Wellness

[LoriMI]

Buy only fresh food. Nothing in a can, box or frozen. You control the salt and sugar.

[AlleyCat]

Thank you all for the recommendations! I know I need to cut out the processed foods. It is very difficult when I don't know what else to eat and am not a pro at cooking. I like your advice about taking it slow. Maybe I should just start with either the sugar or the sodium and work on one of those first then when that one is accomplished, move on to the other. I do need to check out the spice aisle. The only veggies that I have a taste for are corn, potatoes, peas and beans (I guess they are legumes?), okra, and salad greens. I will eat broccoli but if it is covered in cheese or butter. The fruits I have been eating lately are green grapes, pink lady apples, and mandarin oranges. I have a frozen dinner at dinnertime. At lunch I usually have a veggie burger. I'm pretty good with breakfast (I think?). I have high fiber Quaker oatmeal, grapes, and half a Quest protein bar. Probably the first step is for me to examine all the labels of what I am currently eating and see where the biggest offenders are. I appreciate all of your advice. Thank you so much.

[brii]

Work on one day at a time.

There probably is a lot of sugar in your oatmeal and grapes and protein bar. Replace that with plain oatmeal and add berries to that and some nuts. It will fill you up and you get some fiber too.

[sidsmom]

Many people are confused with 'sugar'. Many are confusing any type of carbohydrate as "sugar"...demonizing certain whole foods which are packed w/ add'l fiber, vitamins/minerals.

Added sugars in processed foods are much, much, MUCH different than natural sugars in whole foods.

Fruits are full of amazing carbohydrates...natural, whole foods that you NEED since you're quite active. Our body needs that glycogen that whole food carbohydrates deliver.

[AlleyCat]

On 2/5/2015 sidsmom said:

Many people are confused with 'sugar'. Many are confusing any type of carbohydrate as "sugar"...demonizing certain whole foods which are packed w/ add'l fiber, vitamins/minerals.

Added sugars in processed foods are much, much, MUCH different than natural sugars in whole foods.

Fruits are full of amazing carbohydrates...natural, whole foods that you NEED since you're quite active. Our body needs that glycogen that whole food carbohydrates deliver.

So are sugars from fruits ok? They are not the same as sugar found in anything else? I just figured sugar was sugar.

ETA: I just checked and according to the Loseit app yesterday I have 118.6 grams of sugar of which 75.6 grams were from fruit. I guess with that leaving 43 grams of sugar coming from other sources that is still almost double the recommended intake.

[sidsmom]

On 2/5/2015 AlleyCat said:

On 2/5/2015 sidsmom said:

Many people are confused with 'sugar'. Many are confusing any type of carbohydrate as "sugar"...demonizing certain whole foods which are packed w/ add'l fiber, vitamins/minerals.

Added sugars in processed foods are much, much, MUCH different than natural sugars in whole foods.

Fruits are full of amazing carbohydrates...natural, whole foods that you NEED since you're quite active. Our body needs that glycogen that whole food carbohydrates deliver.

So are sugars from fruits ok? They are not the same as sugar found in anything else? I just figured sugar was sugar.

You BET they're OK!! Eat up! Like many have suggested, cut down the processed sugar intake. Natural sugars are needed for your aerobic dance & Pilates!!

[Lacey1]

Alley Cat, might I suggest doing some internet research. Processed, frozen meals, artificial sweeteners, preservatives, and fast food are poison. If you are not a big veggie eater-get a good blender and make smoothies. You can add spinach, kale, celery, pumpkin, etc. and disguise the taste with fruit/yogurt/spices/espresso/nut butter, cocoa, etc. You could start out swapping one meal a day with a smoothie. I put raw oatmeal in mine to add grains, too.

Even if you exercise, excess, daily consumption of sugar/salt can lead to hypertension and insulin-resistant diabetes, (depending on genetics). The other poster is correct-once you get used to the low salt/sugar-you'll enjoy it-and you'll even start to avoid things that are heavily salted or sweetened.

Good luck!

[AlleyCat]

On 2/5/2015 brii said:

Work on one day at a time.

There probably is a lot of sugar in your oatmeal and grapes and protein bar. Replace that with plain oatmeal and add berries to that and some nuts. It will fill you up and you get some fiber too.

Surprisingly the Quest bar only has .5 grams of sugar in it. The oatmeal has 7 grams (is that a lot?), and the grapes have 23 grams.

[jaxs mom]

Cook and bake from scratch.

[Tinkrbl44]

OP, if you think you'll need to taper off the processed frozen dinners, then at least buy the ones with lower sodium, definitely less than 800 mg per dinner. There are also lower sodium soups.

I would work on one thing at a time .... say work on lowering sugars one month, making a little progress and then the next month make some progress with reducing sodium levels .... trying to both at the same time could be a little frustrating, IMO.