Blog

Today I have decided to write about nutrition, the number one topic among my clients. Most of us are not only highly confused about nutrition, but are completely fed up with the inability to get concrete answers. This is why I wanted to cover this topic in as much detail as possible. Let us talk for a minute about the difference between “dieting” and “eating clean” and why most of us need to watch our sugar intake.

Let’s start by looking at what “dieting” really means to most people and why when you start “dieting” you never stop. Most of my clients have said to me that they look in the mirror and get extremely upset and decide it’s time to go on a diet. How many times have you or someone you know said “I really need to go on a diet.” Probably more then you or I would like to admit. The reason I dislike the word “diet” is because when you say “diet” you actually mean “I’m going to eat right for about a month and then when I lose some weight I’m going to just eat normal again.” It is a finite word that implies an end. I know because I used to be guilty of this type of yoyo dieting myself. Guilt however, is a strong word when in fact full blame cannot be placed on the individual alone. Everywhere we turn we see the latest diet scheme that will make you drop ten pounds instantly (insert skinny Photo shopped image here). Ignore these falsities; because believe it or not the first step to clean eating takes place in your mind not your kitchen.  For instance, what I attempt to do with all of my clientele is first change their perspectives by helping them realize their true motivations. We eat healthy because we actually want to be healthy, as opposed to meeting some limited standard of beauty. Think of the imagery the word diet produces. Rows upon rows of magazine covers in the grocery store checkout line with DIET boldly displayed across the nameless chiseled physiques that smile at us and judge every item we place on the conveyer belt. It is unrealistic and thus designed to fail.

Now that we realized “diet” is a bad word in my house, let’s discuss clean eating. Weight loss is just a side effect of eating clean and cutting out all the processed foods that are currently making people sick. These foods include all processed foods, genetically modified foods, and beverages laced with sugar (in all its sneaky forms).  Now pay attention to this next line because it is important- IF THE LABEL SAYS HEALTHY IT DOES NOT MAKE IT HEALTHY.

To find out if food is healthy, as in nutritionally dense, void of processed GMO’s, only contains ingredients your grandparents are familiar with, simply look to the ingredients. We tend to look at the nutrition label and see how many calories or grams of fat we are about to consume. This can be important information, but it is all ancillary if the ingredients are all synthesized. When you look at the ingredients label it really should just say water and whatever whole ingredient it may contain, such as dates or chicken. Not maltodextrin and about 30 other words that have 8 syllables and a page of descriptions. The main rule of thumb is, if you cannot grow it in your backyard or raise it in a barn, do not eat it.

I show a lot of my clients how to survive in the average shopping centers and local farmers markets and the answers are quite simple. Make all of your own food from scratch. It is cheaper and vastly more nutritionally sound to make your own food, from energy bars to condiments. Everything you buy packaged is extremely easy to make yourself. This way you can ensure your food in not being produced on an assembly line and you know precisely what you’re putting in it, down to the exact amount. Yes, this does take more time and more effort to eat this way but in 20 years from now when you’re not in a hospital with diabetes or heart disease you will be glad you took that extra hour a week to make everything from scratch. Maybe take one day out of the week or a half of a day to prepare your meals. At my house, Sunday is cook day. You can even get the kids involved. We’re living in the age where you can easily look up recipes with the press of your mouse. Stop dieting and make clean eating a part of your daily regimen and you will be able to start living the life you have always wanted to live.

By: Joe Dymnioski                                                                                            Edited By: Jessica Cortese