Healthy Food

By Michael S Allen

Fitness professionals like me are frequently confounded by the internal contention people have regarding weight loss. People usually want to lose weight, but then they don't change the way they eat. For some reason people have trouble accepting that junk food is inconsistent with weight loss!

You have to get natural, unprocessed food if you're ever going to get anywhere with your weight. Come on! People say they want to lose weight, and then their kitchen is littered with all kinds of sugary, processed cereals, desserts, candy, potato chips, soft drinks and unhealthy juices. If people really wanted to lose weight, why is it that they don't want to bad enough to change their eating habits?

Most of the time people explain their refusal to give up unhealthy food because they want to have enjoyment in life. This is an oxymoron because the food they eat is actually creating death in them! In the end, eating bad food doesn't help you enjoy anything about life.

If you'd change your eating habits, you would find that you enjoy life more because you'll have more energy, have a better sense of wellbeing, and lose weight. You'll develop more self confidence and have a better life.

Sometimes people associate healthy food with tasteless, uninteresting food, but when you make an effort to change your diet you will discover that you will enjoy the natural tastes that you have been missing in all that sweetened and salted junk food.

A good example is how that if you'd switch from sweet tea to natural unsweetened tea; you'll be shocked if you ever try your old favorite again. You'll wonder how you ever drank that stuff. What happens is that you learn that you just don't need all that unhealthy food after all.

Another good example is coffee. You might think that you can't drink coffee without adding in sweeteners and flavorings, but if you gradually decrease what you use, you'll eventually discover that you can enjoy the natural flavor of black coffee after all.

The list of examples could go on forever. Once you change your frame of reference, you will enjoy food in the form closer to what was intended for you to eat in the first place! You no longer have to be enslaved to the processed food industry.

In order to lose weight, you have to be open minded, realizing that adjusting to new foods can take some time, but is essential to every aspect of your health. As you transition to a healthier diet, here are a few examples of healthy replacements for junk food:

Unhealthy: Chocolate candy, donuts, or cake.

Healthy: A serving of extra-dark chocolate (with over 70% cocoa content). This has less sugar and more fiber than your everyday chocolate.

Unhealthy: Deep fried and breaded chicken with French fries with tons of trans fat.

Healthy: Grilled chicken with veggies and peanut sauce for dipping.

Unhealthy: Cheap burger on white bun from a fast food joint.

Healthier: A burger made from grass fed, naturally raised beef (good levels of omega-3 fats and CLA) and organically sourced cheese on whole grain bread.

See? You can still get great tasting food even though it's healthier for you! Now you can really live a better, healthier life! Keep on making the transition to real food and you'll never want to go back to your old unhealthy eating habits. Good luck!