Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Tip #7, Ten Tips Continued

7. The better you eat, the better you’ll feel.

The previous tip aside, the better quality food you can put on the table, the better off you and your family will be. You’ll enjoy it more (which is the main goal in my opinion) and it will be more healthy for you in the long run. Fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, real food, not processed food, are all better for you. You know this, but it can be hard to avoid the siren call of convenience at your supermarket deli case or frozen food aisle. Just make a commitment to improve—that’s the first step. You might be pretty frightened to read what’s in that frozen dinner. Look at the label: the ingredients, and the fat, sugar or calorie content. As Michael Pollan suggests, use the Grandmother rule. If your Grandma would have no idea what that ingredient is, think twice before eating it!

There was a brand of frozen chicken pot pies I used to buy. The packaging evoked home-cooked and the ingredients shown the carton’s photo seemed “real” enough. They tasted good and were pretty easy. One day I looked at the label. That pie had something like 77% of your daily fat allowance per serving and lots of sodium. I never bought one again. Look at the labels, make better food choices, and buy food without labels—fresh fruits and vegetables.

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