Western Diet Minimums
This page is for the people who for whatever reason are just unable to get themselves to try out 30 days of Paleo eating. This doesn’t mean you have an excuse to go eat twinkies every day. Not all western diets are as bad as others, so at a bare minimum strive for these quality standards.
I can’t say I consider this to be a healthful diet however it is going to be significantly better than what a lot of western diets involve.
Produce:
-Increase amounts of fresh fruits and vegetables
-Stick to low starch choices (avoid white potatoes)
-Remember that corn and beans are not vegetables.
Grains:
-Replace gluten-containing grains with gluten free grains such as quinoa, wild rice, brown rice, etc
-Grains must be some combination of soaked, sprouted, and /or fermented.
-Avoid wheat, barley, and rye
Legumes:
-Stick more to green beans and peas
-Reduce black, kidney, soy, other beans, etc
-Legumes must be some combination of soaked, sprouted, and /or fermented.
Processed Foods
-If eating processed foods, make sure it is all natural or organic
-Avoid artificial ingredients, added sugar, and gluten
Meat:
-Replace low quality corn-fed beef with grass-fed beef
-Buy free-ranged poultry
-Buy only wild fish that is not farmed and low in mercury
Dairy:
-Stick to whole, unprocessed milk and other dairy (avoid skim, low fat, homogenized)
-Stick to grass-fed dairy in all forms.
-Make sure your yogurt doesn’t have artificial ingredients or sugar added
Sweets:
-Significantly limit sweets to special occasions
-Make sure other foods don’t have added sugar in them
-When eating desserts make sure they are gluten free and as well as free of artificial ingredients
Supplements:
-Take omega 3 fish oil at every meal
-Supplement vitamin D
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Many typical “healthful” foods that are served to kids and all the way into adulthood are actually not healthful at all, infact harmful. Much of the current obesity problem that occurs today can be linked to these and similar nutritional mistakes (with a lack of exercise as well). Before reading this section, please view the pages on trans fat, high fructose corn syrup, and genetic modification to have a better understanding of why these foods are a problem.
Here are some of the most common mistakes, the dangers, and alternatives if possible:
Peanutbutter & Jelly Sandwhich
Bread
-Contains gluten
-Often bleached white
-Often contains high fructose corn syrup (even whole wheat!)
-May have partially hydrogenated ingredients
-Often has other fake additives (food coloring, dough conditioners, etc)
Peanutbutter
-Conventional peanutbutter is virtually all partially hydrogenated, containing high levels of trans fat
Partially hydrogenating an oil solid makes it solid, which is why with non-organic peanutbutters, no stirring is needed. Organic peanutbutter’s oil is less dense than the peanuts, causing the oil to float to the top, requiring stirring.
Some brands are also fully hydrogenating their oil, which may then claim to be trans fat free and stir-free, or adding palm oil which makes the saturated and total fat content higher. Quality peanutbutter needs to be stirred.
Jelly
-High in sugar or fake sugars (aspartame, splenda)
-Many contain high fructose corn syrup
-Not always real fruit
Peanutbutter & Jelly Sandwhich Solution
Bread
-Sprouted gluten free bread
-Simple ingredients: grains, water, flour, salt, yeast (NO dough conditioners, sugar, fake sugar, bleach, etc)
Peanutbutter (Or preferably almond butter)
-Simple ingredients: peanuts (no partially or fully hydrogenated oil)
-Stirring required, or no stir w/ palm oil
Jelly
-No sugar added
-No fake sugar added (aspartame, splenda, high fructose corn syrup)
-Sweetened only with fruit juices
-100% real fruit
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Cheez-its
Cheez-its are often considered to be a healthful snack due to the claim of “real cheese” used on the package. Along with the real cheese, Cheez-its contain partially hydrogenated oil, genetically modified food starch, monosodium glutamate (MSG), as well as numerous other artificial flavorings and colors. Because of these additives, this product is no better than any other junk food available.
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Cheddar Cheese Singles
A popular item to put in sandwhiches are indivudally wrapped cheddar cheese packets. I unfortunately cannot remember the brand, but I found one that in each single peice of cheese, there were 1.5 grams of trans fat in it. I first thought it must be naturally occuring trans fats, however one of the first ingredient was some oil that was partially hydrogenated. Nothing about this cheese is healthful.
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Graham Crackers
Yet another popular choice for little kids especially. Looking at the pattern seen from other similar products it is probably no surprise what these contain. The most popular brand is Nabisco Honey Maid so the information applies to that specifically. Here is the ingredient list copied from their web site. I have put the most dangerous in bold:
Ingredients: ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE [VITAMIN B1], RIBOFLAVIN [VITAMIN B2], FOLIC ACID), SUGAR, GRAHAM FLOUR (WHOLE GRAIN WHEAT FLOUR), SOYBEAN OIL, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED COTTONSEED OIL, HONEY, LEAVENING (BAKING SODA, CALCIUM PHOSPHATE), SALT, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, SOY LECITHIN-AN EMULSIFIER, CORNSTARCH.
In addition to the common HFCS and partially hydrogenated (TRANS FAT) ingredients, there is added sugar as well as honey (more sugar). We also see artificial flavor, and cornstarch which can pretty much be guaranteed is genetically modified.
In summary, this is yet another peice of popular junk food that should be limited to zero.
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Ritz Crackers
Another one from our friends at NabiscoWorld. Here are the ingredients for the popular child snack. The most harmful are in bold:
Ingredients: ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE [VITAMIN B1], RIBOFLAVIN [VITAMIN B2], FOLIC ACID), SOYBEAN OIL, SUGAR, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED COTTONSEED OIL, SALT, LEAVENING (BAKING SODA AND/OR CALCIUM PHOSPHATE), HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, SOY LECITHIN (EMULSIFIER), NATURAL FLAVOR, CORNSTARCH.
Pretty similar to the graham crackers above, here we have partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil (TRANS FAT), High fructose corn syrup, sugar, soybean oil (likely GM), cornstarch (likely GM)
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Lunchables
Someone only looking at calories would think Lunchables are a perfectly healthful choice for children. They are wrong. Here are the ingredients for the hotdog product. Every reason to not buy this is in bold:
Ingredients: FRUIT PUNCH FLAVORED 100% JUICE BLAND FROM CONCENTRATE WITH ADDED INGREDIENT AND OTHER NATURAL FLAVOR – FILTERED WATER; APPLE, GRAPE, AND CHERRY JUICE CONCENTRATES; CITRIC ACID (FOR TARTNESS); NATURAL FLAVOR/ PIZZA CRUSTS – WHEAT FLOUR, WATER, CANOLA OIL, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF CALCIUM CARBONATE, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, SUGAR, YEAST, CALCIUM PROPIONATE (PRESERVATIVE), SALT, PEAR JUICE CONCENTRATE, SOY LECITHIN, POTASSIUM CHLORIDE, ARTIFICIAL BUTTER FLAVOR. PIZZA SAUCE – WATER, TOMATO PASTE, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, MODIFIED CORN STARCH, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF POTASSIUM CHLORIDE, SALT, ONION POWDER, SPICE, CITRIC ACID, POTASSIUM SORBATE (PRESERVATIVE), XANTHAN GUM, NATURAL FLAVOR, SOY LECITHIN. PASTEURIZED PREPARED MOZZARELLA CHEESE PRODUCT – PASTEURIZED PART-SKIM MILK, WATER, WHEY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, MILK PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, MILKFAT, SODIUM CITRATE, SALT, POTASSIUM SORBATE (PRESERVATIVE), SODIUM BICARBONATE, MONO & DIGLYCERIDES, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, XANTHAN GUM, LOCUST BEAN GUM. MINI RAINBOW CHOCOLATE CHIPS – SEMI SWEET CHOCOLATE (SUGAR, CHOCOLATE LIQUOR, COCOA BUTTER, DEXTROSE, SOY LECITHIN [AN EMULSIFIER], AND VANILLIN [AN ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR]), SUGAR, LESS THAN 2% OF THE FOLLOWING: ARTIFICIAL COLOR (INCLUDES BLUE 1 LAKE, YELLOW 5 LAKE, YELLOW 6, YELLOW 6 LAKE, AND RED 40 LAKE), AND CONFECTIONER’S GLAZE (CARNUBA WAX, BEESWAX, AND SHELLAC). ALLERY INFORMATION: MANUFACTURED ON EQUIPMENT THAT ALSO PROCESSES MILK AND WHEAT.
Each diffferent Lunchable has different ingredients, but most share the common horrors of this one – trans fat, high fructose corn syrup, GM ingredients, sugar, and artificial color and flavorings.
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More to come.