Face what you're eating; ignorance is not bliss

This post is blunt and a challenge. Please don't shy away from it.

Have you ever been chowing down on something that you know isn't exactly great for you, but you refuse to check out the label? I know I've been in this situation more times than I'd care to say. It's always the same thing... the Otis Spunkmeyer double chocolate muffin, the hunny bun from the gas station, the massive Big Mac, or the entire sleeve of golden Oreos (Marcus thinks that's blasphemy). It's too yummy for you to want to ruin it by checking out the nutrition facts! And you probably wouldn't be eating it if you had checked it out before you began, so you tell yourself "I don't wanna know!" Well, what you don't know absolutely can hurt you.

I realize that this is obvious information, ok? I'm not preaching, and I'm certainly not here to be condescending about food choices. This girl ate about 1/4 of a King Cake this weekend, along with some Steak N Shake and Five Guys. There. Is. No. Judgment! What I DO want to impress upon you is the importance of making informed decisions. Information is power in a world full of BS. And when it comes to YOUR health, YOUR physique, YOUR future, don't you want the power in your hands, as opposed to government messages or marketing dollars? I hope so.

Over the last few years, I've encountered several nutritional informational punches that fired me up. Things that when you read them make you very angry with our food industry and the lies we have been spun. Documentaries that make you ugly cry for the confusion of obese children and why they just can't lose weight. These things are all too important for me to keep in the forefront of my brain, lest I be lulled back into lazy oblivion by the constant stream of things trying to tell me, "everything in moderation." I'm sorry, but no. Everything in moderation is clearly not working for us. 2/3 of us are overweight. 2/3 of us!!! This SHOULD fire you up. But honestly, most people don't even bat an eye at that. This generation is the first one ever expected to live SHORTER life spans than the previous. Clearly, we are doing so very much wrong, and it breaks my heart. So read on if you're curious about some of the eye-opening things that are out there.

1. 4 Hour Body by Tim Ferriss

I LOVED this book. Tim Ferriss is a wealthy, curious, intelligent dude. He got famous when he wrote the 4 Hour Workweek, which is all about business management and time management. He spends tons of his own money doing oodles of self-experimentation and then shares his findings with the world and encourages them to experiment as well. 4 Hour Body was recommended to me by a friend in Mobile (shoutout: Dani!) who saw some great results following his 6 days on/1 day off meal plan. This was the first body comp focused diet I tried, and I fully enjoyed it. Even more so, Tim explains lots of sciencey nutritional tidbits with you in the book, and a lot of it will piss you off. In a good way. Like explaining how scientists will use alloxan to induce diabetes in lab rats, a chemical made in our bodies when chlorine dioxide (one of the chemicals used to bleach flour) combines with residual proteins. YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THEY INTENTIONALLY GIVE THESE RATS DIABETES WITH IT, YET ARE STILL MORE THAN HAPPY TO GIVE OUR BODIES THE SUBSTRATES TO DO IT, TOO?!

Forgive me... the caps lock button is all too common when I get fired up. But seriously, this book is full of things like that. And if it helps anyone who reads this consume less things with bleached flour because we know it can directly help lead to diabetes, why wouldn't I share that?

2. Fed Up on Netflix

If you have Netflix, and you haven't seen this, please please please do it. It's impossible to not react to this documentary. I tend to take nutritional documentaries with a grain of salt because they can be extremely biased, but what can't? This one addresses childhood obesity more than anything, and it's a tough pill. I love that they attack the message of "move more, eat less," because that just doesn't work for anyone. I won't even get into the information packed into this one because I'm hoping you'll just go watch it.

3. Sugar Coated on Netflix

Holy mother of eye-opening! This one is aggressive. I believe it begins by saying, "sugar is a poison," or something along those lines. It's tough to dig into a pint of Ben & Jerry's while watching this one. I try to go back and rewatch this one when I feel my willpower slipping, not to bring about shame or guilt with food choices, but to remind me WHY I try to keep sugar out of my diet. I don't do it to look good; I do it because sugar is never ever going to be healthy. Food is not neutral, and sugar is absolutely a bad choice. That's the bottom line. It's a harsh reality and a necessary one for us to admit.

4. It Starts With Food by Dallas & Melissa Hartwig

Obviously this one is a newer one in my repertoire, but it'll fire you up, as well. Even if you never ever intend to complete a Whole30, I still recommend this book strictly from an informational perspective. I have Food Freedom Forever by the same authors on reserve for me at the library, as well, so I bet I'll be adding that to this list shortly.

5. The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf

Robb Wolf thought he was the picture of health with a super active life and self-proclaimed, holier than thou, vegetarian diet, yet he was miserably sick. I'm new to the paleo thinking in general, and I'm not saying paleo is THE SOLUTION, the way the title wants you to think, but I do believe in a lot of the principles in the movement. This is one of those that I read more for the sciencey info it contained than the actual diet advice, but I'd recommend it nonetheless.

6. Sweet Deception by Dr. Joseph Mercola

I first heard of Dr. Mercola when I worked at The Vitamin Shoppe because he has a supplement line, so when I saw his book, I picked it up. I am very critical of the FDA, so his subtitle really grabbed my attention: "why Splenda, Nutrasweet, and the FDA may be hazardous to your health." I think it's just as important, if not more, to educate yourself on artificial sweeteners as it is to outlaw sugar in your mind so that it doesn't feel like a healthy trade off. Science did NOT do us a favor with artificial sweeteners, as this book will show you. These chemicals came about and were approved for our ingestion through some extremely sketchy means. I dare you to read up on it. Here's a teaser: Splenda was discovered when researchers were attempting to make a new INSECTICIDE. Still think it's healthy?

Honorable mentions and/or things that I plan to watch or read: Bite Size on Netflix (watched it and cried), Suicide by Sugar, The Case Against Sugar, The Omnivore's Dilemma, and Grain Brain (plan to read those last 4).

Takeaway message: have you ever known anyone who achieved sustainable weight loss or better health by "moving more and eating less"? Me either. It's a bullshit message, pardon my French, and it shifts all of the blame off of the food industry. I dare you to expose yourself to any and all of the information you can get on your food, and it will shift your opinion, I promise. Our lives are at stake, this is a big deal, even if that isn't the message we're receiving every day. Don't let the wool be pulled over your eyes! Feel free to reach out to me if you take issue with any of this, or if you have a book or movie I should read/watch. I'm always open to new information. I'm a glutton for it!