You Are What You Eat

Problem is, most of us overestimate how healthy our food is and underestimate how much of it we eat.

This week, the CBS Evening News released a report from Consumer Reports Health, outlining some of the ways Americans demonstrate their confusion about healthy weight and healthy eating. It starts with how we approach weight in general: 79% of the adults interviewed said they never weigh themselves and 85% said they never count calories. 



Many people seem to believe that it's only sweet dessert-type foods that belong in the "unhealthy" category and that they will always be higher in calories and fat than a non-dessert item. In past blogs we've seen that's not always true: overload a green salad with meats, croutons, cheese and too much dressing and you have a meal that can top a Whopper in terms of fat and calories.  On a smaller scale, some containers of yogurt can be higher in calories and sugar than the same size portion of pudding or even ice cream. You really have to lose the assumptions, and  KNOW what you are putting in your mouth!

So if healthy eating and losing weight is on your New Year's list of things to accomplish, you have to start with facts: know what you are eating and know how much you should have as a serving size.  Know how much you should be consuming everyday in order to lose weight. In general, choose fresh, non-processed foods for most of your meals, and if you are wondering about the nutritional or caloric content of a specific food, websites like http://www.calorieking.com/ can give you the nutritional content of nearly every food choice you might want.

I'll be offering a workshop called Make 10 Changes to Lose 10 Pounds in 10 Weeks at Davis Memorial Hospital on January 15. In next week's blog and in the nine that follow, we'll be looking at those 10 changes. Tune in next week to start losing!