Bad Habit #2: Eating foods that don't nourish.
Biggest Loser trainer, Jillian Michaels, is credited with saying, "Eat for FUEL, not for FUN!" This applies to several aspects of healthy eating, but I'm using it here to point out that food is meant to be fuel for our bodies. You wouldn't fill the gas tank of your car with sugar-water. It would grind to a screeching halt! You body needs the right kind of fuel too.
"The condition of the physical body affects the spirit. That's why the Lord gave us the Word of Wisdom...In general, the more food we eat in its natural state and the less it is refined with additives, the healthier it will be for us. Food can affect the mind, and deficiencies in certain elements in the body can promote mental depression."
- Ezra Taft Benson, Oct. 1974
I'm not saying that everything needs to be eaten raw. By all means, steam the broccoli if that's the way you like it, but believe it our not, a light steaming for vegetables is the best way to get all of the nutrients from them. Boiling vegetables draws the vitamins and minerals into the water you drain off, and then you don't get as much benefit from them.
This principle of close to nature foods means that the food you make for your family from whole food ingredients will be infinitely better for you than the packaged meals in the store. You avoid those chemicals on the food labels that can't even be pronounced. Simply put, the things that factories do to food to give it longer shelf life, make it addictive (caffeine, sugar, & corn syrups) and increase their profits, also rob that food of it's fiber and best nutrients.
Nutritionist Zonya Foco joked that "germs are smarter than people," because they won't eat the processed junk. She used a plate of processed chocolate-covered donuts to illustrate that point. This same plate of donuts had traveled with her from lecture to lecture for months without deteriorating one bit. Those pesky germs recognized when a food had been stripped of it's nutritional value, and they wouldn't touch it.
To help illustrate this point with a little humor, I'm adding this clip of comedian Tim Hawkins: The Food Prayer
To help illustrate this point with a little humor, I'm adding this clip of comedian Tim Hawkins: The Food Prayer
Zonya also says to shop the perimeter of the store because that's were the food in its natural state can be found... the fruit, the vegetable, the unprocessed meat. Think about where the close to nature foods are located.
I also look to the Word of Wisdom in identifying the best foods for us to eat.
Doctrine & Covenants 89:
10) And again, verily I say unto you, all wholesome herbs God hath ordained for the constitution, nature, and use of man—
11) Every herb in the season thereof, and every fruit in the season thereof; all these to be used with prudence and thanksgiving.
12) Yea, flesh also of beasts and of the fowls of the air, I, the Lord, have ordained for the use of man with thanksgiving; nevertheless they are to be used sparingly;
13) And it is pleasing unto me that they should not be used, only in times of winter, or of cold, or famine.
14) All grain is ordained for the use of man and of beasts, to be the staff of life...
16) All grain is good for the food of man; as also the fruit of the vine; that which yieldeth fruit, whether in the ground or above the ground—
I compare any diet suggestions to the Word of Wisdom, and if they don't match, then I won't use them. So, if that diet book says "eat masses of meat but no fruit," then it's not in harmony with the Word of Wisdom. If the latest diet craze says Green Tea will solve all of your energy and weight loss needs, I don't believe it.
As I read the Word of Wisdom, I'm always struck by the emphasis on plant based foods. I take that to mean we should not only eat meat sparingly, but also animal products, especially fatty ones like cheese, butter and cream. I even use eggs whites instead of whole eggs in recipes when I can. Close to nature foods means bread & pasta made from whole grain flour. We switched to brown rice instead of white. I prefer healthy oils and butter - used sparingly - to shortening & margarine. We drink mostly water and skim milk instead of soda and flavored drinks. I use more beans in our meals as our source of protein. Half of your plate at each meal should be filled with fruits and vegetables, a fourth of the plate with a whole grain (rice, bread, or pasta) and the last fourth with protein. You get the idea, and I know you've heard this all before.
As I read the Word of Wisdom, I'm always struck by the emphasis on plant based foods. I take that to mean we should not only eat meat sparingly, but also animal products, especially fatty ones like cheese, butter and cream. I even use eggs whites instead of whole eggs in recipes when I can. Close to nature foods means bread & pasta made from whole grain flour. We switched to brown rice instead of white. I prefer healthy oils and butter - used sparingly - to shortening & margarine. We drink mostly water and skim milk instead of soda and flavored drinks. I use more beans in our meals as our source of protein. Half of your plate at each meal should be filled with fruits and vegetables, a fourth of the plate with a whole grain (rice, bread, or pasta) and the last fourth with protein. You get the idea, and I know you've heard this all before.
Close to nature foods don't merely offer the best nourishment for your body, guess what they also do best?
They fill you up!
That's right. Foods in their natural state give you more bulk for fewer calories, and the fiber in them will keep you feeling satisfied much longer than the refined and processed junk. So, you get the best nutrients, the largest amount of food, and the fewest amount of calories in close to nature foods. The Lord knew what he was doing when He created our food sources.
God isn't going to change the molecular structure of our food on the way to our stomachs - He expects us to use the best foods for our fuel, and he's told us what they are. He's also told us the blessing for using them, and they are wonderful! After eating this way, I feel CLEAN. There's no other word I can use to describe it. It's clean fuel.
I have to add one other note. The "Before" picture on the first post of this series does not show me at my heaviest weight (such pictures are almost non-existant.) But at my heaviest weight (12 years ago) I was 25 pounds larger than what you see the "Before" photo. The diet changes I described in this post - creating healthy, more natural-food meals - helped me drop my first 25 pounds before my other bad habits had me plateauing. I hope I'm expressing how powerful this natural food habit is. Committing to healthy living and then seeking these natural foods are the foundation for all of my weight loss.
Oh how I love reading your blog. This is such wonderful stuff. Thanks for sharing all your tips. I hope you know that I take each one very seriously and talk with Scott about it each time you post. We love it!
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