avoidance of dairy, gluten, and eventually all processed foods.

“I just got sick of not feeling great,” Cooper says of her decision to go paleo. “That had been my normal and (I decided) that wasn’t going to be normal anymore.”

When Grace was born a few years later, Cooper felt that it only made sense to not only continue to eat according to the paleo diet, but also to extend her paleo lifestyle to her newly born child.

Where the Rubber Meets the Road

While more than the first year of Grace’s dietary life has been spent either breastfeeding exclusively or abiding by the strict meal plan her mother has set up for her, the prospect of friends’ birthday parties filled with cakes, candy, and sugared-up soft drinks looms just over the horizon for the Coopers. In spite of the fact that preparing the diet she feeds both herself and her young daughter takes a ton of time and effort, Cooper says that she’s not too worried about the inevitable day when Grace is exposed to non-paleo foods.

Questioned on the subject, Cooper says, “I’m not going to not let her go to kids’ parties,” according to Daily Mail Australia. “I’m never going to go to Grace, ‘You can’t eat anything at this party—but I packed you some Kale. Here you go.’”

All jokes aside, Cooper seems surprisingly laid-back about Grace’s diet in the future, considering the tightly regimented meal plan by which the two currently abide at home.

“(What she eats now) is not anything strange, that normal people wouldn’t eat. She loves it,” Cooper tells Daily Mail Australia. “I don’t feed her toast or cereal or anything like that. Again I think, ‘Sure that stuff is not going to kill her.’”

Cooper says that by the time Grace is old enough to go to parties, “She’ll be old enough to know she can choose whatever she wants to eat,” continuing, “She’ll probably come home all jacked up on sugar and cake and say, ‘Mum I don’t feel very well.’” Cooper continues, “And next time instead of eating 12 cupcakes she might only eat three.”

A Philosophy of Food

Cooper has her own distinct way of thinking about how humans learn to interact with food. Her reasoning is that kids are purely intuitive eaters, eating the things that make them feel good physically and avoiding the things that don’t, since they haven’t yet had the opportunity to develop emotional associations attached to food. Cooper also believes that humans begin to eat more emotionally as they reach adulthood, consuming foods that make them feel a certain way emotionally, rather than physically.

When you consider ubiquitous childhood experiences like receiving a lollipop as a reward for a doctor visit or being rewarded with ice cream for good grades, the idea does begin to make some sense. Cooper says she hopes to teach her children what foods to eat to make themselves feel good by both providing a positive example and setting up positive habits early on.

Despite how strict the diet Cooper curates for herself and her daughter seems, she says that there is a certain level of flexibility. Cooper says, “I don’t think eating a piece of bread is going to kill me. When I go out to dinner with friends…I’m just going to eat what’s on the menu. I’m not going to be a jerk about it.”

Cooper also tells Daily Mail Australia, “I don’t want there to be any disordered eating around here,” continuing, “Females particularly have enough problems with eating disorders. I want Grace to eat what makes her feel good.”

When it comes to Grace’s dietary development Cooper says that, with the dietary foundation she’s provided, Grace will “also learn what makes her feel good and what doesn’t.”

“That’s the reason I eat this way,” she says.

What the Experts Say

While Cooper’s confident that her dietary decisions are the right choice for Grace, at least one dietician has some reservations about her feeding Grace according to the paleo diet.

Dr. Rosemary Stanton, a respected dietician says that she would offer a word of caution to other parents considering following Cooper’s lead, telling Daily Mail Australia, “It’s really not usually a good idea to put a child on such a restricted diet, particularly when there’s no grounds for it.”

Stanton goes on to say that she hopes Cooper “knows an awful lot about nutrition.”

Stanton says her greatest concern about Grace’s nutrition centers around two specific types of foods not included in the paleo diet: “Depriving her child of grains and legumes will make it much more difficult to achieve a balanced diet.”

Dr. Stanton does approve of Cooper’s choice to breastfeed her child despite the dairy restrictions of the paleo diet, saying that it “helps a lot.” Cooper also says that she may introduce other dairy into Grace’s diet further down the line.

While Stanton doesn’t outright denounce the dietary choices Cooper is making for Grace, she does have a few words for other parents thinking about doing the same for their your children, saying, “I’d certainly sound a note of caution [to other people considering following her].” Stanton emphasizes that parents looking to feed their children according to a diet as restrictive as the paleo diet should first consult with an accredited dietician.

In response to such criticism, Cooper reacts with a mixture of indignation and confusion. “(Why) eating real food is such a scandalous topic is just bizarre,” she says, questioning why those who feed their children fast food aren’t subject to the same criticism.

“If you want to feed your kid one of the most nutrient-void pieces of crap ever, knock your socks off.”

Another Controversy in Child Nutrition

While Shan and Grace Cooper provide an interesting example of tension between different ideologies when it comes to parents’ responsibilities regarding child nutrition, they’re far from the only difference of opinion about making sure that kids are getting all the nutrients they need for healthy development.

Back in the U.S., controversy about kids’ nutrition has even involved high-profile figures such as First Lady Michelle Obama. In 2012, in a move championed by the first lady, the USDA rolled out new requirements for school lunches which required students taking part in the federal lunch program to choose either a vegetable or a fruit alongside the rest of their meal.

Critics of the program anticipated that those students with pickier eating habits would just throw away the fruits and vegetables, contributing to greater waste. Supporters of the program, on the other hand had greater confidence in children, saying that opponents should give the kids more credit and that they believed children would make good dietary choices when presented with the opportunity and a gentle push in the right direction.

Unfortunately for the program’s supporters, a study completed and published by Public Health Reports in 2015 confirms the fears of the plan’s detractors. According to Sarah Amin, the study’s lead author, “The basic question we wanted to explore was: does requiring a child to select a fruit or vegetable actually correspond with consumption. The answer was clearly no.”

In fact, while children took nearly 30 percent more fruits and vegetables than before the program’s implementation, consumption of those same items actually went down by 13 percent. Perhaps even more worrisome was the fact that students were throwing away 56 percent more food than before.

A Problem With Unclear Answers

According to most studies on the subject, the prevalence of childhood obesity as measured by body mass index (BMI) has been steadily rising since 1999. The World Health Organization says that a minimum of 41 million children throughout the world are currently obese or overweight, approximately 10 million more than a quarter-century ago.

Experts also emphasize that there are numerous negative consequences of childhood obesity. In a recent statement, Sania Nishtar, co-chair of the Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity says, “Overweight and obesity impact a child’s quality of life, as they face a wide range of barriers, including physical, psychological, and health consequences,” going on, “We know that obesity can [have an] impact on educational attainment too and this, combined with the likelihood that they will remain obese into adulthood, poses major health and economic consequences for them, their families, and society as a whole.

There is some cause for optimism, though. While childhood obesity rates both in the United States and around the world continue to grow, some progress has been made on the small scale. According to one report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, some U.S. states and cities are displaying declines in overall childhood obesity rates. The study specifically cites the cities of New York and Philadelphia, along with the states of Mississippi and California as leaders in the downward trend.

The study also illustrated, however, that there are still significant disparities between racial and socioeconomic groups when it comes to progress on childhood obesity.

Chili and chocolate. Maple and bacon. These are just a few examples of incredible food combinations that you might not expect to work well together. However, while you can often combine two foods together for an unexpectedly great result, the same isn’t usually true of many different food and drug combinations.
Most people are aware that there are some things you shouldn’t mix, usually because the warning is usually right on the medication label, but there are a few terrible combinations out there that aren’t well-known.
Additionally, what many people don’t know is that you don’t have to be taking a prescription medication for it to interact badly with another substance, even another medication. Over-the-counter drugs can be just as likely to cause negative interactions with certain foods as prescription drugs and, in some cases, the effects of either type of interaction can actually be fatal.

According to Jack Fincham, a professor at the Presbyterian College School of Pharmacy in Clinton, South Carolina, “This is a big issue and a lot of people aren’t aware of it.”
Because so many of these combinations aren’t well known, it’s important to speak with your doctor about any potential interactions a new medication might have with any other substances, whether it’s the smoothie you plan on drinking for breakfast or the migraine pill you take before bed.
In some cases, it could just be that a certain combination makes your medicine less effective, while other mixes could actually be causing you harm.
Fortunately, the solution could be as simple as a quick change to your diet—well, simple depending on what it is that you’re going to have to cut out. Here’s what you need to know before taking that next pill.

1. Cough Syrup and Limes

Most people have heard that grapefruit can cause a variety of unwanted reactions when taken with certain medications, but did you know that’s true for many different citrus fruits? Thankfully, the standard naval or Valencia orange aren’t typically culprits, but another common citrus fruit is—the lime.
Along with Seville oranges and pomelos, limes can react with certain cough medicines by blocking the production of a particular enzyme that breaks down dextromethorphan, a common cough suppressant. This causes the medication to build up within the bloodstream, which can then increase your risk of certain side effects from that medication, according to Mary Ellen Gullickson, a Marshfield Clinic pharmacist in Wisconsin.

For dextromethorphan in particular, these side effects can include drowsiness and hallucinations. If you eat limes while taking this type of medication, any of the gnarly side effects you experience could last for at least a day, so it’s best to just avoid the combination altogether.

2. Black Licorice and Heart Medications

Thankfully, there aren’t a lot of people out there who actually enjoy black licorice, but those who do need to be careful if they take certain medications. Digoxin is a medication that is typically given to patients with heart failure and issues with heart rhythm.

Black licorice contains a compound called glycyrrhizin which, when combined with digoxin, can lead to an irregular heartbeat—consume enough of the compound and the effects could even be fatal. In addition, the compound can make other medications less effective, including certain types of birth control, pain relievers, and blood-pressure medications.
Artificially flavored black licorice candy won’t have any effect, however, so a digoxin user is free to consume this to their heart’s content.

3. Caffeine and Bronchodilators

Bronchodilators, more commonly known as inhalers, are devices that are used to treat a number of different conditions, including asthma and chronic bronchitis. The medication they contain is used to relax the person’s airways during an asthma attack so they can breathe without any obstructions.

It should be a no-brainer, but something used to relax your body mixed with something used to energize your body isn’t the best idea. For those that use inhalers for whatever reason, it’s best to avoid caffeine as much as possible, but especially after you’ve taken your medication.

4. Dairy and Antibiotics

When taken with dairy products, certain antibiotics can bind to things like iron and calcium in the dairy and prevent the medicine from being properly absorbed by the body. If the antibiotics you’re taking aren’t fully making their way into your system, they’re not going to be as effective when it comes to fighting an infection and it won’t go away as quickly.

Two specific classes of antibiotics, tetracyclines and fluoroquinolones, are most well-known for interacting with dairy, so it’s important to avoid things like milk, yogurt, and cheese two hours before and after you take your medication. Supplements that contain calcium and iron can also have the same effect, so be aware of when you take those, too.

5. Soy and Thyroid Medications

Soy doesn’t necessarily interact with thyroid medication itself, but instead interacts with the actual thyroid gland. Compounds contained within soy can have a wide variety of effects on the thyroid gland, causing it to function either too much or too little, though the exact reason why this happens isn’t well understood at this point.

Soy is also considered to be a goitrogen, which means that it can enlarge your thyroid gland to the point that it’s considered a goiter. For people taking thyroid medications, eating too much soy can affect how your body absorbs those medications, even rendering them useless.

6. Smoked Meat and Antidepressants

This one might sound a little strange, but a certain amino acid often found in smoked foods can interact with a specific class of antidepressants called monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs), which includes medications like Nardil, Emsam, and Parnate. Smoked foods contain tyramine, an amino acid that can interact with these medications and cause an increase in blood pressure that can sometimes be life threatening.

Foods that are out? Smoked salmon, summer sausage, aged or smoked cheese, and soy sauce, among others. Fortunately, many newer antidepressants aren’t really affected by tyramine according to Nicole Gattas, and assistant professor at the St. Louis College of Pharmacy just be sure to ask your doctor about your specific medication.

7. Chocolate and Ritalin

Chocolate not only contains caffeine, but it also contains another stimulant called theobromine. For those who take ritalin for conditions like attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), combing a stimulant medication with a food that contains two other known stimulants can easily lead to serious side effects, including extremely erratic behaviors and even seizures.

The good news when it comes to coffee and chocolate for those who take ritalin is that you can still have it you may just have to have to test yourself to find out how much you can handle before you start to feel shaky, irritable, or nervous. Every person is different, though, so tread lightly at first.

Apple Juice and Allergy Medication

If allergies have you running for your bottle of Allegra, you’ll need to avoid apple juice for about four hours afterwards, according to Gullickson. Why? When you take this type of medication, your body produces a peptide that helps transport the medication into your bloodstream.

Apple juice, however, will prevent this peptide from being produced and prevent the medication from having an effect. In fact, it can make the medication up to 70 percent less effective when it comes to putting a stop to your symptoms. Gullickson also says apple juice can affect other medications that are absorbed using the same peptide, including antibiotics, asthma medications, and thyroid medications.

Cinnamon and Blood Thinners

If you’re taking a blood-thinning medication like warfarin, you might want to skip that morning bowl of cinnamon-dusted oatmeal, as delicious as it may be. Well, depending on what kind of cinnamon you have, that is. Cassia cinnamon is rich in a compound called coumarin that also acts as a blood-thinner, and it can lead to excessive bleeding when it’s mixed with a blood-thinning medication.

Eric Newman, M.D. of Baltimore’s Mercy Medical Center recommends that anyone taking this type of medication use only Ceylon cinnamon, which contains far less coumarin than cassia cinnamon. Ceylon cinnamon might be a little bit harder to find than cassia, but it’ll be worth the search if you just can’t give it up.

Grapefruit and Statins

Statins are a type of prescription drug that are typically used to lower cholesterol. They work by preventing your body from making cholesterol and helping the body to reabsorb what cholesterol it already has. For those who take two specific statins, Zocor and Lipitor, it’s important to avoiding eating grapefruit or drinking grapefruit juice.

Grapefruit contains furanocoumarin, a chemical compound that can prevent the body from absorbing statins, which means that they stay in your bloodstream longer. When this happens, it makes them less effective and can also cause side effects like digestive issues, liver damage, and high blood sugar levels.

Bananas and ACE Inhibitors

Angiotensin-converting-enzyme (ACE) inhibitors are a type of drug that treat certain heart conditions, mostly congestive heart failure and hypertension. These medications can cause an increase in your potassium levels, which can eventually cause someone to have an irregular heartbeat or develop heart palpitations. For anyone taking this type of medication, it’s important to avoid eating too many foods that are known to be high in potassium, one of the most common being bananas. Other foods to avoid include oranges, salt substitutes, sports drinks, and leafy greens.

Kale and Blood Thinners

We can understand why someone might want to add a daily kale smoothie into their diet, but make sure to have a talk with your doctor first if you use blood thinners. Kale is touted as the king of all superfoods, so you might not imagine that there are any downsides to eating it. However, anyone who takes blood-thinning warfarin should stick to romaine lettuce in their salads, because kale could make the medication less effective.

In addition to kale, foods like broccoli, Brussels sprouts, spinach, and cabbage contain large amounts of vitamin K, which can interact with warfarin and make it less effective at thinning the blood. Depending on your condition, this could lead to severe complications, including blood clots.

Walnuts and Thyroid Drugs

Walnuts are another great-for-you food that aren’t so great when mixed with certain thyroid medications. Walnuts are fairly high in fiber, which most people would consider to be a pretty great benefit. However, high-fiber foods can prevent your body from absorbing thyroid medications like levothyroxine, meaning that you’ll need more of the drug for it to be effective. Other high-fiber foods that can cause a similar effect include soy flour and cottonseed meal.

For those who need thyroid medications but aren’t too keen on changing their diets, studies suggest that the medications will be better absorbed if you take them before bed, rather than taking them in the morning before eating.

St. John’s Wort and Various Medications

Supplements can interact with different medications just as food and drinks can, and St. John’s Wort is one that can cause negative interactions with a few different substances. When mixed with certain antidepressants, migraine medications, and over-the-counter cough medications, St. John’s Wort can cause a dangerous condition called serotonin syndrome.

When it’s severe, serotonin syndrome can cause extreme symptoms including confusion, drastic changes in blood pressure, seizures, unconsciousness, and even death. Along with St. John’s Wort, it’s important to tell your doctor about any supplements you are taking before you begin taking a new medication to avoid any serious complications.

Fraudulent food: it lurks in our pantries; it shines with promising health halos in the stores; and it fools us into a false sense of nourishment.
(Dun dun dunnnnn!!)
No but really, I hate being The Food Police because there are a lot of really phenomenal products and brands of nutritious foods available to us; but there are also a handful of “healthy” foods that are not quite as they seem.

How Food Fraud Works

Food fraud is defined as “intentionally selling a food product that does not meet regulatory or industry standards.” We’ll get specifically to the top health food frauds I encounter regularly as a dietitian in just a bit, but there are certain broad categories of foods that are more susceptible to fraud than others.
Fish (and seafood in general) is the number one most adulterated food of U.S. origin. Other commonly fraudulent foods include milk, oils and fats, meat products, alcohol, sweeteners, grain products, produce, spices and extracts, fruit juices, eggs, coffee, and tea.
If you’re thinking that sounds like kind of everything you eat, you’re not exactly wrong. Okay, you’re kind of completely right. But that doesn’t mean every product within these categories is problematic. Deep breaths.
Now, if you’re wondering how companies get away with something that sounds so incredibly serious, the answer is, well, all too easily; and also in a number of ways.
One of the most common issues is substitution of one food for another without disclosing this on the label. Other products are diluted with less expensive fillers (including water), artificially enhanced, counterfeited, or mislabeled. Sometimes, the product’s origin is masked, it is distributed with intentional contamination, or it is stolen and resold.
A lot of these sound worse than they are. They’re all a little deceptive, but most are perfectly safe. For example, selling an acai juice that is cut with apple juice to cut down on costs is sneaky, wrong, and not ideal in terms of nutrient quality, but you certainly won’t get sick from it acutely or chronically. However, others are a bit more concerning, and it’s important to know the difference.

Olive oil may have been the first health food that I learned is notoriously fraudulent. In fact, it’s been shown that up to 80 percent of Italian olive oil may not be what it claims to be. Considering the fact that U.S. olive oil consumption has skyrocketed by over 70 percent in as little as one generation, this is a big deal. People tell me with pride about how much olive oil they use. They’re doing something that’s “healthy” for them.
But are they really?
Extra-virgin olive oil is unrefined and the highest quality option. It is made by pressing high quality olives without chemicals or heat, maintaining more nutrients and bolder flavors. Virgin olive oil is the next rung down on the totem pole, followed by generic olive oil.
But a label that boasts “extra virgin” or “virgin” is not always accurate. Some are lower quality olive oils being mislabeled. Other bottles are actually mixed with other oils altogether, as in, not from the olive plant at all. And the most troublesome, worst case scenario is the possibility that there’s actually no olive oil in that bottle whatsoever, just vegetable oil mixed with coloring and “aroma.”
Nicholas Blechman of the New York Times created a nice illustration of this sketchy supply chain, and Tom Mueller has written about it extensively in his book Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil.
When perusing your store’s olive oil selections, look for a harvest date (specifically from the current year), not just a “best by” date. And pay attention to seals from certain councils, including the Australian Olive Association and the California Olive Oil Council and Association.

2. Honey

Oh, honey. Where should I begin?
There’s the fact that over 70 percent of honey in 2011 was imported, with its pollen filtered out to prevent fully tracing its origins. We do know that much of it is coming from China.

 
Or we could talk about the total lack of standards for honey identity (seriously), which makes it extra difficult to even attempt any kind of regulation.
Largely because of this so-called identity crisis, it’s not surprising that unwanted substances so often find their way into honey. Reports have shown contaminants in a large percentage of honey samples, by which I mean antibiotics plus pesticides, insecticides, and fungicides.
Suddenly honey doesn’t seem quite so sweet, does it?
Of course, it gets better. Moving past the issue of contaminants, some brands of honey aren’t really honey at all. The U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) claims that it’s illegal to sell a product labeled as pure, 100 percent honey if it contains other ingredients, and to their credit, they do test a certain percentage of imports for added sugar. This worked well for a while, at least until high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) came onto the scene.
HFCS is made up of very similar sugar proportions as honey, making it difficult to identify in a simple import test. Research has shown that diluting honey with HFCS is therefore becoming increasingly more common. (Because it’s much cheaper!)
All hope is not lost, however. There are always local apiaries selling at small businesses, festivals, and farmers markets. Knowing your farmer and being able to ask about his/her farm is your best bet for buying genuine, pure honey. At the very least, look for the “True Source Certified” seal among your supermarket’s offerings.

3. “Free Range”

All right, so “free range” isn’t exactly a food, but it is a term that we tend to view as an indication of a premium product for nutrition and wellness without fully understanding what it officially means.
When you hear that a meat product comes from “free range animals,” what do you picture? Probably bucolic America: rolling green hills, a red barn in the distance, and happy animals milling around in the sunshine to their hearts’ content.

 
In reality, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) definition of “free range” simply states that the animal must have access to the outdoors. It doesn’t stipulate the amount of time each day the animal must spend outdoors (or “have access” to the outdoors), nor is it concerned with most other considerations of the animals’ living conditions. It’s also pretty much only regulated for poultry, not egg-laying hens or other animals.
This translates to, yes, sometimes rolling green hills, a red barn in the distance, and happy animals milling around in the sunshine to their hearts’ content. But it could also translate to an enormous warehouse-like barn crammed with a carpeting of living animals and a little tiny “doggy door” type opening at one far corner open to a small, closed-in patch of mud that the maybe-not-so-happy-after-all animals never actually use.
Ugh.
I know.
There isn’t really a perfect option here, but you could try looking for the terms “pastured” or “pasture raised” instead, especially in conjunction with a certified humane seal. However, your best option is to know your farmer. Talk to them. Ask to see their farm. Knowledge is power and words are too easily manipulated.

4. Coffee and Tea

If you knew what was in some coffee out there, you might not think of it as the best part of waking up anymore.
Coffee is an expensive product, and the demand for it globally is staggering. Americans, after all “Run On Dunkin,” spending nearly $15.00 a week (over $1,000 annually) on coffee. Those figures do not even factor in the amount spent on home-brewed cups of joe, by the way. Some of us may be eager, willing, and able to spend top dollar for our daily caffeine habit, but most of us view it as a daily necessity to have without breaking the bank.

 
As a result, ground coffee is often cut with leaves, twigs, corn, barley, parchment, chicory, cereal grains, caramel, starch, malt, and figs to stretch the manufacturer’s dollar. Instant coffee is most susceptible to this, but not the only issue.
And if you’re now thinking of switching your morning hot beverage of choice to tea, things aren’t all rosy over in that camp, either. Many tea bags include leaves from other plants, color additives, and sometimes even colored saw dust (it’s technically edible).
But there is hope! If you can, invest in a coffee grinder and purchase whole coffee beans. Do your best to avoid instant coffee, too. I would totally tell you if I knew of exact brands with worse or better reputations for the pre-ground stuff (or tea bags), but that information is not easily accessible. Instead, do your best to make your own judgment calls when researching which brands you’re going to trust.
We can’t live in fear of food, and sometimes when information is lacking, we have to do our best with the insight we do have rather than let it paralyze us.

5. Sushi (and Other Fish)

Remember how seafood and fish are some of the most adulterated foods of U.S. origin?
It turns out that over half of “tuna” and nearly 90 percent of “snapper” are being substituted for cheaper, easier-to-procure fish.
This is not just a problem of you paying for something and getting another. Sometimes, the fish they swap in raises serious health concerns. For example, in one market in New York, tilefish was sold labeled as halibut and red snapper. Tilefish happens to be on the “do not eat” list that the FDA makes in regards to high-mercury containing fish. The same goes for king mackerel, which in one Florida grocery store was sold with the label of “grouper” on it.

 
Other examples of commonly mislabeled fish and seafood include: farmed Atlantic salmon masquerading as wild caught; tooth fish labeled as sea bass; tilapia and perch being sold under the guise of snapper, and escolar swapped in for tuna.
Sushi restaurants have the most hits for mislabeled fish and seafood, followed by restaurants in general. Grocery stores, as discussed above, are not scot-free, but those grievances occur at significantly lower rates.
Be very wary of seafood at restaurants. Those in port cities and beach towns that feature locally caught options may be more reliable, but if that’s out of the question, another good bet is any menu item sold as the whole fish, which makes the ole switcheroo more difficult. Try your hand, too, at cooking fish and seafood yourself, and no matter where the seafood comes from, check the price. If it sounds too good to be true, it may very well be so.

6. Berry Products

Are the blueberries in your muffins the healthy, antioxidant-rich fruits you expect them to be?
Or are they simply sneaky slurries of sugar, corn syrup, starch, hydrogenated oil (yikes), artificial flavors, and blue and red food dyes?
According to one study in 2011, we might be looking at the latter, and not just in low-cost, no-name knock-offs. We’re talking major brands here, and berries aren’t the only ones falling victim to this deception.

 
Betty Crocker’s banana nut muffin pouch contains absolutely no banana, just “natural and artificial flavor;” and their blueberry muffin pouch contains, and I quote, “artificial blueberry flavor bits.”
Blueberry flavor bits. Bon appetit indeed!
Then, there are the “strawberry flavored fruit pieces” in Special K’s red red berries bar that are really cranberries with added strawberry flavor; or their “blueberry” blend bar whose blueberries are dried apples and cranberries with blueberry juice concentrate (and of course some blue dye for good measure). Their dark chocolate pomegranate snack bars use pomegranate-flavored cranberries; their berry medley snack bars are apples with artificial berry flavors; and their strawberry protein meal bars merely contain “strawberry flavored fruit pieces.”
What to do about all this fruity nonsense? First of all, read ingredients. These companies aren’t hiding this information; we just aren’t looking closely enough. I, too, am sometimes drawn to pretty pictures and lofty front-of-package claims, but be a skeptic and flip that package over before putting it straight into your cart.
Whenever possible, buy plain foods, like cereals and oatmeal, and flavor them yourself with fresh berries. Frozen ones that aren’t packed in syrup are great too. And do try your hand at making your own baked goods. It’s really not as intimidating as it seems, and it can actually be fun!

Knowledge is power.

I know how paralyzing information like this can feel. It’s the primary reason why so many nutrition students go practically militant when they embark on their education. I’ve had many worried parents seek my counsel when their children start taking up an interest in nutrition, and suddenly nothing is good enough to eat. This is a very real concern and a growing issue in this country.
When my clients start expressing signs of this kind of food fear, I make them take a big, cleansing breath. Yes, there are some serious problems with our food supply chain. Yes, it can sometimes feel like we are powerless before these giant food companies.
But that’s far from the truth.

 
Knowledge should be powerful, not paralyzing, so remember that for every unsavory food manufacturing practice, there is another company doing things with integrity and dedication. If you can, buy from shorter, visible supply chains: for example, straight from a farmer, a cooperative, or other avenue where you can trace the food’s origins. If you can’t (because chances are, you can’t for every single thing you buy), read labels and fine print carefully. A lot of the “frauds” out there can be boiled down to us falling for the marketing ploys on the front of the package without ever paying attention to those asterisks and ingredient lists.
And of course, buy minimally processed foods. Just like whole coffee beans are less likely to be fraudulent than pre-ground coffee and whole cuts of fish are less commonly mislabeled than fillets and smaller cuts, an apple is also far more difficult to adulterate than apple juice. In the case of the apple, it’s also more nutritious.

You will not get it right every time.

Accept it right now: you are going to buy a product that is mislabeled or misrepresented. We all do sometimes, and it’s okay. But giving yourself permission to not know everything about everything all the darn time is not the same as burying your head in the sand. Do your research. Read your labels. Put in the effort to make the informed choice, but don’t beat yourself up when you don’t predict every curve ball some companies are going to try pitching to you. Again, food fraud is not ideal, but the majority of examples are more unethical than they are downright dangerous.
It’s okay.
You will be okay.
Deep breaths.
Deep, cleansing breaths.

You’ve probably been in this situation before—you come home looking for a specific snack or you reach for a particular ingredient for a recipe, and you notice that the expiration date says it’s gone bad. Most of us grew up thinking that an expiration date was basically a set-in-stone deadline for when our food needed to be thrown out, and that anyone brave enough to try something past its prime was essentially giving themselves a one-way ticket to the bathroom. However, that’s not the case at all. Unfortunately, expiration dates are a large contributor to the millions of pounds of food waste that Americans create year after year. Coupled with the fact that one out of every six people in the country go without food every single day, it’s astounding to think of the amount of perfectly good food that we probably throw away each week.

Truthfully, expiration dates can refer to the date that a product with begin to spoil, but they commonly point to the date that a product will start to lose quality when it comes to flavor. Common sense goes a long way when it comes to determining if something has actually gone bad, and one simple rule to follow is that if you’re really not sure if something’s still fresh, safe is always better than sorry. If it smells terrible or starts to look noticeably different, there’s no question that it’s time to toss. Thankfully, there are a few different foods and drinks that are typically safe to consume after their noted expiration date has come and gone—and, yes, you can just slice that moldy spot off your block of cheese and keep on snacking.

Milk, Cheese, and Yogurt

Milk is one of those things that, when it’s gone bad, it’s not hard to tell. We hope you’ve never been unfortunate enough to take a swig out of the gallon of milk in your fridge, only to discover it’s gone bad after it’s already hit your tongue. However, milk is something that typically stays food for at least a few days after the expiration date printed on the container, though you’ll still need to give it a good examination before you use it. Milk that’s gone bad usually has a noticeably sour smell, might look slightly yellow in color, and may even develop a chunky texture. If it’s still good, though, you really shouldn’t smell anything when you give it the sniff test, or really notice anything off about it.

If you’ve got any expired yogurt on your hands, you can pretty much check it for freshness the same way you would milk—just make sure it smells normally, check for spots of mold, and then make yourself a smoothie if it’s all good.

Cheese is another dairy product that has an amazing shelf life, and it makes sense once you think about how cheese is actually made. Though it contains additional ingredients, cheese is essentially just aged milk, and most cheeses can last for up to four weeks past their expiration dates even if they’ve already been opened. Pieces of brick cheese that develop a mold spot can still be eaten, just as long as you make sure to cut the mold away before you eat it—moldy shredded cheese might be a different story, though, as it could be a little more difficult to make sure you’ve actually removed all of the mold.

Meat

Most packages of fresh meat you’ll see in the grocery store will come stamped with a “sell by” date, which is essentially what lets a retailer know when it needs to pull that item off its shelves. When it comes to keeping fresh meat in your fridge, like steaks or chicken, it can typically be kept fresh for a couple of days after the date on the package before it’ll need to be either cooked or frozen for later use. Contrary to what you might think, fresh meat that begins to look a little discolored after a few days isn’t necessarily bad—for example, raw ground beef often turns slightly brown after a few days due to exposure to light and air. Just like milk, if you suspect your meat has gone past a certain point, the truth will lie in the way it smells.

Fresh meat that’s still good can be put into the freezer to prevent it from going bad, and it’ll actually make it last for much, much longer. When it’s stored correctly, meat that’s been frozen can be stored for a year or more, so it’s never a bad idea to stock up on your favorite products when you see there’s a sale going on. Processed meats like hot dogs and bologna can sometimes last beyond their expiration date, especially if they haven’t been opened yet. It’s best to consume these types of products within 10 days after the sell-by date, and within three to five days once the package has been opened. When something like this has gone bad, it’ll typically take on a pretty funky smell and might even look sort of slimy on the outside.

Eggs

Would you believe us if we told you that Americans are some of the only people in the world that actually bother to refrigerate their eggs? It’s pretty much required to due widespread factory farming practices, as well as certain regulations that require eggs to be washed a certain way before being sold. Because salmonella isn’t uncommon in many factory farm setting, eggs must be power-washed before being sold, and it’s this process that removes the natural barrier the egg has when it’s first laid. Like an food product, eggs always come with an expiration date, but you can use it as more of a guideline for when your eggs are actually bad, as opposed to a concrete date of when they should be tossed. Typically, raw, whole eggs will be good until about four to five weeks after the date that is printed on the carton.

A good way to tell if an egg can still be used is to place it in a bowl of water—you can still eat it if it sinks to the bottom, but it’s time to get rid of it if it floats to the top. Once an eggs has been hard boiled, you typically have about one week until it won’t be good anymore. Peeling can also affect this timeline, as a hard boiled egg that has been peeled with often go bad up to two days before a hard boiled egg that still has its shell on. It’s not recommended to keep pre-scrambled, raw eggs in the refrigerator for more than a day or two unless you bought them pre-packaged, as this type of product is typically made to last a while. 

Bread

Who hasn’t reached for the loaf of bread on their counter, the one they just bought three days ago, only to find that one of the slices has mold on it? It’s easy to think that bread goes bad fairly quickly, but that’s actually not the case when it’s stored properly, and you can eat whatever bread you have as long as it’s not moldy or hard. Packaged bread should be stored out of the sun and away from any potential sources of moisture—it’s when moisture makes its way into the bread bad that mold has a chance to form a ruin an entire loaf. Those who live in high-humidity environments often store their bread in the refrigerator to keep the moisture at bay, though the fridge can easily dry the bread out. Freezing bread, however, is typically the best option, as it won’t dry your bread out and it will actually help it keep for a much longer period of time.

If your family goes through a lot of bread each week, definitely consider stocking up the next time you see a sale at the store and freeze what you can’t use right away. For anyone who’s thought about checking their local bakery or farmers market for a great deal on day-old bread, you can rest assured that they’re not selling old bread because there’s something wrong with it. In fact, it’s often cheaper because it’s not as fresh as something baked that day, but it has plenty of uses, many that work even better when you’re using bread that’s a little more dry. Day-old, crusty bread is excellent to use when it comes to things like French toast, croutons, or bread pudding.

Pasta

You might not think too much about your box of pasta expiring, and that’s because pasta can be used way past the date printed on the side of the box. This is definitely good news for all of us, as most people use just half a box of dried pasta for a recipe, and then end up throwing what’s left back in the pantry until they need it again. Because pasta is considered a dry good, it is typically given a shelf life of around one to two years, though it can last far beyond that because it doesn’t contain any water. As long as it’s stored in a place that’s both cool and dry, it can actually last for up to another two years before you’d want to consider tossing it out. Who are we kidding, though—does anyone actually let pasta go unused for that long?

If you do have any dried pasta that’s been sitting around the house for a while, there’s a simple way that you can test the pasta to see if it’s got much life left in it—just give it a quick glance to see if it’s discolored, smell it to see if it smells off at all, and try cooking a few pieces to see if the texture feels off. You should also never store dry pasta in the refrigerator, as that could help it absorb moisture and cause it to spoil. Fresh pasta, however, should always be refrigerated, and has a much shorter shelf life than dry pasta. Fresh pasta will typically last for a couple of weeks past the date on the package, though it’s important to toss it out if it starts to smell funny or discolor.

Condiments

Condiments often get pushed to the back of the fridge for weeks at a time, or they’re only bought for a specific recipe and then never used again. It can sometimes be tough to use condiments by the time their containers say they expire, especially for a single person trying to make it through something like a squeeze bottle of fancy mustard all by themselves. Thankfully, most condiments will still be good for up to three to four months after the expiration date listed on the packages if they are opened and have been properly refrigerated. However, just make sure to give anything you plan on using a quick sniff before you eat it, and also check for spots of mold, dryness, or discoloration. Condiments that are still sealed can be stored in your pantry for quite a long time as well, since oxygen is not able to enter the package.

For anyone who keeps condiment packets from fast food and takeout restaurants, those also have a shelf life, too, though any expiration dates will typically tell you when they will start losing flavor.Things like ketchup and mayonnaise packets should be tossed out after about a year if you want the best flavor, but they won’t necessarily be bad after that. Condiment packets for things like hot sauce, mustard, and parmesan cheese should be used within two years for the best taste. No matter what’s in them, these little packets do have real expiration dates, though they’re listed on the box that was sent to the restaurant, not the packet itself. It’s probably best that, if you don’t actually remember when exactly you got one of the packets, you should probably toss it out.

Canned Goods

Canned food was invented as a way to ensure that food products could still be consumed long after they were done processing. These days, using canned food often gets a bad rap for many reasons, some of which have nothing to do with the actual food itself. Though there are some who aren’t too fond of the texture and flavor of canned food, others choose to stay away because of the materials in the cans themselves, including BPA (bisphenol A). In addition, frozen produce is often just as affordable as canned, which leads people to buy people the food that they perceive to be fresher. However, it’s worth noting that studies have shown canned foods to contain just as much fiber and just as many vitamins as their fresh and frozen counterparts, and sometimes even more. Fortunately, we have some good news for anyone who’s a fan of canned goods—their expirations dates are pretty much meaningless.

Food that has been canned will typically for last for years after label says it expires, because there is no way for oxygen to enter the can and affect the food. This is exactly why so many people like to keep plenty of canned food on hand in case of an emergency—you just have to make sure to remember a can opener. Believe it or not, there’s also a proper way to store canned goods, even if they’re not open. Cans should be kept in a cool, dry, and dark place for the most effective storage, and should never be frozen. Meat and fish that has been canned will typically not last longer than one year, and shouldn’t be kept for more than a few days once opened.

Salted cashews are stationed everywhere, your raw veggie consumption has doubled, and you go to bed hungry more often than not. With a health plan like that, no wonder you—and so many others—fall off the bandwagon.
There’s a common misconception by those trying to get “fit” that the more hunger pangs you endure and sweat you burn, the svelter and healthier you’ll be. You’ll be pleasantly surprised that this is, in fact, not the case. We’ve all been told plenty of half-truths and straight up lies throughout our lives about the food we eat, how we should cook it, and how it will affect our bodies.
As you do more research, you may be a little put off when you realize some of your nutritious go-tos are actually a bigger mistake than that Kit Kat you snuck in last week. Check out this list to make sure you’re really taking two steps forward and not two pounds back!

1. Fresh is healthier than frozen.

Frozen is actually the most optimum food item unless your produce or meats are coming directly from farm to table. Fresh foods typically lose their high volume of nutrients only three days after being harvested. When you take into consideration travel time and fluctuation of temperature changes, it’s easy to see how the nutritional value has become depleted before your food hits your grocer.

Typically, frozen foods are frozen directly after they’ve been harvested, which locks their nutritional benefits in until prep time. The con with frozen food is that it can be lacking the fresh flavor enjoyed by many. However, this is easily overlooked when you realize how much more padded your wallet will be once you switch over. Plus, it doesn’t spoil as quickly, so you’re never throwing dollars down the drain. It pays to bargain shop when it comes to these.

2. Flavored yogurt is a healthy choice.

Yogurt is one of those health foods that is laden with sugar. Unless you’re indulging in Greek yogurt, your intake should be kept to a minimum. Flavored yogurt is loaded with unnecessary grams of sugar that outweigh the probiotics it holds. Even if you’re opting for the sugar-free or fat-free brands, the false additives are only temporarily staving off your hunger, which will eventually cause you to overindulge.

If plain Greek yogurt doesn’t do the trick, you can certainly sweeten it up with other natural additives. Honey, raspberries, blueberries, and other fruits are all great additions to help make it more appealing.

3. Raw veggies are more nutritious than cooked.

People love going on juice cleanses simply because it’s fresh and raw. These juices contain helpful enzymes when the fruit or vegetables are freshly squeezed, whereas anytime you heat produce above 118 degrees, these minerals are drained out.

However, what most people don’t know is that humans already make enough of these enzymes on their own, so those nutrients from the veggies are actually moot. Veggies are loaded with plenty of other vitamins and minerals that are never depleted from the plant, regardless of how high of a cooking temperature you use.

4. 100 percent fruit juice is a healthy beverage.

Fruit juice is arguably one of the worst “health foods” you could possibly choose, especially if it’s not fresh squeezed. The amount of natural and added sugars for one serving of a drink can easily push you over the suggested daily sugar intake for three whole days.

By choosing to eat your fruit this way, you consume all of the natural sugar found in fruit but none of the dietary fiber. A glass of apple juice contains only 0.2 grams of fiber, while a whole apple has 3.3 grams. Which seems like the smarter choice to you? Drinking fruit juice can also increase your appetite, which may cause you to eat more than you normally would have at your next meal.

5. Multigrain is the only bread that’s nutritious.

It may be all the rage to toss aside the white breads and pastas and go the multigrain route. But don’t get too caught up in your briefly self-satisfying lifestyle choice. What really matters for bread is the refinement quality. Most grains found in bread have already been stripped of their most important nutrients. Keep your standards high, even when you’re on the prowl for whole grain. The only bread worth buying is that which advertises 100 percent whole wheat. If you at all see “refined wheat,” that’s a big red flag that it’s just carbs and sugars.

This also applies to snacks like pretzels and crackers. To be sure that you’re buying a relatively healthy product, check that the first ingredient listed is whole grain. If you’re really trying to step it up, choose something with at least 3 grams of fiber per serving.

6. Fats should be avoided.

There are different categories of fats—polyunsaturated, saturated, and unsaturated fats are just a few. Nutritional experts often debate the benefits and dangers of fat consumption, so there is not always a clear consensus, but they do agree that eliminating fat from your diet deprives your body of something it actually needs.
Polyunsaturated fats can be found in avocados, nuts, fish, and vegetable oils. These fats help lower your cholesterol, and since the human body doesn’t produce these types of fats on its own, it’s essential that you integrate them into each meal.

Saturated fats are the worst of the worst; they’ll instantly add pounds, not subtract. Nutritionists recommend that your daily intake of these shouldn’t exceed 10 percent, while unsaturated fats are associated with positive results.
All fats should be taken in moderation, but to willfully choose the fat-free option is doing your body a great disservice. You’re missing out on essential nutrients and possibly stifling the improvement of your health.

7. Brown eggs are more natural than white ones.

When you walk into a farmers market, there’s just something about seeing fresh eggs out at a stand. You can already smell them frying back home. However, there’s a common misconception that brown eggs are an indicator of being produced in a more organic state.

The color of an egg is actually determined by the breed of the hen. There is virtually no difference in taste between the different colors of eggs. But there most definitely is a difference between an egg that comes from a free-range chicken and an egg that comes from a chicken who’s lived her whole life in a cage.
Hens raised in cages typically live in extremely cramped conditions, and many scientists believe that their quality of life can affect the taste of their eggs. However, meat producers can label eggs as free range by simply giving the chickens access to the outdoors. Be aware, though, that this does not necessarily mean the animals are actually roaming freely in an open field. Look for the pasture-raised label for a little more peace of mind when buying eggs.
It’s best, though, to research the farm where the eggs come from in order to be sure.

8. Eating after 7 p.m. causes weight gain.

How many midnight hunger pangs have you tried to ignore when you’re dieting? There’s just something about eating a tub of ice cream in the evening that seems so appealing; it can become an all-consuming thought.
However, eating after 7 p.m. isn’t the problem; it’s the overeating that inevitably ensues. Those late-night cravings are actually due to an undernourished system.

This is a common statement you’ll hear even from seasoned personal trainers, but the reality is there’s no scientific evidence behind it. This myth has become a “fact” because, typically, if you’re eating after 6 p.m., it’s usually due to your lack of food during the day. People tend to overeat at night if they haven’t properly nourished themselves throughout the day, leading to weight gain from late-night snacking.

9. The more calories you cut the more pounds you lose.

This is definitely false. Let’s create a scenario. Say you have a 100-calorie cookie in front of you. Then you have a 100-calorie bowl of veggies. Which do you think is going to help you lose weight quicker? Obviously the vegetable. Yet the calorie count is the same.

Obsessively counting calories is probably doing you more harm than good—stressing about your diet often leads to weight gain, because stress hormones increase fat production. People who diet are also more at risk for binge-eating and ruining their progress. You’re far better off by simply incorporating more fruits and vegetables into your diet. If you focus your time and energy on what you’re consuming, then your calorie counting days will be far behind you.

10. Microwaving removes the nutritional value from food.

Yet another false statement! Don’t be so hasty to toss out your appliance just yet. The very act of cooking food, no matter what the method, does result in the loss of nutrients, but limiting the cooking time and the amount of liquid used is the best way to preserve the nutritional value of your meal. Guess what is specifically designed for this purpose? Your microwave.

Take spinach for example. If you boil it on the stove, spinach loses over half its folic acid, but if you microwave it with just a splash of water, this leafy green remains nutritious. Of course, if you use too much water in the microwave, you’re basically boiling the food and sapping its nutrients. Be sure to cover the food tightly to effectively create a steam environment and only use a microwave-safe container.

11. Fiber is a cure-all.

Fiber products are quick to boast their nutritional value, but as science continues to develop experts are discovering that not all fiber is created equal. You’ve probably begun to notice the latest fad with yogurts now boasting their fiber-rich products, and many white bread products and cereals claim to be a “good source of fiber,” too. Well, the fiber that’s been supplemented into these products is not exactly natural, and adding something good like fiber to junk food doesn’t magically make it healthy.

So if you’re looking for a fiber boost, try to stick with naturally fiber-rich products, like veggies, fruits, and grains.

12. Granola and nuts are healthy snacks.

When you reach for that granola bar or a handful of peanuts, you are probably thinking that you’re choosing a healthy snack, right? This may be true when we’re comparing these items to Cheez-Its. But did you know one cup of mixed nuts can contain up to 800 calories? That being said, nuts can be healthy if you avoid the unsalted varieties—almonds and cashews are high in monounsaturated fat, which, as stated previously, is the good kind of fat that is essential to your health.

The New York Times conducted a survey with American consumers and nutritionists asking about the nutritional value of certain foods. The greatest discrepancy between these two groups’ responses was over granola bars: 71 percent of the consumers polled believe granola is healthy compared to only 28 percent of nutritionists. Granola bars would be healthy if it weren’t for all the added sugar. Frozen yogurt is another example of a sugar snack masquerading as healthy food. Next time you reach for an afternoon snack, check the sugar content on the label.

13. Genetically modified food is bad for you.

Much of the public believes that genetically modified produce is less nutritious than organic food; a large sector of that group believes it can actually have negative effects on your health. Genetically modified organisms have been a hotly debated topic for several years now, but the latest study done by the National Academies of Sciences reports that there is actually no scientific evidence that suggests genetically modified food is unsafe to eat. In fact, the majority of scientists agree that it poses no danger to your health whatsoever.

There is still, however, some uncertainty when it comes to actually labeling genetically modified food as such. In summer 2016, President Obama signed a law holding the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) responsible for establishing standards for labeling, so only time will tell how genetically modified food will be marketed to the public.

14. On the flip side, organic food is healthy.

Labeling a food organic has nothing to do with its nutritional value, but over 60 percent of people under the age of 30 believe that organic produce is healthier than genetically modified foods. If a product is labeled organic, that means it is mostly free from pesticides, fertilizers, and additives. The USDA strictly regulates what can and can’t be labeled organic, but that doesn’t stop companies from marketing those products as healthier.

Take Gatorade for instance. PepsiCo rolled out G Organic in September 2016 to capitalize on the fact that 50 percent of consumers who buy organic do so because they think it’s better for their health. While G Organic contains organic cane sugar, it contains just as much sugar as regular Gatorade. In fact, sports drinks are only necessary if you’re exercising for longer than an hour, so it may be best to skip them altogether.
Just remember that organic produce is healthy because it’s produce—there is absolutely no debate over whether an orange or apple is good for you.

15. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

Your parents may have warned you against skipping breakfast as a child, but science suggests that people who do aren’t any less healthy than those who religiously eat a bowl of cereal every morning. Waiting until lunch is increasingly becoming more popular, and studies indicate that our eating habits have shifted with time—millennials are more likely to skip breakfast than their older counterparts.

What you eat for the first meal of the day is more important than when you eat it. If you typically eat sugary cereals or pastries, you are better off not eating breakfast at all. Why? Because all that added sugar and highly processed carbohydrates in those foods can cause blood sugar and insulin to rise. High insulin levels tell the body to increase its fat storage, which is a nightmare for anyone trying to lose weight. A meal that’s high in protein, however, is more likely to satisfy your appetite longer, causing you to eat less throughout the day. But if all you end up having this morning is a cup of coffee, that’s fine, too.

Let’s play a game of word association! If I say “probiotics,” you say…what?
You might say, “healthy,” “supplement,” or even “antibiotics.” But I’ll bet many would automatically reply, “yogurt.”
Yogurt is a particularly famous source of probiotics, but what if you don’t like it? Are probiotics really that important?
Well, yes. Not to sound hyperbolic or anything, but they’re possibly the most influential piece of the health puzzle that we are only just starting to comprehend. If you’re not convinced, this article is for you.
Probiotics are live bacteria that colonize in our guts, mostly the colon. We actually have 10 times more bacterial cells than human cells in our bodies!
However, if we aren’t diligent about caring for these beneficial bacteria, they won’t survive in our intestines, and the pathogenic (disease-causing) bacteria will start to take over. Unfortunately for us, the Western trifecta of chronically high stress, widespread antibiotic use, and highly processed, low fiber diets creates a hostile environment for these bacteria.
So, we definitely need a healthy gut, and one of the biggest ways we do that is by regularly populating it with probiotics.

Before you reach for that cup of yogurt, however, consider this:

Yogurt can be part of a nutritious diet, but too often it’s glorified, low fat, liquid ice cream. Plus, some people can’t or choose not to eat dairy, and others may simply dislike yogurt’s texture. For this last group, there are some non-yogurt, probiotic dairy products (kefir, yakult, and filmjölk) but you do still have to keep an eye on that sugar.

In reality, dairy is far from the only game in town.

Sure, you could try a non-dairy yogurt, but these are often low in protein and high in sugar; or you could go for a supplement, but these are frighteningly unregulated and pretty expensive. There are much more exciting ways to get your probiotic fix!
Fermentation is the process that turns milk into yogurt, and cultures across the globe have been finding their own ways to ferment foods for centuries that have nothing to do with dairy.
In Russia, they drink kvas, made from fermented beets or grains. You can buy it here, but many brands are little more than sugar water, so make sure you’re getting the real thing.
And of course, there is Kombucha, the fizzy, yeasty tea that anyone who’s anyone has tried. Its Chinese origins date back 2,000 years, and it’s still trending strong today. If you’re feeling brave, you can try making your own.
In Germany, there is sauerkraut (which actually dates back to the Mongols in China) and in Korea there is kimchi, both fermented cabbage. Be wary of commercial, canned varieties, as the bacteria don’t often survive the processing. Making your own is quite easy; or you can seek out craft varieties in stores.
Then there is fermented soy: namely, miso and tempeh. These products confer health benefits (including probiotics) beyond non-fermented soy products, like edamame and tofu. Miso can add a wonderful umami flavor to dishes, while tempeh offers a tasty alternative to animal protein.

But wait! That’s not all!

We can kick back probiotic foods all day, ‘erry day, but if we don’t set up a nice, cozy environment in our colons for the bacteria to live, they won’t stay very long. This is where prebiotics come into play.
Prebiotics are non-digestible plant compounds which stimulate the growth and activity of our little, bacterial friends. A lot of companies have isolated these prebiotics to fortify their products; you’ll see them in the ingredients list as inulin, lactulose, maltodextrin and wheat dextrin, acacia gum, arabinose, and fructo- and galacto-oligosaccharides. These ingredients may not be tolerated in large amounts, and besides, why not just get them from the foods they’re naturally found in?
You can find inulin in garlic, onions, and Jerusalem artichokes; oligosaccharides in bananas, berries, and legumes; dextrin in whole grains, especially wheat; and arabinose in nuts and seeds, to name a few.
Together, these probiotics and prebiotics are known as synbiotics because they’re far more powerful in combination than either one is on its own.
Healthy bacteria also thrive when you generally practice good self-care. Keep your diet high in fiber and based largely in whole, minimally processed foods. Find ways to destress and break from sedentary routines. Oh, and you might consider eating some high quality dark chocolate, because your gut bacteria may in fact be chocoholics, too!

To make a long story short: nope, you definitely do not need yogurt to have a healthy gut.

Sip on some kombucha while making your own sauerkraut. Stir some cocoa powder and sliced bananas into your oatmeal.
Basically, eat a high-fiber, plant-based diet, with a few fermented foods thrown in, and you (and your gut) will be just fine!

There are plenty of nutrition myths out there, and working as a dietitian, I hear them all day long. Sometimes, I nod and smile, knowing it’s neither the time nor place to interject with my commentary but there’s one in particular that really lights my fire. It also happens to be the one that I hear most frequently:

“Healthy food is so expensive!”

False.

I wish that’s all I needed to say to placate my clients, but no one ever believes me right away. It is entirely possible to eat nutritiously without breaking the bank, and to prove it to you, I’ve gathered up some top, expert tips to show you how it’s done.

Before we get to that, though, there is one slight caveat to my argument. Sometimes, the higher quality option may, in fact, cost more. Companies may charge more for their antibiotic-free meats compared to their standard offerings, for example. And snacking on nuts is probably going to cost you more than picking up an economy-size bucket of “cheez balls” on super sale at your nearest savings club.

However, the cost of a product is not solely incurred at the checkout lane of your preferred retailer. The foods we eat become a part of us and are great contributors to our overall well-being. As a fellow dietitian once lamented to me in exasperation: healthy food isn’t expensive—cancer is expensive; diabetes is expensive. If a diet full of on-sale soda and frozen pizza costs less at the grocery store, that doesn’t mean that relying on it won’t cost you in other areas further down the road. It also doesn’t mean that there aren’t environmental costs to various choices.

Of course, not everyone can afford grass-fed meats and organic almond butter. Fortunately, that’s not the only way to eat nutritiously! “Healthy” comes in many shapes, sizes, and, yes, budgetary constraints. So now, let’s get to what you really want to know: how to shrink that grocery bill without filling your cart with so-called “junk”!

Planning for Success

A meal plan may sound daunting, but it is one of the best strategies for eating well on a budget because it helps prevent over-buying and wasted food. If you’re new to meal planning, start small until you feel more comfortable. In making your meal plan, here are some tips to consider:

Watch the sales. Both Nikki Nies, a dietitian with the Christian Care Senior Living Center, and Savannah Thaler, a dietitian who runs Savvy Wellness and Health LLC, encourage clients to base their meals plans on their stores’ weekly circulars. These ads point out great deals on produce, unprocessed meats and seafood, whole grains, beans, and more.

Keep it simple. Tackling too many new recipes can leave you buying new ingredients faster than you can use up the ones you already have. Thaler advises clients to “stick with a few go-to favorite [recipes] and then choose just one or two new dishes to try.” This also helps streamline meal planning so it’s less of a hassle.

Know your pantry. A disorganized kitchen is a recipe for accidentally buying something you already have, and spending money on a nice jar of peanut butter only to find three perfectly good ones stashed in the back of your cupboard is money you didn’t need to spend. Keep an organized fridge and pantry by clearly labeling leftovers and maintaining lists of staples you currently have versus what you need. Bring that restocking list to the store and stick to it.

Speaking of lists… Make one, seriously. I won’t say it’s never a good idea to take advantage of a deal you see at the store, but more times than not, it’s this kind of spontaneity that leaves us with four pints of Ben & Jerry’s and a guaranteed game of Tetris when you get them back home to your already packed freezer.

Use what you have. Nies loves The Pantry Challenge, which focuses on ingredients individuals already have as the foundation for their meals. When you use what you already have, you don’t need to buy much more than a few fresh ingredients (like veggies or maybe a protein) to fill in the nutrient gaps.

Choosing the Right Store for You

Some areas of the country have more options than others, but take some time to get to know which retailers are available to you so that you can make an informed shopping decision.

Shop around. Although a part of me still daydreams of one day being wealthy enough to do all my shopping at pricey Whole Foods, I’ve learned how many healthy options exist at even bargain-based stores. It’s rare to find one store that will always have the very best deal on every single item on your list, but knowing which places tend to have the lowest prices for the things you need can help a lot.

Think beyond the supermarket. If you want to know the real threat to the traditional grocer’s bottom line, it’s not a brick-and-mortar store at all: it’s the online options. From Amazon to Thrive, consumers have a staggering amount of nutritious foods literally at their fingertips, making them especially helpful for individuals in areas of
the country with fewer retail options.

Know when to be loyal. There are advantages to traditional supermarkets, though. Many offer discounts, register and digital coupons, and special deals throughout the year, especially tied to their loyalty cards. Every store has its own policies and benefits, so peruse your options and decide which one fits your needs best.

Get to know your store. Do they double manufacturer coupons? Do they take expired coupons or ones from competing stores? When an item is on sale do you have to buy a certain number to get the deal? What is their policy on rain checks? There’s nothing worse than thinking you’re getting a deal only to realize you didn’t read the fine print.

Store-Wide Tips

So you have your meal plan, shopping list, and store. You’re ready to shop! But first, there are some very important, broad-strokes pointers to keep in mind throughout the entire store.

Bigger isn’t always better. This is true when it comes to packaging and true when it comes to carts. Shopping carts at food stores are getting bigger, and with more room comes the subconscious urge to make it look full. Now, if you’re doing a larger trip, you might need a full cart; but if you know you only plan to buy a handful of items, opt for a smaller cart or hand basket.

A deal isn’t always a deal. It’s possible for a brand to be discounted yet still cost more than a full-price competing brand. This is especially true when you compare on-sale brand names to their private label equivalents. Emily Holdorf, consulting dietitian and owner of EmPowered Nutrition, emphasizes comparing unit price and total price to determine the best deal. Katie Mulligan, a dietitian who works specifically with low-income families through the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program, adds that “a sale might look like a good deal, but not if you throw half of it away before you get a chance to eat it,” so only buy what you’ll use.

Put in some effort. You have two budgets: time and money. If you want the convenient option, you’re going to have to be prepared to spend more money. If you want to save money, you must invest more of your time. Chop your own veggies instead of buying them pre-sliced, make trail mix from raw ingredients, and portion snacks into bags yourself instead of buying individual servings.

Produce

We all know it’s important to eat more fruits and veggies, but it can be discouraging when they seem to spoil so quickly despite your best efforts. If you’re finding that your family just can’t manage to make it through your produce for the week, you can always buy less. In addition, there are plenty of other ways to save some green on your greens!

Embrace ugly produce. Jenna Gorham, owner of Jenna Gorham Nutrition Counseling, steers clients toward discount produce racks: “Even if the fruit or veggies look a little past their prime, they can easily be frozen” to use later in smoothies, oatmeal, yogurt, stir-fries, or pasta. This emphasis on choosing “ugly produce” not only addresses budgetary concerns but also helps to seriously combat the rising cost of food waste in this country.

Stop buying blueberries in December. In other words, “buy in season…to save money and to enjoy more flavorful, nutrient-dense fruits and vegetables,” explains Irene Gardner, dietitian of IG Nutrition. She also recommends buying and freezing extra berries in the summer (when they’re on sale!) to last through the winter. Exactly what is in season at any given point can vary from one region to the next, but if I need a quick refresher, I love Williams-Sonoma’s online reference.

Fresh isn’t always best. In fact, many dietitians (dare I say basically all of them?!) recommend frozen produce! Gardner explains that these products are “flash boiled to preserve color and then frozen,” keeping nutrients and fiber high. Plus, frozen fruits and vegetables are extremely convenient to keep on hand, one of the few exceptions to the rule that healthy convenience foods can’t be cheap. Philadelphia-based dietitian Brooke Mullen points out that they’re also perfect for winter, when fresh, in-season produce is less plentiful.

Protein

Proteins, especially animal-based ones, can really drive up a grocery bill. Beyond simply looking for good deals and sales as we’ve discussed above, it can be even more impactful to think outside of the box when it comes to the protein in your meals.

Look beyond the meat department. Dietitian duo Angie and John Lamberson stock up on proteins like canned salmon and tuna, peanut butter (go natural!), and even eggs. I also like to remind clients that even the “expensive” eggs ($4.50 a dozen) are still only $0.75 for two! (And you’re probably spending more to feed your Starbucks habit.)

Use less meat. According to Mulligan, though meat is often the most expensive ingredient, you can stretch it by adding beans, lentils, chopped walnuts, and minced mushrooms to burgers, chili, stews, and casseroles.  In general, we don’t need nearly as much protein as we think we do, and filling about one-quarter of your plate with a high quality protein should be plenty for most people. It can be hard to move away from that “meat as the center of the plate” mentality upon which many of us were raised, so consider starting with dishes like stir-fries, casseroles, and pasta where it’s more common to find meat as more of a garnish.

Or, forgo the meat altogether. Meatless Monday (or, if you’re feeling spunky, perhaps Vegetarian “Vednesday”?!) is a nice way to get your feet wet with vegetarian meals. Nies loves versatile tofu, which “costs an average $1-2 less than boneless chicken breast or pork.” Thaler recommends dried beans for protein, and even freezes hers once they’re cooked in individual servings to up the convenience factor, another tip that has become a staple practice in my kitchen.

Groceries

You may have heard to shop only the perimeter of the store, but that’s not to say that’s where all of healthy foods are! Dip into the aisles for healthy pantry staples, like beans, whole grains, nuts, and canned tuna.

Bulk up. Gardner loves to buy whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds in bulk. You can buy exactly how much you need so there’s no waste, you’ll get a great deal, and you’ll help the environment by reducing packaging, too! Remember, though, buying bulk in perishables in riskier, since if you can’t go through the full amount before they go bad, you aren’t saving yourself any money.

Don’t overlook store brands. Store brands (“private label”) have really stepped up their game, so you don’t have to worry about getting an inferior product. In fact, I just about wax poetic about my store’s private label, all-natural peanut butter. That same store sells an organic brown rice whose fiber content knocks the socks off of every other brand on the shelf. You’ll also find private label rolled oats, quinoa, hummus, and frozen vegetables in my kitchen at pretty much any given moment. What many people don’t realize is that grocery stores hire regular food manufacturing companies to make these private label products, so pretty much you’re getting the brand name products you’ve grown to love for a discounted price, because private label doesn’t need to waste money on marketing or advertising.

Stop spending money on drinks. Juice, soda, and other specialty drinks are pricey and about as far from nourishing as it gets, but paying for plastic bottles of glorified tap water isn’t much better! Invest instead in a good, reusable bottle and a water filter. The planet will thank you, too.

Lastly, don’t be afraid to ask for help.

You aren’t alone, and you don’t have to do this alone. Government agencies such as WIC, SNAP, and the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program are all there to help! If you qualify but don’t apply, you’re missing out on free money that you could be using on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and more.

If you don’t qualify for these government benefits, you still have options. Food pantries and other local organizations can also be of great assistance, and more and more they’re asking donors to consider the nutrient density of the items brought to them. There are even organizations like The Great American Milk Drive working to bring the more perishable items to donation centers across the country.

I know that there are stigmas against some of these assistance programs and organizations, but don’t let pride or principle stand between you and taking charge of your health. The odds can be stacked quite high against us at times through no fault of our own. If you’re following a lot of tips in this article and still struggling to make ends meet, you could truly benefit from these services. Shake off those feelings and accept the help that is so willingly being offered—people really do want to help!

Maybe we can’t all afford organic kale and pasture-raised chicken, but luckily, we don’t have to in order to be healthy. Forget about flashy package claims and news headlines; go back to the basics, put in a little effort, and focus on putting one foot in front of the other. Everyone deserves to fuel their lives with good nutrition, and with little tweaks to planning, shopping, and cooking habits, everyone can!

Where will you start?

Dietitians love bashing nutrition fads. We’re quick to point out, and rightly so, the dangers of the many that offer quick fix promises and miracle cures. Their side effects range from nausea and fatigue to actual malnutrition. Extreme ones can also disrupt mood and hormones, trigger adrenal fatigue, and slow metabolism, all while being unsustainable long-term and at times socially isolating due to their relentless rigidity.
But if I’m going to preach that there are no inherently “good” or “bad” foods, then it’s probably time I concede: there can be benefits to many of the trends I caution against so often.

Juicing

The Issue: Juicing strips fruits and vegetables of their fiber, leaving pretty much a big ‘ole glass of sugar (ok, and vitamins). Fiber is kind of a big deal when it comes to wellness, and few of us get. Besides, our bodies do not need help “detoxifying,” as many of the juice cleanses claim; that’s what our liver, kidneys, skin and entire immune system are busy doing all day long.
The Silver Lining: Skip the cleanses, and instead incorporate small juice portions into well-balanced meals. If the juice is fruit heavy, go lighter on the carbs that meal, and make sure you’re getting fiber, protein, and fat elsewhere. For example, pair a small glass of fruit and veggie juice with whole grain toast and almond butter, or a large salad with nuts, seeds, or avocado (fats); tuna, chicken, hardboiled eggs, or beans (protein); and extra veggies (fiber).

Superfoods

The Issue: The term is unregulated, so it can be used by companies however they please. Plus, I don’t care how many antioxidants they have, throwing blueberries into a sugary, refined cake doesn’t make it nourishing. “Superfoods” set us up for unrealistic expectations, without considering how much needs to be consumed to see results (a lot), or if there are side effects of consuming that much (often, there are).
The Silver Lining: Then again, if calling foods “super” makes people more jazzed about eating fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, and salmon, I really can’t complain! Go ahead and enjoy a diet rich in these foods (rather than relying on powders and supplements making those same claims), but don’t expect any miracles.

Raw Food Diets

The Issue: This diet can be low in certain nutrients, like protein, calories, vitamin B12, iron, calcium, and omega-3 fats. It’s also a lot of fiber, which can cause discomfort if the average Westerner dives into head-first. It’s expensive, time consuming, and can be socially isolating for some. Besides, some nutrients are more easily absorbed from cooked foods!
The Silver Lining: You don’t need to go 100% raw to enjoy the benefits! This diet will automatically limit less nutrient-dense foods as well, like refined sugar, processed meats, and well, a lot of what we categorize as “junk.” Try filling half your plate at most meals with non-starchy veggies; rely more heavily on nuts, seeds, and avocado for fat than more processed oils; and only continue if you as an individual respond well to it.

The Paleo Diet

The Issue: I’ve seen plenty of  Paleo dieters polish off entire cartons of ice cream because the rigidity of it all wore them down; if you can’t sustain it, it’s not working for you. Keep an eye out for nutrient deficiencies too, including calcium, fiber, and potassium. Lastly, this is not the new Atkin’s diet, and should not be viewed as a green light to load up on meat and restrict carbs!
The Silver Lining: Many Paleo principles are solid, like limiting processed foods (cakes, candy, ice cream, chips, and fast food); and more home cooking. Be more critical of principles which don’t sound sustainable for you.  If a food group doesn’t bother you, there’s no reason to eliminate it. I’m a big proponent of well-soaked beans, for example, and moderate amounts of whole grains, especially when sprouted.

Going Gluten-Free

The Issue: This diet is not associated with weight loss and so far no evidence supports its benefits for the average Joe or Jane. Gluten-free specialty products are expensive yet not necessarily particularly nutritious, often lacking fiber and riddled with fillers and binders. And of course, social gatherings and eating out become quite the challenge.
The Silver Lining: By all means, incorporate more naturally gluten-free foods into your diet, like fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, beans, salmon, eggs, and even certain whole grains. But swapping Oreos out for gluten-free chocolate sandwich cookies won’t make most of us any healthier. Make sure you’re getting enough fiber, and further support that gut with probiotic-rich foods.
Look, honestly? Do what makes you feel good, but please make sure your diet is balanced and nourishing. If something stops feeling good, it’s probably not right for you, no matter what someone else says.

I wish I had a dollar for every time I ate more than I intended to or wanted to when I was supposed to be on a diet. But instead of a dollar, all I got was a failed dieting day that usually led to a failed diet. And then a restart, and another round of eating too much. 

If you’re having trouble not eating too much when you’re trying to lose weight, here are some techniques I used that helped me lose over 150 pounds…and those I still use today to maintain my weight loss.

Avoid the Exercise Reward Mentality

If you’ve eaten more than you should have after you exercise, it might not have been from hunger but from the exercise-reward-mentality. The dialogue in your head might go something like this, “Hey, I worked out so now I can have more to eat.” This is false.

You worked out—great. But don’t undo your calorie burn by eating more than you should. Treat a workout as a way to improve your health instead of as permission to eat too much.

Eat Enough Protein

Protein is mentioned a lot in weight-loss articles, and there’s a good reason for that. It makes you feel full for longer, and that sense of fullness helps you control how much food you eat.

For example, I often have plain Greek yogurt with some fruit as part of my lunch. If I switch out the Greek yogurt for a pack of crackers, I’m eating about the same calories but not satisfying my hunger for as long.

Eat protein with every meal. I recommend eggs, small amounts of nut butter, Greek yogurt, whey protein in smoothies, cottage cheese, protein bars, and lean meats.

Use Your Brain, Not Your Eyes

It’s easy to get carried away when you see a display of delicious food or read the descriptions of entrees on a menu. But instead of relying on your eyes to tell you what you should pick, use your brain.

Sure, that Asian chicken salad on the menu looks great, but is it the best choice for your diet? Probably not, especially if the chicken is fried and the salad is drenched in dressing.

Yes, your eyes are telling you to eat more. But what’s the impact on your diet? Do the math. If that salad has 800 calories and you’re trying to stick to a 1,600-calorie diet, that’s half your calories in one meal.

Watch for Appetite Triggers

Almost everyone has certain appetite triggers that make it difficult to stop eating, or eat food not on their weight loss plan. It’s important to know what your appetite triggers are to avoid overeating.

Common appetite triggers include:

Certain foods or sensations such as candy, cakes, your favorite childhood meal, bakery smells, the sound of popcorn popping, or frying meat.

Feelings associated with food such as happiness, stress, or even boredom.

Environments or places you associate with pleasurable eating, such as your childhood home, a favorite restaurant, or a movie theater.

You can’t always avoid these triggers, but knowing what yours are can help you stop the overeating cycle before you completely blow your diet.  

Have an Inner Dialogue 

One of the common mistakes I made that caused me to eat too much was failing to have a little internal conversation with myself before I started eating. I often ate too much, whether I was eating salad, choosing from a buffet, or sitting down to a scrumptious restaurant meal. I stopped eating too much by reminding myself of three things before I started:

1) The food needed to fit in my weight-loss plan.

2) I needed to decide in advance how much I was going to eat.

3) Eating too much was easy, but recovering from consistent overeating was hard.

Find your own questions or statements to repeat to yourself before you start to eat. Having an awareness of your habits, goals, and challenges prior to eating can help you make better decisions.