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| Rethinking your food choices is the first step to losing weight. |
A common dieting problem is often in the product’s labeling when you see promises of words such fat-free, sugar-free or salt-free when you shop for groceries. You need to carefully decipher that label of those foods first because they can be misleading. For example, “fat-free” may have the manufacturer compensating for the missing fat with other ingredients such as an excessive amount of salt or sugar. The real truth is the FDA allows that product to have 0.5 grams per serving of sugar or fat or less than five calories per serving.
Be just as careful when you read low-cal, low-salt, low-sugar, low-fat or even natural on a package. The FDA basically gives manufacturers a free reign in this type of labeling as long as the product does not contain added color, artificial flavors, or synthetic substances.
Instead of those containers of sweetened regular or Greek yogurt with the fruit or even tastier with those separate sections of yummy toppings to mix in as well, you might want to pick up a plain Greek yogurt and mix some honey and fresh fruit such as berries to make your own. Add a little flax seed to your mix and your yogurt will be lower calorie than what you were buying along with more antioxidants.
Those bottled fruit smoothies or the ones you stop for when eating out are much higher in calories and sweeteners than you may think if you take the time to read the label. Try making your own smoothies with fresh fruits and greens. Throw in a tablespoon of chia seeds to your smoothie and you’ll help curb your appetite. Be sure to soak that tablespoon with three tablespoons of water first before blending or grind the seeds in your coffee grinder first then add to your smoothie.
Granola bars aren’t helpful to your cause. You think eating one will carry you through that need for a candy bar or satisfy your hunger until the next meal, but each has a lot more calories than nutrition. These are loaded with fats, oils, sugars, and salt. A better alternative is to buy a few packages of almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds, dried coconut, and pumpkin seeds to mix your own health mix that you could carry with you in a small plastic lunch bag. You can even make homemade granola bars.
These are just a few useful suggestions before hitting stores. After all, when you want to lose weight, it always is better to do it with a friend. I hope this post leaves you with more insight into those healthier foods and their labeling for better weight loss results.
