About this blog

In other words, the Zone + Crossfit = Optimal Heath!
This blog focuses on nutrition, using the Zone Diet as the basis. However, I often eat Paleo foods in Zone proportions.
I love to investigate anything having to do with food- what we eat and why. And what happens within our bodies, our organs, our brain, when we do? My precious mother struggled with eating disorders. I want to avoid this delimma based on research, common sense, and the natural consequences on my body. The Zone shows me where the balance lies between eating too much and eating too little.
My husband runs a Crossfit gym. Exercise and choosing the right foods have become a mission for ourselves and our children. We don't want to be nerds about it, we just want to be healthy.
I have been asked by several friends what I feed our family, especially our kids. My husband and I follow the Crossfit prescription to nutrition (meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, and no sugar). If you know me, you know that the sugar part of this equation will be a life long struggle given my love for chocolate! Evan adheres to the stricter version known as the Paleo-Zone diet (and I do on my good days!) which requires the same foods in a ratio of 40% protein, 30% carb, and 30% fat. Children require 50% carbs, 30% fat, and 20% protein. If you're wondering how to figure this out, I do it on a per meal basis and I have a "block" chart from the Zone website.
It seems like a headache at first, but if you're interested, just know that it is not that bad once you practice it for a couple of weeks. All you need is a $10 scale and some determination. It really is quite simple and makes my life easier at the grocery store and when cooking dinner. Most of all, I feel great when I eat well- mentally and physically, and we all know that the physical can affect the mental and visa versa!
Evan and I are hunter/gatherer wanna-be's! This blog will track my journey of health as it should be, and the honest reality of living in a sugar fried culture. When it comes down to it, I get excited to talk about nutrition, but I am definitely not perfect at it! If you have the desire to eat well, but it is often a challenge to overcome the temptations along the way, then you are in the right company!
I hope you leave this blog feeling enlightened and encouraged as you go throughout your day!

Sunday, January 17, 2010

"Real" Processed Food


Isn't it funny how foods that are not good for you, i.e. processed foods, are the ones that feel the need to remind us of the food pyramid and where they fit in?!

First of all, if it promotes the food pyramid, then we should be hesitant anyway! The food pyramid is updated and more balanced than the previous recommendations, and has some good information about food (such as why it is good to choose fish, nuts and seeds), but it is still allowing for processed foods. Therefore, many products are able to use it to promote their nutrition information. The government has a conflict of interest when it comes to teaching us about health and also making money off of the business at the same time!

Second of all, these type foods brag about their "real" food products that they have added in there to make you feel ok about it! Such as Chef Boyardee's Mini-Bites Spaghetti and Meatballs. They list "premium beef" (I've learned that the government standards are not my standards!), vine ripened tomatoes (in the sun or under ultra-violet rays!?), and enriched pasta (the government suggests 1/2 of your daily grain allowance to be 'whole' and it's ok for the other half to be 'enriched'). Shouldn't spaghetti and meatballs read: whole wheat pasta [stone ground wheat berries, water, salt], meatballs [ground beef, spices]? Well, maybe the meatballs are more extensive than that, but my point is, they can't make a canned or processed product with the simplest ingredients because it won't last long enough on the shelf or make people crave it. This product has 22 ingredients, plus what those ingredients contain, which amounts to 32 more ingredients. My red flags are "enriched", which follows with words that I can't pronounce very well, caramel coloring (my food has to be colored to make me want to eat it?), flavorings (what's wrong with natural flavors and what are these 'flavorings' anyway?!), high fructose corn syrup (sugar), hydrolyzed corn (I'm not quite sure what this means, but it sounds like a machine is involved), enzyme modified cheese (modified...into what?), and then there is chloride and inosinate,and guanylate (what in the world?!!!). Why are we eating this?!!! Because mommy is lazy, and most mommies haven't sat down and considered all of this. So I have now. Everything has sugar and corn in it! This particular product has even added high fructose corn syrup so that my kids will beg me for it when we go to the grocery store, or complain that mine is not as good!

So can you guess what sparked this blog entry? The can of spaghetti and meatballs that I bought at the grocery store because my kids were with me and begged me for it! So do I let them eat it for dinner tonight? Or do I throw it away in protest and go against my nature to waist food?

hmm...I think this should not qualify as food...what do you think?
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