Think of a food item that you really love. It could be anything. Maybe it’s an item that you feel as if you could not live your life without eating. You love everything about it. You love the way it looks, the way it smells, but most of all you love it’s taste.
I don’t know about you, but for me, my favorite food item changes from time to time, but it usually includes some kind of chocolate or comfort food (fried chicken, mashed potatoes & gravy...you know “Grandma Food”). My favorite food depends on my mood. If I am homesick or not feeling well, I want “Grandma Food.” If I am stressed to the max and it’s been “one of those days” with the kids for a week in a row, I want something that includes chocolate.
Sometimes, however, after indulging on your favorite food item, the sluggishness starts to set in. You may regret what you ate, how much you ate, and/or feel angry that you “gave in” again.
I believe that this makes you gain more “weight” than you would have if you just ate the food and not given it any thought. It’s the weight of anger and regret. Plus we all know what it feels like to eat a cheeseburger and fries. It’s tasty but it leads to feeling bloated, inflamed, and not to mention the smell that might come from you.
I believe we have become accustomed to those feelings after eating. Like they are “just the way I feel” or it’s just normal. At least for me it was that way. That bloated, inflamed, and gassy feeling was just a normal reaction when I ate food, so normal that I didn’t really ever connect the feeling with the food I had just eaten. However, as I started to change the food that I ate and made healthy swaps, I have become more intune with my body. I can honestly tell you that feeling bloated, inflamed, and gassy aren’t normal feelings that one should feel after eating. Those feelings are your body’s way of telling you something is wrong, that you are feeding it the wrong things, and it needs something more nutritious to sustain itself.
For example, this past Friday was our last “Fun Friday” before school started. I let my girls choose what we had for breakfast. They, of course, chose to have Great Harvest Cinnamon Rolls! We bought 2 and cut them in half to share (for those of you who have not been to Great Harvest, the Cinnamon Rolls are HUGE and delicious). We all devoured our halves. But for the rest of that day and the 2 days after, I felt sluggish and weighed down, lost in a brain fog of sugar and white flour, and I really wasn’t very nice. I also didn’t feel like drinking my container of water, so I was a little dehydrated. Next summer, this momma will be making a few more changes to our “Fun Fridays” when it comes to what we eat for breakfast!
I want you to come to know and understand that YOU DO NOT HAVE TO FEEL THIS WAY, YOU CAN FEEL BETTER AFTER EATING!!
You may ask, “How? I know, I have to give up all of my favorite things and just eat apples and carrots right?” Wrong! You should eat more apples and carrots, but there are healthy swaps out there that will allow you to continue eating your favorite types of food.
When I make my “Grandma Food,” I have changed her recipe just a little. I use red potatoes instead of white for the mashed potatoes and use real-ingredient butter. I bread the chicken in wheat flour instead of white and fry it in coconut oil or avocado oil instead of vegetable or canola oil. It tastes exactly the same to me! Yes, frying the chicken in coconut oil gives it a little different flavor but I actually enjoy it. Frying the chicken in avocado oil will make the chicken taste a little more traditional.
When I am stressed to the max and I find myself wanting a treat. I typically go to the freezer and pour myself out a small handful of Simple Truth’s Dark Chocolate Baking Chips. (Cold, frozen chocolate tastes so much better to me!)
The book ‘Eat Smarter states,’ “According to a recent study featured in ‘The Journal of Nutrition,’ eating as little as ⅓ of an ounce of high quality chocolate each day can help protect your brain against age-related memory loss. It’s also been well-documented to induce positive effects on mood (clearly), and one of the ways it does this is through improving blood flow to the brain and also through stimulating neurogenesis. Yes, chocolate is one of the handful of foods that are proven to spark the creation of new brain cells!”
Here are a few simple swaps:
1. Mrs. Butterworth’s Syrup ($3.32, 36oz) → Kirkland Organic Pure Maple Syrup ($12.49, 33.8oz)
Mrs. Butterworth’s Syrup Kirkland Organic Pure Maple Syrup
❌High Fructose Corn Syrup ✅ Pure Organic Maple Syrup
❌Corn Syrup
✅ Water
❌Cellulose Gum
❌Salt
❌Cane Syrup
❌Caramel Color
❌Sodium Hexametaphosphate
❌Sodium Benzoate
❌Potassium Sorbate
❌Natural and Artificial Flavors
❌Citric Acid
❌Molasses
❌Lactic Acid
❌Mono and Diglycerides
*Ingredients taken from walmart.com and costco.com
2. Pace Salsa ($2.89, 24 oz) → Jack’s Organic Salsa ($4-6 at COSTCO)
Pace Salsa Jack’s Organic Salsa
✅ Crushed Tomatoes ✅ Organic Tomatoes
✅ Jalapeno Peppers ✅ Organic Tomato Juice
✅ Diced Tomatoes in Tomato Juice ✅ Organic Onions
✅ Onions ✅ Organic Green Peppers
✅ Distilled Vinegar ✅ Organic Cilantro
❌Salt ✅ Organic Jalapeno Peppers
✅ Dehydrated Onions ✅ Water
✅ Garlic ✅ Sea Salt
❌Natural Flavoring ✅ Organic Vinegar
✅ Organic Agave Syrup
✅ Organic Spice
✅ Citric Acid
✅ Organic Lime Juice
✅ Organic Garlic
*Ingredients taken from Target.com & the Organic Jack’s Label
3. Kraft Mayo ($3.19, 30oz) → Primal Kitchen Mayo Made With Avocado Oil ($8.39, 12oz *Cheaper at Costco)
Kraft Mayo Primal Kitchen Mayo W/Avocado Oil
❌Soybean Oil ✅ Avocado Oil
✅ Water ✅ Organic Cage-Free Eggs
✅ Vinegar ✅ Organic Cage-Free Egg Yolks
✅ Eggs ✅ Organic Vinegar
❌Sugar ✅ Sea Salt
❌Salt ✅ Organic Rosemary Extract
✅ Egg Yolks
❌Natural Flavor
❌Lemon Juice Concentrate
✅ Dried Garlic
✅ Dried Onion
✅ Paprika
❌Calcium Disodium Edta
*Ingredients taken from Target.com
4. Kroger Sour Cream ($1.99, 24oz) → Daisy Sour Cream ($2.99, 24oz)
Kroger Sour Cream Daisy Sour Cream
✅ Cultured Cream ✅ Cultured Cream
✅ Skim Milk
❌Whey
❌Modified Corn Starch
❌Gelatin
❌Sodium Phosphate
❌Guar Gum Carrageenan
❌Sodium Citrate
❌Calcium Sulfate
❌Locust Bean Gum
*Ingredients taken from smithsfoodanddrug.com
5.Prego Spaghetti Sauce ($1.89, 24oz) → Good & Gather Organic Pasta Sauce ($1.99, 24oz)
Prego Spaghetti Sauce Good & Gather Organic Pasta Sauce
✅ Tomato Puree ✅ Organic Tomato Puree
❌Diced Tomatoes in Tomato Juice ✅ Organic Diced Tomatoes
❌Canola Oil ✅ Organic Onions
❌Sugar ✅ Organic Basil
❌Salt ✅ Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
✅ Dehydrated Garlic ✅ Sea Salt
❌Citric Acid ✅ Organic Sugar
❌Spices ✅ Organic Spices
✅ Basil ✅ Organic Dried Garlic
❌Flavoring
*Ingredients taken from Target.com
6. Jif Peanut Butter ($2.39 16oz) → Naturally More Organic Peanut Butter ($8 2-Pack 28oz COSTCO)
Jif Peanut Butter Organic Peanut Butter
❌Roasted Peanuts ✅ Organic Peanuts
❌Sugar ✅ Sea Salt
❌Molasses
❌Fully Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils
❌Mono and Diglycerides
❌Salt
*Ingredients taken from Target.com and the Naturally More Organic Peanut Butter Label
7. Hershey’s Baking Chips ($3.49, 12oz) → Simple Truth Organic Dark Chocolate Chunks ($3.79, 10oz)
Hershey’s Semi-Sweet Baking Chips Simple Truth Organic Dark Chocolate Chunks
❌Sugar ✅ Organic Chocolate Liquor
❌Chocolate ✅ Organic Cane Sugar
❌Cocoa Butter ✅ Organic Cocoa Butter
❌Milk Fat
❌Lecithin
❌Natural Flavor
✅ Milk
*Ingredients taken from smithsfoodanddrug.com
8. Heinz Ketchup ($2.89, 32oz) → Good & Gather Organic Ketchup ($2.39, 20oz)
Heinz Ketchup Good & Gather Organic Ketchup
✅ Tomato Concentrate from Red Ripe Tomatoes ✅ Organic Tomato Concentrate
✅ Distilled Vinegar ✅ Organic Tapioca Syrup
❌High Fructose Corn Syrup ✅ Organic Distilled Vinegar
❌Corn Syrup ✅ Organic sugar
❌Salt ❌Salt
❌Spice ✅ Organic Onion Powder
✅ Onion Powder ✅ Organic Spices
❌Natural Flavoring
*Ingredients taken from Target.com
9. Crisco Vegetable Oil ($3.39, 48oz) → Kirkland Organic Virgin Coconut Oil ($10-$15, 84 oz)
Crisco Vegetable Oil Kirkland Organic Virgin Coconut Oil
❌Soybean Oil ✅ Organic Virgin Coconut Oil
*Ingredients taken from Target.com and Costco.com
“Soybean Oil is chemically refined, typically from GMO soybeans, and has an abundance of omega-6 fatty acids that increase the risk of inflammation, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and autoimmune diseases.”
“If you dig into the unbiased scientific literature, you’ll find out a lot about its [coconut oil] therapeutic benefits: protection against heart disease, cancer, obesity, diabetes, and various degenerative illnesses.”
*Quotes taken from ‘Feeding You Lies’ by Vani Hari
10. Vlasic Pickles ($1.99, 24oz Target) → Homemade Pickles (1 quart. Price depends on where you get your ingredients or if you grow your own.)
Vlasic Pickles Homemade Pickles
✅ Cucumbers ✅ Pickling Cucumbers
✅ Water ✅ Pickling Cucumbers
✅ Distilled Vinegar ✅ Garlic
✅ Salt ✅ Fresh Dill
❌ Calcium Chloride ✅ Water
❌ Sodium Benzoate ✅ White Vinegar
❌ Polysorbate 80 ✅ Pickling Salt
❌ Natural Flavors
❌ Yellow 5
*Ingredients taken from Vlasic Pickle Label and my homemade pickle recipe
Friends, the truth is on the label. The better the ingredients the better you will feel after eating it.
If you want to ditch feeling bloated, inflamed, and gassy, ditch the unhealthy ingredients and upgrade to quality products! Your gut will thank you!
I have noticed the more I focus on ditching the junk and upgrading my food choices, the happier I am, I am in control of my mood and I just feel more like me!
You don’t have to throw out everything you have in your pantry. All you have to do is make better choices the next time you go grocery shopping. Make the switch. If it’s not in your home, you won’t eat it!
Remember YOU CAN DO THIS! Stop making excuses, your health is more important!
Reach out to me with any questions or for more information on upgrading your diet!
All quotes were taken directly from the noted books.
For more information on the books mentioned above, please visit the following:
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