Get Slim Trick: Read Labels To Choose ‘Buy Vs Bye’

Get Slim Trick: Read Labels To Choose ‘Buy Vs Bye’

Unless you eat all your meals away from home, getting slim and staying that way starts with grocery shopping. This is where and when we make choices that either get us slim and healthy or fat and wishing we weren’t. You control what goes into your cart, into your kitchen, and into your body. If you want to be slim and healthy, become a label reader and make a “buy vs. bye” decision for every item you consider for purchase, before it goes into your cart.

Label reading is your first step: it will make you aware of what you are eating. All you are looking for is 100% real food. It’s very simple. If you only buy 100% real food, if you eat nothing artificial, nothing fake, no chemicals or additives, no processed foods, you will find a path to becoming your slim self.

So many grocery items contain ingredients that aren’t really food. We assume we are buying food simply because it’s offered for sale at the grocery store. We need to be clear on what our standard is for what comes home with us. Taste, value, and nutrition all need to come together. By reading the label, we have an opportunity to reject items that do not meet our standard.

If non-food ingredients are included in a food item, one might ask why? Could it be that certain ingredients cause cravings, which lead to repeated purchase of that item? Could it be that certain chemical ingredients cause a distortion of our body’s built-in hunger signals? I wonder. Food scientists are important and knowledge is beneficial. We certainly need more knowledge regarding food and how it affects people, especially when discussing allergies. But do we need more chemical engineering of processed foods? Do we need to be tricked, by flavor enhancers, into spending our dollars or our appetites on foods that don’t nourish us- regardless of whether we are skinny or fat? This part of a food scientist’s job should be eliminated, if America is to becomes slim and healthy.

You don’t need to be a food scientist to understand what a label is telling you. Elementary knowledge will suffice. If the ingredient list is lengthy, chances are good the item needs to go bye-bye. If the first ingredient is sugar or bleached flour, back to the shelf it goes. Artificial sweeteners definitely need to go bye-bye-unless you are diabetic and you’ve earned your occasional right to a sweet treat. Research shows that artificial sweeteners cause weight gain. Flavor enhancers? Do a little research to learn all the different names of MSG. Then don’t buy that stuff and remember to visit the spice aisle. Grocery stores have multiple aisles of processed foods, loaded with chemical additives. Don’t even enter those aisles. This category will certainly give you extra hidden calories with no redeeming value. I keep wondering how much square footage a grocery store would need if all processed foods were removed. Less square footage would save some money, wouldn’t it?

So what’s left? What will our grocery cart contain if we read every label and wisely employ the “buy vs. bye” technique? What can we look forward to eating and enjoying without guilt, without distorting our taste buds? Answer?Everything else. Nuts and dried fruits, beans, 100% whole grain breads, pasta, and crackers, fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables, organically raised beef and chicken. The list is lengthy. Just ask yourself if it comes out of the ground or from a field, or off of a tree or bush. How was it readied for market? Is it in it’s original form or has it been altered/prepared/added to?

Once you eliminate from your daily eating all the things that no one should eat, you’ll be able to trust your body’s hunger as a guideline for when and how much you should eat. Eat nutritiously when you are hungry. Stop eating before you are stuffed.

It’s never too late to make fit and healthy your goal. Grocery shopping provides a wonderful opportunity for us to make choices that contribute to our good health. Next time you grocery shop, what will be on your “buy vs. bye” list?

Do what you can do to be a fit healthy person, because it feels so good. Read labels. Understand the label. Make a decision: “bye” vs. buy”.