Avoid food products containing ingredients no ordinary human would keep in the pantry.

Can you please pass the Red Dye #5 and I will take more High Fructose Corn Syrup on my pancakes.  And nothing tastes better for dinner than partially hydrogenised oils over broccoli.

I mean, seriously!  Large food corporations stay in business by getting us to buy more and more of their products. One way they do that is to make foods last a really long time.  Remember, the McDonald’s French Fry which never ages.  The Dorian Grey of the food world.

Enough said?

Helping Reshape the World,

Judi

Diamond Team Beachbody Founding Coach

Don’t eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.

An example Michael uses in the book are Go-GURT portable yogurt tubes, something I had never heard of.  This wasn’t around when my kids were little, so it had escaped my notice.  Imagine my surprise when I heard someone tell one of their kids they could not have another Go-GURT.  I was jazzed I knew what she was talking about.

Let me explain in the book, the author says these are not hard and fast rules, but choices he suggests.  Most of us will eat some processed food and the goal here is to eat less.  And to know what is in the foods we eat.

Low Fat (more sugar added for taste) and Sugar Free (fat added for taste) are not the answers we are looking for in building a healthy life. I was watching Jamie Oliver’s new show Food Revolution and there children in the school who could not identify certain fresh vegetables.

I personally am working on eliminating processed foods from my diet and that means starting with my kitchen.  Works great until you are in a meltdown and wanting junk food and can’t find anything to eat!

Whew!

Helping Reshape the World,

Judi

Diamond Team Beachbody Founding Coach

Sounds simple right?  Pollan’s point is that there is so much processed, altered and totally disguised foods out there is the best thing you can do is eat food.

Many years ago, I did the Optifast Plan (5 liquid shakes a day and no food) for 10 months.  In that time frame I lost 150 pounds (15 per month average) and finished with a body fat of about 19%.  I loved the way I looked; even though most of my friends and family told me I was too skinny.

The problem with not ‘eating food’ is that I learned absolutely nothing about what is healthy and what isn’t, portion control and making choices.  Optifast was very black and white.  You were either on the plan or you weren’t and there was no middle ground.  On the program, this fit very well with my Type A, perfectionist personality.

When I reached goal, I really did not ever want to eat food again (I was afraid.)  As I started on the maintenance program I did pretty well for a while…  And then old eating habits reappeared like too much cheese, going too long with out eating as well as others.

There are literally 1000’s of ways to lose weight.  Before you start any program, I highly suggest you ‘eat food.’  And in my personal opinion it would be food you choose, buy and prepare yourself.  I also did Jenny Craig and Nutrisystem (lost lots of weight) and ate boxed meals and snacks.  Not quite real food and again I did not learn anything.

As a Beachbody Coach, I support you in learning how to eat food and lose weight AND keep it off.  Please let me know if I can help.  All of my coaching and support services are FREE!

Helping Reshape the World,

Judi

Diamond Team Beachbody Founding Coach

I recently heard Michael Pollan speak and I was so impressed I bought three of his books.   The first one I started reading was “Food Rules, An Eater’s Manual” and I could not put it down.  Simple, straightforward and very entertaining, I read the book in one sitting and keep it on my desk and open to pages at random and reread.  I am going to be posting each of his rules with my take away and thoughts.  This will be fun!

Judi, Team Beachbody Founding Diamond Coach