With all the talk of going sugar free, eating super foods, going Paleo and other trends, brains can really only handle so much new information about food. A forest of ideas grows and after a while, we can’t even see the truth.
Other brains, who have never even considered thinking about food consciously tend to stumble into this forest getting swallowed up pretty quickly.
We like to keep things simple and results driven, so here are 5 biggest food traps / aka myths that you’re buying into / aka things that you’re doing.
NUMBER ONE : DIET FOODS
Low fat = high sugar
Low sugar = high chemical
It’s that simple.
The importance of staying clear of a high sugar AND high chemical diet is Gut Bacteria. There is a lot of information about keeping your gut healthy and why. There is also solid research showing that gut bacteria balance and body weight are linked, and of course, lots of products and babbling gurus to go along with it.
But you’re missing the basics; stop wiping it out in the first place!
Aspartame and Sugar both play a role in Dysbiosis (gut bacteria imbalance) and our gut is the big guy responsible for our physical and mental health.
Yeah, look I know there are big, ripped, lean people out there swilling chemical foods – that’s a whole other health and fitness myth – just ask any competitor who has ended up with adrenal fatigue and metabolic damage
There is a better way and it’s not in a bottle of low-fat yoghurt or in a diet coke or less than 100 calorie whatever’s.
NUMBER TWO : LITE FOODS
Same as diet foods, these will be chemical shit storms.
But what you may not know is that some of these foods only say Lite because they are lite in colour, taste or texture.
How many of you buy ‘Lite’ foods thinking they’re lower calorie, without checking the back of the pack?
NUMBER THREE : WITH REAL FRUIT
Here’s a great example I got from a colleague. It’s about a chocolate bar. Now, go with me on this – even though this seems totally ridiculous and we are looking at a TREAT food, I want you to understand, this happens just as ridiculously with the things you think are healthy.
Check this out
This chocolate bar has ‘real lime zest’ in it.
Flip it over and sure enough it says lime zest – 40%
Read closer and it says freeze-dried lime 1% (lime zest 40%)
What this actually means is.
The chocolate bar has only 1% of it’s total volume in lime. OF THAT 1%, 40% was lime zest. In other words 0.4% (less than half %) of the chocolate contained lime zest.
1.4g.
¼ tsp lime zest.
1 stinkin grate of the lime (if that)
Real fruit is a piece of real fruit. Not fruit that used to be real fruit added to sugar, preservatives and thickeners to create an illusion of a serving of real fruit.
NUMBER 4 : LOW SALT
Too much salt is bad for us.
Being too scared of salt and not understanding it is bad for us.
There are two hidden food traps here; the misunderstanding of salt and the myth that low salt foods are any healthier for us.
Your blood is 0.08% sodium and if you go on an IV, it too is 0.08% sodium. Having low salt products is teaching us incorrectly that salt is bad, so we go on crazy raw food, no salt diets and bugger up our basal sodium levels. It’s crazy.
The second food trap really relates back to number 1 again – MSG is a great substitute for salt and is also a great disruptor of your gut bacteria. I found a page that lists all the different names of MSG for you Click here à http://lifespa.com/sneaky-names-for-msg-check-your-labels/
Just add the salt to your natural wholefoods for a tasty experience, it’ll add to your satiety of your meals.
NUMBER 5 : TAKING THINGS TOO LITERALLY
“I Quit Sugar” has us all scared of fruit
Paleo has us petrified of grains and legumes
Wellness Warriors have turned us into Medical Conspiracists
This hidden food trap is buried underneath 30 years of internet and 30 years of humans believing everything they read on the internet as truth. We have forgotten what our ancestors did automatically and that was to listen to our own bodies and our own wisdom.
Our ancestors let their own bodies decide what was right or not. In hard times they ate things that may not have agreed 100% because it was the right thing at that time.
That’s one reason why humans have this diverse make-up in their ability to digest fruits, vegetables, meats, nuts, seeds, grains, legumes and dairy – evolution. The other reason, comes down to the digestive capabilities of the body. It’s not the food that is bad – it’s the body not responding.
But the internet gurus don’t tell you that, they just tell you to stay away from food x, y, z and leave it up to you to decide how to put that into context
And the next thing you know … all you’re eating is organic sacred kale and grass fed alpine goat.
In other words, you become scared of entire categories of food and give up reading your body in favour of listening to some guru who has no idea who you are.
This really is a hidden trap, and in all seriousness, organic sacred kale and grass fed alpine goat is not too far from where some people end up with their nutrition out of the confusion.
CLIMB YOUR WAY OUT OF THE FOOD TRAP TODAY
The easiest way to climb out of the food trap is to do the opposite of everything we have just listed.
Here’s a To Do List for Beginners to climb out of the trap
Make a list of your favourite foods in the following categories;
- 5x Animal/Vegetarian Proteins
- 3x Root Vegetables
- 5x Fibrous/Leafy/Coloured Vegetables
- 5x Fruits
- 5x Good Fats (nuts, seeds, avo, oils)
- 3x Grains (the whole ones … they look like pellets … Not white bread!)
- 1x Milk type (almond, soy, oat, dairy etc)
And eat sensible portions of those particular foods every day. Take the guilt out of eating from all food groups and start to enjoy YOUR favourite foods within all of the healthy categories – and don’t forget to add some salt for seasoning!