Eat only foods that rot
The more processed a food is, the more nutrients it has had stripped out to prevent it rotting, which occurs when bacteria and other organisms feed on these nutrients. The end product therefore will have a longer shelf life but a lower nutritional value. Remember that real food is alive, so it will eventually die.
Avoid food products that make health claims for themselves
Sounds counterintuitive, right? But to carry a health claim the food must have packaging, so right off the bat it’s more likely to be processed. The healthiest food in the supermarket — fresh produce — doesn’t boast about how healthy it is because (a) it doesn’t come packaged and (b) growers don’t have the budget of big corporations.
Avoid food products that contain more than five ingredients
The more ingredients in a packaged food, the more highly processed it is likely to be. Note that this doesn’t apply to a recipe for a home-cooked meal, only prepackaged food products.
If it comes from a plant, eat it. If it was made in a plant, don’t
It really is as simple as that. There’s a reason why all the cuisines of the world still use fresh herbs and veggie sides.
Avoid ingredients that are not found in your cupboard
Ethoxylated diglycerides? Xanthan gum? Ammonium sulphate? You can’t buy them at the greengrocer’s. If you wouldn’t cook with these “ingredients” yourself, why let others use them in food you’re going to eat? These chemicals are used to keep food fresher for longer, and while they may or may not prove a health hazard, the simple fact that humans haven’t been eating them for very long means they are best avoided.
Eat your colours
The colour of many vegetables reflects the different antioxidant phytochemicals they contain, such as anthocyanins, polyphenols, flavonoids and carotenoids. Many of these chemicals help protect against chronic diseases but each does so in a different way, so the best protection comes from a diet containing as many different colours as possible.
Don’t eat anything your great-granny wouldn’t recognise as food
There are thousands of “foodish” products in supermarkets that our ancestors wouldn’t recognise as food. They are processed in ways specifically designed to get us to buy and eat more by pressing our evolutionary buttons — our natural preference for sweet, salty and fatty foods. These tastes are hard to find in nature but cheap and easy in factories, which usually produce foods with low to no nutritional value.
Shop at the ends of the supermarket and not in the middle
Most supermarkets are laid out the same way: Processed foods dominate the centre aisles, while fresh produce, meat, fish and dairy line the walls. If you stick to the edges of the store you’ll wind up with real food in your basket at the checkout.
It’s not food if it’s called the same name in every language
That means it is processed, and you could probably do without it.
Eat breakfast It sparks your metabolism.
Try this, McChubby: Combine an egg white and a slice of ham or turkey on a whole grain muffin. Dash with Tabasco.
Eat what you want. Just leave the table a little hungry
For example, order the six-inch, not the foot-long; devour the hamburger, not the fries; inhale two slices of pizza, not four. Eat a plate of momos, not two samosas.
Skip the aerated drink Avoid soft drinks and limit juice.
Drink water (a lot, eight glasses a day), coffee (cream is fine), and vodka (it has fewer calories than beer)… wait, we love beer.
Snack often.
Gobble lots of nuts. (Read that however you like.) Plain almonds suck, so make protein yummy with baked or roasted almonds. After a workout, slip a nice fresh banana into your mouth. (Is it hot in here, or is it just us?) The potassium will help fight cramps. At night, drink milk: The protein-rich white stuff will make you feel full, preventing midnight binges. The Haldiram packet will understand.
For the full article grab the June 2016 issue of MAXIM Australia.
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