Demystifying Food Quality

We made it to the final week of Fall Reset. Did you start this month strong? How are you planning on finishing it?

Over the past three weeks, we’ve talked about macronutrients, micronutrients, and the impact of HOW you eat your food.

Now we turn our attention to food quality. We all know we should be prioritizing higher quality food, but what does that mean exactly?

To put it simply, the highest quality foods are the ones without ingredient lists. Actual meat, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, and starches are all whole foods that should make up the bulk of a quality diet.

Sometimes, people get too lost in the weeds of which trendy diet will fast-track them towards their goals. Keto, carnivore, paleo, vegan, and other popular diets get a lot of attention, but many people end up losing sight of what is truly important—eating real, whole foods.

With that said, we all inevitably buy some foods with nutrition labels and ingredient lists. So what makes some foods healthier than others?

The less ingredients, the better.
Check out the ingredient list first. If whatever you’re holding has more than a few ingredients, it might be best to set it down and find something else..

Sugars and seed oils.
If sugar appears as one of the first two ingredients, you’re probably not looking at a high quality food. Refined seed and vegetable oils are also a no-go. Canola, safflower, sunflower, soybean, peanut, corn, and rapeseed oils are all fats to avoid.

Beware of meaningless label claims.
Don’t be fooled by buzzwords on packaging. Organic matters on produce, but are organic cookies any different than conventional cookies? What about gluten-free, plant-based, vitamin-fortified, high in fiber, hormone-free, and other claims? Focus on the ingredients. What is or isn’t in the food you’re looking at? Label claims are a marketing tool; the real information is in the ingredients list.

Final Week of Fall Reset Homework: Something To Try This Week

Keep a daily record of how many foods you eat that have an ingredient list. Once you have a baseline, try to cut that number down. How close can you get to a whole foods diet by the end of the week?

Keep Up With Last Week’s Homework

Fall Reset ends this week, but that doesn’t mean you should stop working on the healthy habits we touched on this month.

Prioritizing protein, getting a variety of colours with every meal, slowing down at meal time, chewing your food, and shopping for quality foods should be habits that help you get through the holidays feeling great and build some momentum towards your goals heading into the new year. Stick with it and stay consistent.

If you want some help with your Nutrition, we’re only a phone call away! Book a call – http://collectivefit.ca

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