If it's not whole, natural, and unprocessed, then it's not healthy!

I've been realizing in the process of adopting a healthy eating lifestyle that there are many things to consider when making food choices. Fat, protein, fiber, sodium; all of these play a part in whether or not the food is healthy and clean. Also, those low fat, low cal, low carb items that we always thought were so much better for us, just have other harmful ingredients in them to compensate for what's been removed. Most "diet" foods are full of chemicals and preservatives to make them look and taste like real food, and to make sure they are still "edible". Although saying that most of these foods are edible is a stretch. If it's not whole, natural, and unprocessed, then it's not healthy!

I had recently gotten in to a habit of eating turkey bacon and sliced deli turkey. Both were the same brand, Oscar Meyer. I'm not knocking Oscar Meyer specifically; just happens that both items were made by the same company. I was eating these two foods almost daily, thinking they were low in fat and calories so, so they had to be safe. Honestly, I know better, but I guess I was in my own form of denial.

I was sticking within my calories every day, I was burning mucho calories in my workouts, drinking my water, eating my fruits and veggies, yet the weight wasn't coming off. I had not been tracking anything but calories and fat, but one day I decided to take a look at how much sodium I was consuming. I never really thought about it before. It had never been an issue for me health wise, and I didn't even know what the RDA for sodium was. Plus I usually drank a lot of water. But, after seemingly exhausting all other areas of why I was stalled, I decided to change my food diary settings to include sodium. Low and behold, I was consuming a minimum of 500-1000 mgs above the RDA for sodium every day! I thought because I was drinking so much water, that I would naturally get rid of any excess, but most likely I was holding on to it even more. It's only been a few days since I have been watching my sodium intake, but I can already feel a difference and I am excited to see what the scale says on Friday.

Bottom line is, whole, natural foods are the healthiest for you. Most things are not going to hurt you if you're only consuming them once in a while, and enjoying some indulgences every so often is perfectly fine. But, when you're looking at the big picture, your overall weight loss and even more importantly, your health, look at all areas. Don't just focus on fat, carbs, or calories. There are many pieces to the puzzle and you really do have to pay attention. Read those food labels. You would be very surprised to see what unhealthy things are in what we think are healthy foods.