Tips to Keep in Mind When Eating Healthier

Hello! I'm glad you all are back!  I hope you're staying warm and dry in this bout of nasty weather! Hopefully the pumpkin recipes helped keep you all warm. :) So you've made the decision to eat healthier...perfect! But as you all know, eating healthy can mean a million different things. For some people that means eating gluten-free, eating less saturated fats, etc. But, there are still some pitfalls that are hard to avoid if you're not careful. Remember, food companies (even healthy ones) are in the market for  making a profit. So how do you know what to buy and what not to? Well, here are  some tricks to keep in mind while shopping to make sure you're buying the absolute best. 1. Anything that comes straight from the ground (think veggies and fruits)... you need to buy organic. Now, as a college student, I understand that not everyone can afford to go full blown organic. I mean, food is expensive! But, for the extra few cents a pound, I'm willing to buy sweet potatoes without chemicals vs buying sweet potatoes doused with chemicals... that eventually will be ingested. What you put into your body affects you. Fruit and vegetables sprayed with pesticide and then shipped to a store are NOT healthy for you. If anything, it's worse to straight up eat pesticide residue on your food than presumably eat preservatives. It's important to note, that if you keep your eyes open, you can find non-organic and organic foods are around the same price depending on where you shop. For example, grapes at Ingles and Walmart are 1.99 a pound, but if you look at Kroger's organic section, you'll notice that their organic grapes are 1.99 as well. Which one are YOU going to purchase?  Now, since going all organic is incredibly expensive, here's a list of the top foods to buy organic and the fruits and veggies that are okay to buy non-organic. This chart is from the website 100 days of real food and the Environmental Working Group. You can also read about some of the dangers of pesticides here.  http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2012/10/01/food-babe-investigates-whole-foods/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+100DaysOfRealFood+(100+Days+of+Real+Food) *Tip: Kroger does indeed have a wonderful organic section! I notice they tend to rival neighboring grocery stores on their regular pricing with their organic food pricing.  2. Whole grain is better than whole wheat. Think pita breads, tortilla wraps, pasta, etc. Whole grain and whole wheat are two terms that can easily be confused. But, the differences are important! Whole grains are better for you because they are less refined, have more nutrients, vitamins, and fiber. Even if you can't find something in whole grain, whole wheat is a better alternative than plain white refined carbs. Check out the infographic below to see the differences between whole grain and whole wheat! Photo credit: Pinterest 3. Switch out your chips!  As we all know, the precious potato chips that we all know and love are notorious for being fattening, but they're so delicious! What do you do when you want something crunchy to snack on guilt-free? Switch out those chips! The good news is there are lots of options! There's everything from $2 tortilla chips, to Sun Chips, to sweet potato chips from Trader Joe's. You can even make your own! There's tons of recipes on Pinterest and other websites where you can make whatever chip your heart desires. I've seen everything from zucchini chips to apple chips. Whatever your budget, and whatever your style, check the label and try to find a healthier alternative than regular ole' potato chips.  4. Of course, drink more water...but stay away from those dyes! Let's face it; we all know we're supposed to drink more water, but sometimes plain water is just plain boring. Sometimes I like to mix it up a bit and have flavored water...BUT, squirting some flavored dye into your water just made your water, well, unhealthy. Here's the why behind it. Basically, the strong artificial dyes and the flavoring has preservatives and toxins. Instead, here's some healthy alternatives: Emergen-C, Propel, La Croix bubbly water, coconut water, putting fresh lemon juice, lime juice, or mint in your water, or drink tea. For more detail, go to http://www.familygonehealthy.com/science/food-science-artificial-food-dyes/ Also, photo credit goes to link above. If you would like to read even MORE about the dangers of food dyes, feel free to read these... http://www.fastcodesign.com/3020148/infographic-just-how-dangerous-is-the-dye-in-your-food http://www.livestrong.com/slideshow/1007800-11-banned-food-ingredients-still-allowed-us/#slide-12 5. Check the sugar content on protein bars and yogurts. Believe it or not, the sweet flavors that your protein bars and yogurts come in, are well, loaded with sugar. Most protein bars that I've seen have an upwards of 15g to 20+g of sugar in ONE protein bar!! Unless you're planning not to eat anything with sugar for the rest of the day, then you're already exceeding the recommended daily amount of sugar intake. My favorite protein bars are from Nature Valley in the cereal aisle and have only 6g of sugar and 10g of protein. They're super delicious too! Also, the same goes for yogurts. Typically yogurts have about the same amount of sugar as well. To decrease sugar intake, simply look at the back of the label. Usually store brands or off brands have lower sugar amounts. Some of my favorites are the Ingles brand or the Activia Brand. According to CalorieCount.com, Dannon Activia light only has about 9 g of sugar in each cup of yogurt. http://www.caloriecount.com/calories-dannon-activia-light-strawberry-i134320  There it is! I hope you all enjoyed reading this post and realize that these truly are just the beginning. There are millions of ways to create a healthier life and diet, but these are a few of my favorite tips and tricks to share. I highly recommend looking around on Google and other sources about healthy eating, chemicals, and how they affect us. In the meantime, if there's something here you learned or if you all have any tips that YOU'd like to know I'd love to know!  Much love, G