Written By Adela Lopez
They say bad habits are the toughest to break, but how do you know if your habits are bad when it comes to food choices. Especially, the food options you were raised upon and have been around all your life?
As kids we are socialized in many different ways – political issues, financial standings, and one of the most important, food. It may not seem like food is such an important topic, in fact, it seems that it would be more of a common sense topic for the most part. But, as we have seen in the past couple of years, the incline in childhood obesity and childhood diabetes has skyrocketed dramatically. It’s obvious the topic of food combined with the topic of bad habit is not something greatly correlated.
I recently watched the documentary “Food Inc”. It completely opened my eyes to all the food that is out there. The public is being fooled to believe it is all natural and healthy, when, in fact, it isn’t. The truth is that there is a huge curtain between us and the grocery stores we all flock to, to get our groceries. As toddlers we have no power over what is fed to us, which in turn we learn to love. Eventually we turn into adults that can’t go a day without a can of “Pepsi” or our favorite burger from the burger joint down the street that has become a tradition within our families.
How do we fix this as adults? How do we restart our system to stop craving all the bad food our dear parents, family members, and friends have introduced us to that we have had the time to fall in love with all these years? It is a hard process but, it can be done! Of course with any change comes uncomfortable situations, but in reality, if you put your mind, time, and all your effort into it, you can clean out your system and stick to it.
You have to be motivated and think of the bigger picture down the road, whether you’re doing it for you to look better, to be healthy for your kids, or (most importantly) to be that positive influence on the people you love most.
With today’s abundance of technology, it is easier to research and stay connected to a positive environment that helps you learn how to accomplish your goal of transforming into a healthy individual.
Smart phone apps: There are a number of apps (even better, FREE apps!) that help you keep record of your healthy exercising routines, like MyFitnessPal or MapMyRun. Another great app is all about food. A friend recently told me about Fooducate; it lets you scan the barcodes while you’re out grocery shopping. It tells you the calories and the greater part it lets you know if it contains GMO’s (genetically modified organisms).
Recipes: You can find 100’s of recipes online, but now you can also find just as many healthy recipes out there that even tell you what you can substitute unhealthy ingredients with to make it into a delicious dish without all the bad ingredients.
Social Media: Facebook is no longer a place just to keep tabs on your friends. There are many pages that you can “like”, such as our own “Drew Canole” and “Juicing Vegetables” that will not only help you be informed about healthy food choices and their benefits, but will keep you motivated on a daily basis. The people that follow these pages form a great positive community as well. They are all there with the same intention as you: to change their lives! They are great to turn to for advice on many things such as what to shop for that has helped them, what ingredients or products they use that are best for substituting in recipes, or great new ideas on how to stay positive and motivated. The best way I think of it, is if you surround yourself with people who share the same common goals as you. You will be twice as motivated to keep going.
These are just a couple of things that have helped me stay focused in my continued search to becoming a healthier adult, cutting out all the junk food and the not so healthy food I was raised on as a child. The great thing is that it is never too late to learn or change for the better. Let me know what has been your biggest challenge and things you have done to change your eating habits for the better and how you are passing it along to your children or loved ones.