If you shop in the supermarket or eat any form of fast or processed food then you are eating chemicals; growth hormones, preservatives, pesticides, flavour-enhancers, animal antibiotics and phosphates. Why would you want to do that?

If the saying “you are what you eat” is true then I can pretty-much guarantee that most of us are already well on our way to becoming walking pharmacies.

Think about it: What have you eaten in the last couple of weeks that you can honestly state exactly where it came from and what was in it?

You can bet your last cent that if you bought it in any supermarket or fast-food outlet then its relationship with real food – that’s natural, organically-grown, pesticide-and-growth-hormone-free food – is at best pretty tenuous and at worst probably non-existent.

The problem.

Nutritionist and author Joan Gussow said recently: “In the 34 years I’ve been in the field of nutrition I have watched real food disappear from large areas of the supermarket and from much of the rest of the eating world.”

What has replaced it is food-like, processed ’substances’ created around commerce, greed and science. And the only thing science does better than nature is make a profit!

The food and pharmaceutical industries now have complete control over what we eat. Not because they are concerned for our welfare but because we are their captive source of profit.

And we are our own worst enemies because we keep clamoring for faster and cheaper food. We are not questioning how it is possible for the food industry to give us what we want.

The answer is simple.

If you shop in the supermarket or eat any form of fast or processed food then you are eating chemicals. You are eating growth hormones, preservatives, pesticides, flavour-enhancers, animal antibiotics, trans-fats, phosphates, etc, etc. This is how you get cheap food. There is no other way.

What you’re not eating is real food. Food that has flavor because it’s grown slowly and allowed to develop naturally. Food that doesn’t need ‘enhancing’ to make it taste like it should, or last longer on the shelves.

Real food comes from local producers, it’s grown organically, it’s slaughtered humanely, it’s picked and shipped in season and if it’s not consumed when fresh it rots!

This is what it’s supposed to do. It’s not designed to sit on shelves and in refrigerators for weeks. But that means more waste and less profit for the food industry so guess what?

They fill it full of chemicals and give you exactly what you’re asking for – cheap, fast food.

Your body is their chemical dump. You are probably ingesting and absorbing enough unknown chemicals to be considered a waste-disposal hazard in some states!

Take control of your body.

We all have the power to make our own decisions on what we put in or on our bodies. We don’t have to shop at the supermarket and we don’t have to eat fast or processed foods.

• Start questioning where your food comes from, and what goes into it.
• Shop at farmers’ markets and organic food stores.
• Read the labels and ask the seller what’s in it. If there’s anything you don’t recognise, you don’t want to be eating it.
• Eat food that’s in season and experiment with foods that may be new to you. This will diversify your diet as well as your palate.
• Don’t eat elaborately processed foods, products with long lists of unpronounceable ingredients, or sad-looking, ageing foods from countries you need a 747 to get to.
• Avoid food that’s marketed as ‘healthy’. It will most probably be made by one of the big food companies. They’re the only ones who can afford the official approval required to make these ‘healthy’ claims.

Bear in mind that if food comes in any form of pretty packaging it’s more than likely a processed food of some sort, therefore it’s probably the product of food science. And, as we now know, the only thing science does better than nature is make a profit!

So do you want to be bright-eyed, healthy and in control? Or do you want to be a walking pharmacy? It’s your call.

Make the decision to start controlling your food intake and you will be well on your way to a healthier and happier life. Start right now, it’s never too late.

Your health and maybe even your life could be at stake.

Steve Drakeford is a health and well-being consultant, originally from the UK but now based in the US. He is the author and webmaster of Allergic to Living and is passionate about the rubbish we eat and what we can do to protect ourselves from the ever-increasing chemicals that invade our bodies.

Despite what you see on late night infomercials, there are only three ways to lose belly fat and strengthen your ab muscles, and none of them requires $19.95 plus shipping and handling.

First, you need a diet that allows you to burn the belly fat. Start by improving the quality of the food you eat. No more processed carbohydrates, no more sugar, no more deep-fried foods, no more fast food, and no more sodas or juices. Simply making these changes will help you lose stomach fat fast, and you’ll drop your body fat percentage in just days.

Second, stop doing crunches, sit-ups, ab lunging or ab rocking. Take that exercise time and instead spend it on interval training. Doing hundreds of crunches won’t get you results, and while sit-ups work, they are hard on the low back.

According to Australian researchers including Professor Steve Boucher, an authority on physical training, the only way to spot reduce belly fat is to use interval training. Intervals destroy belly fat. So spend your exercise time wisely.

Third, use basic resistance training exercises and specific abdominal exercises to condition your abs. You don’t need to be on your back for any exercise in this program.

Here’s what you need to know, and this will surprise you!

Beginners should stay the heck away from situps and crunch-type movements and instead, spend time doing the plank, side plank, and bird dog exercises. These are yoga-like movements that add endurance to the ab muscles. According to Dr. Stuart McGill, one of the world’s foremost experts on low back pain, the more ab endurance you have, the lower your risk of back pain.

If you are more advanced, try the plank with your arms on the ball. According to research quoted in Men’s Health, this exercise works your abs 30% harder than the regular plank — all without messing up your low back.

The big message I like to get across to clients is that they can build six-pack abs without ever doing a single crunch while lying on their backs. This news shocks people, but it’s true.

If you want to lose belly fat fast and achieve six-pack abs, focus on your nutrition, total body strength training, and interval training before you even consider adding more reps to your current ab workout.

This article appears courtesy of Early to Rise’s Total Health Breakthroughs, offering alternative solutions for mind, body and soul. For a complimentary subscription, visit Total Health Breakthroughs

Flush Out the Health Food Imposters.

The reputation of foods seems to go up and down as often as the stock market. Nutrition gurus have reversed themselves so many times it makes my head spin.

Take margarine. Everyone thought this was a healthy food when it first came out. But by now most people know that it is loaded with trans-fats and far worse for you than the butter it replaced.

Consider other foods we used to shun but now embrace as good for us: certain fats, coconut oil, whole eggs and even coffee come to mind. But what about foods everyone thinks of as healthy? Could some of these be health-food imposters?

Canola oil. Here’s health imposter number one. It’s a highly processed oil that needs to be chemically deodorized, which frequently creates trans-fats. In addition, the omega-3’s in it are easily made rancid by heating. Canola oil’s presence in the marketplace is a triumph of marketing rather than science. Use pressed organic canola oil only, if you use it at all.

Energy bars. Many “energy bars” are loaded with sugar. Some have trans-fats. And most have a ton of chemicals. Read the label carefully. Healthy choices should have at least 10 grams of protein, no hydrogenated oils and no more than a couple of grams of sugar. The Atkins Advantage bars meet those criteria, as do a very few others. There are good bars that have more than three grams of sugar, but those are specialty whole-foods bars like LaraBars, which are made from nothing but real fruit and nuts. They’re fine, unless you’re watching your carbs. The other high-sugar bars tend to be only marginally better than candy. If it tastes “too good to be true” it probably is.

Cereal. Many cereals today say, “made from whole grains.” So what? The fact that something started life as a whole grain doesn’t mean much if it was processed to death. And glycemic index figures from The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition show that whole grains can raise blood sugar almost as high as processed ones can. Many “whole grain” cereals have been processed to the point that they have less than 2 grams of fiber per serving, which makes them fiber lightweights. Whole grain cereals with less than 5 grams of fiber per serving are probably no better than the cereals they replaced.

Salmon. Farm-raised salmon is another problem. Nutritionists have long urged everyone to eat salmon. It is high in omega 3’s and it’s a wonderful source of protein and vitamins. The problem is, we now get most of our salmon from factory farms, not the open seas. They’re kept in pens, fed antibiotics, artificially colored and often contain far less omega 3’s than their wild cousins. And according to a study in the journal Science, farm-raised salmon contains significantly higher concentrations of PCBs, dioxin and other cancer-causing contaminants than salmon caught in the wild. Make sure you choose wild Alaskan salmon over the factory-farmed kind. If you can’t get it in the supermarket, try a company like Vital Source. They will ship the highest quality wild salmon and other fish directly to your door.

Soy. Soy’s not the worst thing in the world for you. But it’s been way oversold as a health food. The healthy kind of soy is traditionally fermented, like miso and tempeh, or minimally processed, like edamame. Fermented soy may have real health benefits. But manufacturers slap “soy” on the label of every kind of snack food from chips and nuts to cookies and ice cream hoping that people will believe it’s a healthy food. It doesn’t become healthy just because it has soy on the label.

Frozen yogurt. The only resemblance frozen yogurt has to real yogurt is that they’re both white. Yes, it can be a delicious desert, but you shouldn’t fool yourself that there’s anything whatsoever that makes it more healthy than ice cream. In fact, the non-fat kind is filled with aspartame, which has been linked to cancer, according to the journal Environmental Health Perspectives . Why not just eat the real thing – ice cream? Just get the highest quality you can find and eat it less often.

The takeaway point is to consider not just what you’re eating but the quality of it – where it comes from and how it’s made or grown. The healthiest foods are the ones that are minimally processed and closest to the state in which they were found in nature. If you could hunt it, fish for it, pluck it or gather it, it’s probably not a health food imposter.

(This article appears courtesy of Early to Rise’s Total Health Breakthroughs, offering alternative solutions for mind, body and soul. For a complimentary subscription, visit www.totalhealthbreakthroughs.com

It’s by Dr. Matthew Anderson who is an author (The Prayer Diet), counselor (35 years) and national columnist/expert on weight loss, motivation, self-management and relationships.

Break Out of Your Fat-Box

Every fat person lives in something I like to call a fat-box. Sadly, most weight-challenged people don’t know it exists. And they pay a massive price in weight gain and low self-esteem. I can help you break out of your fat-box.

If you want to be forever thin, you need detailed information about your own fat-box, plus the proper tools for breaking out of it. The information below has worked for me (65-pound fat loss) and for many thousands of weight-challenged individuals. It will work for you too.

Fat-boxes are made up of attitudes, beliefs and old habits formed in childhood. They subtly and powerfully shape our bodies, our self-image and the way we relate to food and life in general. Most weight-challenged people remain trapped in the gain/lose/gain cycle because they are unaware of this fact. Therefore, the issue is not whether a fat-box controls your weight but whether or not you will confront and break out of it. Here’s how.

First, identify the contents of your fat-box.

Answer the following:

1. Who wants you to stay fat? Most weight-challenged people are surrounded by family and friends who “enable” their bad eating habits and weight gain.

2. How does staying overweight serve or protect you? From life, sex, your personal power, men/women, being visible, etc.

3. How has being overweight defined your personality, your relationships and your self-expression?

4. What would you do with your mind, your emotions, and your life if you were not constantly focused on food and fat?

Now, break out of your fat-box:

1. Imagine what you will look like when you drop all that weight. Write a description and place it on your fridge.

2. Imagine that you have all the power you need to face life as it is. How will this change your behavior?

3. Write a letter to the people who want you to stay fat. Tell them that you are breaking out of your fat-box and that they no longer have any say in who or what you are. Do not mail it. Read it out loud to yourself every day for 30 days. This is an extremely powerful exercise. Take the risk of feeling foolish and do it!

To be successful at breaking out of the fat-box you will need courage to face some fears. Most weight-challenged individuals are deeply attached to being overweight and discover great resistance when they get close to their ideal weight. Your task is to refuse to attack yourself or decide that you lack will power.

The problem is not your will but your deep-seated attitudes about who you are and can be. The solution is in learning to create a new image of you and your possibilities that is not defined by your old programs. With some work you will be successful at breaking out and being forever thin.

(This article appears courtesy of Early to Rise’s Total Health Breakthroughs, offering alternative solutions for mind, body and soul. For a complimentary subscription visit http://www.totalhealthbreakthroughs.com )