While neither Brillat-Savarin or Feuerbach meant their quotations to be taken literally, they were stating that the food one eats has a bearing on one’s state of mind and health.
Looking over your eating plan, what food items do you consume the most? Meats? Dairy? Veggies? If you like granola bars, perhaps that would make you a fruit, nut or flake. For some of my acquaintances that wouldn’t be too far fetched. If you regularly follow my blogs and read my articles, you know that I recommend following a sensible eating plan while avoiding the junk foods. For this segment I wanted to review just a short-list of food items you should avoid, or at least minimize. In future postings I’m sure I’ll add to this list as we go. If you have questions about certain foods or have a favorite food item you know little about and would like to get more information on, contact me and I’ll gladly review that with you. For now, be sure to avoid these foods (if you can even call them food).
Hot Dogs – By now, most of you are probably aware of how hot dogs are made. So why anyone in their right mind would want to eat them baffles me. Most of their calories (over 80%) come from fat.
Bacon – Personally, I prefer to stay away from any food source that comes from pig. Though I’m not Jewish, it’s easy to understand why they believe pork to be “taboo”. As for bacon, get this, even what is labeled as “lean” bacon (isn’t that an oxymoron) consists of 82% fat.
Fast food burgers – Once again, I can’t help but put this at the top of all my “foods to avoid” list. A McDonald’s Big Mac, 7.6 oz contains 590 calories (52% from fat) and 1090 mg sodium.
Cakes – A 3 oz piece of a pound cake gives you over 360 calories, of which more than 50% comes from fat! Then when you add the double layers, icing, sprinkles…need I say more?
Alcohol – A daily dose of a 12 ouncer (146 calories) can increase your weight by 1.2 pounds in just 4 weeks if you don’t do any exercise!
Well, I can go on and on, as there would be no feasible way to cover all the blacklisted foods. Even with the few that I listed here, I can just see many of you cringing as you read. I’m aware that these food items have long been staples in our American “diet”. Now, the Optimum Fitness system does not encourage deprivation. So I always talk about moderation when it comes to “cheating”. In a nutshell, that’s to say if you enjoy having cake for dessert, then by all means, feel free. Just don’t have it every night! If any other questions, you know how to get a hold of me. With that, Happy Training… and Happy Eating!
Check out my song “Don’t Be Queasy” a parody of “Take It Easy”. Click here to watch the video!
