A friend of mine swears by a grab-and-go “energy” shake… until i noticed the label: vegetable oil, sugar, maltodextrin, “natural flavors”… highly processed … not exactly whole-food fuel.
What everyday products do people think are healthy but are really junk in disguise?
• Sweetened yogurt?
• Vitamin-fortified cereals?
• “Veggie” chips?
Drop your best (or worst) examples below… let’s build a list for busy friends who want the real deal.
PS what do you use as a quick snack?
I have found that using a basic intermittent fasting approach eliminates the desire for snacks. Starting the day with a savory breakfast may also help–30+ grams protein and no more than 30 grams of carbohydrate, save your caffeine 'til the end of the meal.
Agree, I do intermittent fasting and it really works to dull any cravings… what do you tend to eat for your first meal.
I am working on a list of savory meals to create variety. I have learned that having a green salad as part of the meal gives great energy. I think it makes the digestive system feel really good. It is a remarkable different feeling. I use 2 Tblsp home made vinaigrette. Happy with energy,(vinaigrette: 1 cup EVOO, best you can get. You can split with Avocado oil.. 1 Tblsp vinegar of choice, or lemon jc. I think you would use less lemon. I add in chopped onion, garlic, Italian herb mix, black pepper-liberal amount, maybe a slight pinch of salt, and a tad of good honey, if desired. Keep this in a jar in the frig. Fiber is also key to the meal. I limit breads, cereals, pastries, juice, fruits. I am deliberately saving a part of lunch or supper protein (fish, poultry, an egg dish, not much red meat) which helps me avoid cereals, bagels. breads. I don’t do pastries. I also have to eat gluten free and avoid several food allergies. I do have a fave recipe for a kasha pudding that has a bit of fruit, nuts, egg, milk (or milk substitute). It pushes the CHO limit (30g) so I add extra protein (usually soy, pea or whey, by Shaklee). The fiber content is good to offset the CHO. If you want a real treat, Salad Nicoise-Julia Child’s classic recipe, maybe without the potatoes, but they are so good. You can alternate shrimp, salmon, tuna to limit mercury exposure. Bon appetit.
Thanks for this comprehensive answer, I agree, starting the day with a salad that has a great vinaigrette really works. So much better than sugar
The quick snack is easy. Organic carrots and celery. Both are easy to clean and fast. Bonus is I can stuff my face and only have a few calories. Recently I’ve been on a kick to make air fryer french fries. Medium size potato, 5 minutes prep, and 15 minutes to cook. Dip of choice is home made guacamole while avocados are in season.
The biggest food fib, for me, is supermarket fruit. Not only are they LOADED with sugar, but they are mostly ‘factory farmed’ these days, bred over many decades to enhance size, sweetness or colour but at the expense of nutritional value.
The sugar in fruits of old was lower and the vitamin, mineral and fibre was higher, making them far more nutritious. The cr4p they sell in the big supermarkets might look like fruit but it barely qualifies as such. Perhaps the worst offender is seedless grapes - just lovely-looking bags of sugar and not much else.
Our go-to snack is unpasteurized cheese. Love it! And Gouda cheese. We have a small glass container on our counter for quick snacks. Also love oranges.
We’ve compiled a LONG list of bad ingredients that we keep on our phone, and keep adding to it. It’s getting longer and longer. When we read ingredients on a label and it includes any of those, we skip it.
Forgot to add that we eat a healthy protein rich breakfast of 3 large eggs, with sour cream, cheese sauce, 505 green chili sauce and herbs. We’re not hungry at all until late afternoon, so we rarely need snacks. Eggs come from a local farmer. Cheese is grass fed if available made with animal rennet. Both of us are lean and mean.
An occasional favorite late night, early morning snack for me is a hard-boiled egg with a small amount sauerkraut. It is a precious thing, so I cut it with a fork, dividing it into smaller and smaller pieces to make it last as long as possible. Oh, and another favorite is gefilte fish (not the gelled type) with horse radish.
Yummy ideas … thanks @vegandan
True , and they actively market it as a healthy choice. I am happy we found a small organic farmer near us, and the fruit is often smaller and more tart, all seasonal and supporting a small local business. But not everyone has this option, sadly.
I use a few apps to scan products too. Love a snack bowl or jar, stops you from gabbing something unhealthy when you realise you are hungry. I would often eat parmesan cheese as a snack, with a few nuts. Fills you up and tastes great too.
Both great snack ideas … going to add them to my sheet.
Likewise, a ketogenic diet has virtually eliminated any desire for junk snacks. As for this list herein, I’d say anything made with modern wheat. When I allow myself the occasional slice of bread it’s from sprouted grain rather than processed flour.
And the flour in the UK now has mandatory added folic acid. Love bread, but more easy to avoid it when you know there are unnecessary additives.
The additives are certainly concerning, but my understanding is that modern strains of wheat can be inherently harmful. I’m not qualified to judge that evidence, but I do know that the more highly processed the flour is, the higher the glycemic load. That goes directly to glucose and A1C, and cancer just LOVES it. I’ve also read that wheat affects the same receptors in the brain as heroin. Look, I’m Italian. I love bread and pasta. But I’m battling cancer, and so I avoid ANY simple carbohydrates as much as I can. I occasionally eat a piece of toast made from sprouted bread (mostly Food For Life or Simple Truth), depending on the day’s meal plan. We also just discovered pasta made from chickpeas, so a small serving of that works when I need a fix. . I stay between 20-30g of carbohydrate per day. My glucose is around 80-85, and A1C is 4.5. Metformin, berberine, and b-hydroxy butyrate are helping me keep those numbers the lowest they’ve been in my 71 years. Oh, and now I weigh what I did in high school!
That weighing what you did at school is brilliant, it has to be that your discipline will pay off. All the very best for the New Year. And keep us updated about how the cancer fight is going. Fewer carbs seems worth it for the end game gain.
Looooove a good simple salad.
Love eggs. Especially love eggs from a local farmer. Our local guy just got a bunch of chickens. Going to be very interesting to see if there’s a taste difference from his completely organic product to generic. Helen said he should feed marigolds to his chickens to increase the bioavailability of Lutein.