Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Just Step Away from the Box

Even if the box says low fat, low calorie, low carb or some other nonsense claim, processed food will make you fat. No ifs, ands or buts.

Remember Snack-Wells Cookies? In the 1990's the manufacturer of Snack-Wells claimed that since the cookies were fat free we could magically eat as many as we wanted and never gain an ounce.

But the reality is that we all gained weight eating Snack Wells, or Tofutti yogurt, or whatever "fat free" sensation was hawked to us at the time.

That's because processed foods make you fat, no matter what the claim that they won't.

I'm in the process of reading Michael Pollan's "In Defense of Food," and it illuminates what I've been saying here. Despite decades of manufacturers creating and marketing thousands of products with claims to help us manage our weight, the only direction our weight has moved in is up. And, we've also gotten sicker along the way.

"Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants." That's Pollan's advice, and my advice as well if you want to lose weight and keep it off.

And, even though I advocate eating raw, I don't mean raw processed foods. Go directly to the source and eat raw fruits and vegetables. Fill yourself up on leafy green salads, frest fruit and fresh uncooked veggies and you'll see pounds drop off in no time.

You won't lose any weight eating 100 calorie packs of cookies or low carb pasta.

1 comment:

  1. I knew those 100 calorie packs were too good to be true!

    ReplyDelete