How I Went Label Blind

Food label reading for me over the last four years consisted of looking at one number:

Calories

That led to a great deal of success for me. I’ve lost as much as 150 pounds at one point.

But now I’m buzzing around 120 pounds of total loss.

Yeah, yeah. I know. I went up almost 30 pounds. Don’t flipping remind me.

That’s why we are having this conversation. I’m focusing back on losing the weight I want in a smart way.

Let’s dig a little deeper into the rest of the nutritional label shall we?

Who’s On First?

What is the first ingredient you see?

That means it’s content is usually the greatest.

Switching To Whole Foods

Here’s how our journey began.

Candi went to a Project 5210 meeting as a volunteer for the childhood obesity program. That night the guest speaker was a nutritionist from Jason’s Deli.

Her information on Hydrogenated Oil & Enriched Flour was an eye-opener.

So, I did a little light reading.

I read an excerpt on what hydrogenated oil is:

Hydrogenation is a chemical process whereby ordinary vegetable oils are chemically altered to make them so hard that they won’t melt in your hand. Basically a complete adulteration of the original (healthy) oil occurs. In the effort to make foods last longer in the supermarket, all traces of essential fatty acids are obliterated from processed foods, and hydrogenated fats take their place.

Trans-fatty acids sit like cement in the body, clogging up arteries and impeding hormone production, and replacing good, necessary fats (Omega 3s and 6’s) with something harmful. You can’t do anything with transfatty acid except burn it off as calories; basically, its function is to poison your system and generate abnormal biochemistry.

(via Julian Cope presents Head Heritage | U-Know! | Features | What Exactly Is ‘Hydrogenated Fat’?)

Essentially, that mean this stuff is toxic and clogs up your arteries!

My Challenge To You

My challenge to you (which was difficult for us):

Go grocery shopping and buy food without hydrogenated oils in it!

Good luck!

It was harder than I thought it would be.

Let me know how you did…

Next Week: Enriched Flour