We all start somewhere

The first nutrition information I ever received was in the form of a small, orange flavored elephant that had a chalky aftertaste that lasted for hours. My mom made that elephant seem so important to eat along with my Cinnamon Toast Crunch and glass of orange juice for breakfast every morning growing up.

Of course since then, my knowledge of nutrition has morphed and shifted. It can be a rough ride trying to keep up with the most recent diet and what foods you want to include and which ones to avoid. It seems to change on a daily basis.

Throughout college and for a short time after, I followed the general advice of eating whole grains, low-fat, and count your calories. I tried to avoid eating meat, and at one point thought that I could seriously be a vegetarian, except for the occasional cheeseburger now and again.
Then I gained 20lbs. For real?!? I thought this was eating healthy! Why was I gaining weight?
Now, to be fair, I've never had a major weight issue and my husband couldn't even tell that I had gained weight, but I knew something was wrong because of the way I felt. A few cue words to give you an idea of the way I was feeling: bloated. hungry [all the time]. low energy. regular migraines and headaches. just plain lousy!

I read a book that changed my nutrition world - Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes. He pointed out the real villain with our Standard American Diet- sugar. And he pointed out the science telling me it's ok to eat natural fats like butter and coconut oil and protein like red meat and eggs because they have never been the problem when it comes to managing a healthy weight and other conditions like heart disease or diabetes.

Since then, we've kicked out the cereal, the crackers, the bagels from our house and we stick to REAL foods as much as possible. Of course, every now and again I will make cookies for company or for holidays, but that stuff has become a rare occasion.

My goal in this blog is to help others move from feeling like they need to count calories or avoid butter and steak or bacon and eggs, to understanding that these natural foods (that we humans have been eating for a very long time) are not the issue - it's all about the processed sugar and refined carbs that are wearing out our bodies and contributing to weight gain and tons of other health struggles.

So, let's make this practical.

What swaps can we make to take out the fake food and replace it with real food?

I've already touched on this one, but cereal is pretty common. All the way from Froot Loops to Kashi Go Lean, it's a pretty typical American breakfast. It's also high in sugar.
Instead of the bowl of cereal, try having eggs [yolk included!] in the morning cooked in butter. Doesn't that sound amazing? Eggs and butter are good for us! Why? because they're natural foods, no sugar added.

How about for a snack, something typical like a cup of strawberry yogurt, nonfat, since that's all that's out there these days. Again, high in sugar.
Easy swap here: full-fat, plain yogurt. Why? it has less sugar, and the fat isn't the villain remember, because it's a natural fat. Plus, when the yogurt company removes the fat they have to replace it with something else to create the same texture and flavor, usually it's a chemical or sugar. No good.

For snacks, it might take some re-thinking of what that looks like.
A few ideas for ya:

• Hard boiled egg with a fruit or veggie with some cheese (pretty typical for me).
• Half of an avocado, slice of meat, and a fruit or veggie
• Spoonful of natural peanut or almond butter with an apple
• Slice or two of meat wrapped around a pickle and cream cheese
• Berries with heavy cream poured over (another favorite of mine)

If you may notice, these snacks include more fat and protein. Naturally by limiting sugar, more fat will be included,  it's just the way the math works out. Not to worry, as long as the fat is natural fat you're good to go. (Avoid fats like vegetable oils or soybean oil, safflower oil - lots of fried foods from restaurants use these oils.)

REAL food. I keep saying that. What I mean is anything that is in or closest to its natural state, limiting prepackaged products like frozen meals, baked goods, soda etc.

This conversion doesn't have to happen overnight, but making one swap a week could be a great place to start.