Natural foods are easier for our bodies to process and are generally healthier for us – even if they’re not currently seen that way.
Studies keep showing different things. Partly because how we interpret the results changes, partly because of who sponsored the study (they’re often expensive and time consuming to carry out) and partly for other reasons.
Regardless of that, eating more naturally is a good goal to have.
It doesn’t mean that you have to give up those tasty snacks altogether but there are ways to wean yourself off the nastier things that really aren’t helping your body.
1. Eat real fruit rather than drink juice
Fruit juice is seen as healthy. After all, what could be more natural than freshly squeezed juice?
Well, in theory, juice is natural.
In practice, it depends on how it was produced – whether it was squeezed, then made into concentrate, then rehydrated once it had been transported from the orange groves to the production line.
And then it depends how much juice you drink.
Tropicana say that a 59 ounce carton of their orange juice has 16 oranges squeezed into it.
OK, you probably wouldn’t slurp down a whole carton but I’m guessing you’d find it easy to drink an 8 ounce glass of juice. And you’d do it a lot quicker than peeling and eating just over two oranges.
Fancy another glass? That’s another 2 oranges you’ve just eaten.
Juicing speeds up how we consume fruit. So although it’s reasonably healthy, it also encourages you to over-indulge.
Think back: when was the last time you had two glasses of orange juice? And when was the last time you ate 4 oranges in one sitting?
Food for thought (pun intended!)
2. Read the label
Packaged and processed food is convenient.
But some of the things that show up on the ingredients list belong more in a laboratory than they do in our stomachs.
Or even the slightly healthier sounding citric acid? Maybe you’ve squeezed some lemon juice into a recipe but my guess is that if you tasted the white citric acid powder on its own you’d be hard pressed to tell they were related.
And the same goes for lots of other things that creep their way into processed food.
I’ve yet to meet anyone who hydrogenates oil at home to turn it into a spread. In fact, apart from the occasional chemistry student, I’ve yet to meet anyone who knows what that really involves. Yet a lot of people happily use low fat spreads instead of “unhealthy” butter without taking the time to find out whether the spread they’re using is better or worse. My personal view is that margarine is decidedly in the “worse for you” category and I’m not alone in that thought.
If you’re in a rush while you’re shopping, just use the length of the ingredient list as a guide: the shorter the length, the less room there is for unhealthy ingredients to be added. OK, there are exceptions – potato crisps (or potato chips depending on where you are in the world) may only have potatoes, oil and salt on the list but they’re still not amazingly healthy items to eat.
So you need to be careful about the type of products you’re buying as well. If you’ find yourself eating too much junk food, check this link.
3. Cook for yourself more often
This is far and away the best way to eat more naturally.
Depending on the recipe, cooking can be nice and relaxing.
Of course, if you choose a cheffy recipe where the ingredients list would fill a supermarket trolley then it’s not likely to be an easy recipe. But keeping a few tins of things like tomatoes (these have been shown to have more nutrients than fresh as their journey from field to tin is remarkably short), some frozen vegetables and herbs, frozen meat or fish and staples such as rice, pasta, onions and garlic makes cooking your own food remarkably quick.
I’ve actually found that it takes me less time to cook a meal than it does to either fetch or order a takeaway.
Psychologically it takes longer to cook a meal. So you may have to get over that thought – I know I did. But a simple timer will give you all the proof you need.
I usually use brown rice (less processed than white) and find that in the 22 minutes it takes to cook, I can rustle up a meal to go with it.
If you get in the habit of making several portions at once then, if you’re organised enough to thaw food you froze a while ago, you can have a supply of healthy ready meals in your freezer, one of which is almost certain to take your fancy.
Cutting down on the amount of relatively junky fast food you eat is simple once you get in the habit of cooking for yourself more often.
If you’d like some more help to reduce the amount of fast food you eat, click this link.
