By Francisco Marentez / Healthy Living columnist
It’s frustrating when your body won’t change. When the pounds won’t drop. When those extra inches won’t go away. One of the biggest obstacles that prevents you from losing fat and getting into awesome shape is all that processed food that you’re still eating.
Take a walk through the local natural foods market and you’ll see nearly every form of junk food that you’d find at the supermarket – only with things like ‘gluten free’, ‘organic’ and ‘zero trans fats’ on the packages. Those are all great – being gluten free, organic and trans fats free. Fresh, organic veggies, fruits and meats could all boast the same. But when those words are stamped on a package of cookies, chips or the like, then eating them is going to seriously slow your fitness results. Gluten free or not.
Here are just a handful of the ‘healthy’ processed foods that you’re eating that are killing your results and keeping you from attaining your goal weight:
1) Healthy Cereal
Have you seen the cereal aisle at the natural foods market? Its shelves are lined with dozens of cereal boxes, all with bold health claims. There are gluten free cereals, cereals with no corn syrup, cereals with heart healthy grains, cereals with whole grains and even cereals with added vitamins.
Those all sound healthy, right? Well, sure those cereals are technically not as harmful as the brightly colored cereals from the supermarket, but as far as your fat loss results are concerned, the two are really about the same.
Cereal is a dense source of calories, which means it’s almost impossible not to overdo it when enjoying a bowl. If your goal is to lose fat, then cereal, even organic, gluten free cereal, should stay off your daily menu.
2) Healthy Bread
Have you ever spent time in the bread aisle, reading labels and trying to figure out which is the healthiest? It can be pretty confusing. There’s wheat, whole wheat, gluten free, and sprouted grain. How can you tell what’s the healthiest?
The unfortunate news, for all you bread lovers, is that when it comes to losing inches all bread is a problem. You see, gluten free bread is filled with just as many calories and carbohydrates as wheat bread or sprouted grain bread. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that you have a free pass to indulge in bread when it’s the ’healthy’ kind. Your body will convert that healthy bread into fat quicker than you can say burpee.
3) Healthy Trail Mix
Trail mix is a tricky one for healthy food shoppers. It’s made with nuts and seeds, which we know to be healthy. It’s also often dotted with chocolate, sweetened dried fruits or other treats. Nuts can belong in a fat loss diet, within certain parameters. For example, a small handful of raw almonds makes a wonderful in-between-meals snack. It’s filled with fiber, protein, good fat, vitamins and minerals. A half a cup of trail mix, on the other hand, is packed with two or three times the calories in addition to having added sweeteners and extra salt. Not to mention, trail mix is hard to stop eating once you’ve started. When working towards a fat loss goal, it’s best to stay away from even the healthiest of trail mixes.
The Way Nature Intended
Food that’s untouched and unprocessed is always going to be the healthiest. See how many real, whole foods you can fit into your diet, while cutting out the packaged foods. You’ll be pleasantly surprised how quickly your body transforms when you eat food prepared the way nature intended. When you’re looking to transform your body, you must guard what goes into your mouth. Packaged foods, even those from the health store, are going to derail your results ever single time.
Francisco has been in the strength business for over 12 years. After finishing his B.S. Kinesiology-Exercise Science he went on to become a strength and conditioning coach for the Rice Owls Baseball Team were they won 16 conference titles and one national title.
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