FOOD THERAPY...EAT REAL FOOD (diets are meant to confuse you)

If you've been following nutrition for any amount of time, you've likely encountered a ton of conflicting advice. Such as, eggs are good for you; then suddenly they’re bad, then they’re good again. Fat? Eat less. Wait, I meant eat more, but only “good” fat. Wait no…it depends on who you ask.  Carbs? Good idea…no, bad…no, good, but only the right type of carbs. Ah, F*ck it!

Everyone is an expert and they have all the answers but it doesn't seem to be working. Does it? Well, I’m here to tell you all, that I have the answer.  I'm the guru of change.  With this one post you're going to look, feel and perform better.  What is this sage advice that will have you wearing smaller clothes, lifting bigger weights and feeling awesome?

EAT REAL FOOD! 

That's it. Pay me millions and millions of dollars.  No?  Darn. 

Anyhow, there is no diet that will do what eating healthy does. There’s no better strategy than changing your diet to include more real food (think fruits, vegetables, tubers, meat, nuts ...stuff like that). Oh, one more nugget of wisdom...ditch processed foods. Yup, that’s it. That’s the entire bit of wisdom I have for you. If you’re looking for complex diets that require you to stress about everything you put in your mouth, I appreciate you stopping by, but I can’t help you. Oh and by the way ditch the scale.  It can only give you a numerical reflection of your relationship with gravity. It doesn't measure beauty, talent, intelligence, possibility...I digress.

"But, but...I don't know what real food is?" Fine, I'll expand.

I'll keep it simple: Eat real foods, preferably in their natural state.  Example.

Real Food grows and dies. It isn’t created.
Real Food rots, wilts, and becomes generally unappetizing, typically rather quickly.
Real Food doesn’t need an ingredient label (and probably isn't in a package either).
Real Food doesn’t have celebrity endorsements.
Real Food doesn’t make health claims.

Here's a simple test :
Broccoli – Most certainly a real food
Steak – Deliciously real food, straight off the cow
Oreo cookies – Seriously?
Eggs – Straight from my backyard.
Walnuts – Yup
Pop-Tarts – I think you're getting the hang of this.

Eating real foods virtually eliminates one of the hardest parts of maintaining your weight: counting calories (or carbs or fat). Real foods have a built-in feedback mechanism to keep you from overeating. Protein and fat stimulate appetite-suppressing hormones. Fruits and vegetables tend to be bulky for their caloric content. Some may want to argue about Glycemic Indexes and other fun things, but no one gets fat by eating carrots. People get fat by eating fake foods. Just eat real ones and I guarantee that you’ll shed fat and feel better.

I'm not going to argue about low carb, low fat, The Zone, Ornish, Atkins, and Weight Watchers. They’ll give you a million complex scientific reasons why their way is the one true way but mostly they’re just confusing you. It's a multi-billion dollar industry.  I’m not interested.

Your body, which is significantly smarter than your mind, knows what it needs and if you feed it real food and then pay attention, it will give you feedback.

If you think that real food is boring, you’re just not thinking it through. There’s absolutely nothing boring about real food. There’s far more variety in the produce aisle than in every other aisle of the store. If you really think about it, the middle aisles are really just different combinations of corn, wheat, soy, and sugar.

Now maybe you've been living the convenience food lifestyle for awhile and don’t quite know where to start with real food. I'm here to tell you it's time to cook. Stir fries, salads or one pot with everything thrown in it and bake are always easy.  Sorry, I can't cook for you but I'll try my best to get some simple recipes up here for those with zero cooking skills.  Any suggestions are welcome. Here's a few

Crock pot stuffed peppers (stuff it all in and close the lid)
Chicken bake (for the simplicity of throwing it in and baking)
Baked egg in avocado (talk about simple)
Cauliflower pizza crust (for the gluten intolerant)
Creamy vegetable pasta (for the veggie lovers)
vegetable pancakes ( for my love of korean food)
lemon baked cod (for those who can handle some cheese)
bacon and egg cups (for breakfast)

Here are some guidelines to help you sort out what’s real food and what's not.

Real foods:
Are minimally processed, closest to their natural form.
Often have no label, as with fruits and vegetables.
Have short ingredient lists, usually with five pronounceable ingredients or less.
Are loaded with natural nutrients, not added vitamins and minerals.
Will more than likely spoil in a week.