Baby Steps in the Kitchen, Part 5

Time for steps 13, 14, and 15!  If you haven’t read the previous articles in the series, go back and read part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4.

 Here they are:

13. Reduce the amount of sugar in your diet

14. Increase the amount of fat in your diet

15. Find healthier snack options

Why those steps?  Okay, here we go!

Sugar is responsible for many of the problems we’re having today.  Too much sugar causes diabetes (which we all know) but also a host of other problems.  According to Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, 85% of blood cholesterol is caused by the body metabolizing sugar and carbohydrates.  So, no, high fat diets don’t cause cholesterol — high carb diets do!  These days, the average American eats 180 lbs. of sugar per year, which is over 1/2 lb. of sugar per DAY!  It’s become ridiculous.  It’s happening partially because there’s sugar added to EVERYTHING produced commercially (especially low-fat or fat-free products).  Another is because we’re just used to eating sweet desserts and snack foods.  With the serious health consequences (which can be reduced fertility, heart disease, and lots more), we need to reduce our consumption of sugar.  We’ve already talked about choosing healthier forms of sugar (a lot of refined white beet sugar is GMO), but in general, you have to reduce your consumption to be truly healthy.  A small amount of healthy sweeteners (Dr. Mercola recommends under 15 mg per day) is not going to hurt you.  But much more can spell serious health issues, long term.  Try using less in coffee or tea and fewer fruits (yes, those count too), no juice, and hopefully you’re already avoiding pre-sweetened products, since most are made with HFCS. 

As you’re decreasing sugar, you need to increase fat.  More fat won’t hurt you, and is really GOOD for you, especially saturated!  Fat protects you.  Lard helps cellular regeneration.  Saturated fats and cholesterol help brain development and boost brain regeneration in adults.  They help hormone regulation too.  I’ve written extensively on the subject before.  Get over your fear of fats and eat it!  Organic lard, beef tallow, butter, ghee, olive oil (raw), coconut oil.  They’re really not too expensive and they’ll make you feel better, lose weight, and generally improve your health.  They can increase your fertility.  So many benefits!

Snacks are a major area that need help.  So many people rely heavily on sweetened, grain-based snacks, like fruit, pretzels, bread, chips, etc.  To reduce sugar and carbs (that will happen naturally as you reduce sugar), you need to change your snack foods.  Try unsweetened dried fruit, unsweetened seed or nut-based crackers instead of sweetened wheat crackers, jerky, fresh vegetable sticks, cheese (raw; if you can have it), nuts, etc.  Reduce or eliminate cookies, fruit snacks, granola bars (or make your own that aren’t so sweet), anything pre-packaged.  It takes a little ore planning to wash and cut fruit or vegetables, make your own crackers, etc. but you can do a lot at once and it’s worth it!  So much better!

How are you doing on the baby steps?  Are they helping you?  If you are further along, what do you think about these steps?  How doable are/were they for you?