Processed foods are everywhere. Adam Smith covered this in economics with the division of labour, which is what we've taken to extremes nowadays. Which includes the way our food is made and prepared.
Some of our food is produced fairly close to the way our ancestors would have made it, albeit in larger quantities. Bread - apart from some of the extra additives - has been made roughly the same way since Roman times, probably earlier. But even then, the varieties of flour have changed to allow more intensive farming.
But that's splitting hairs.
The real issue is food that our ancestors wouldn't recognise. Which means that our bodies aren't adapted to it either.
The more processed our food is, the more difficulty we have in digesting it. Which can lead to knock on effects on our weight.
It's not easy to escape all processing but it is possible to reduce it quite a bit.
The quickest way to ensure that your food is to do as much of your own cooking as possible.
Years ago, you'd have either churned your own butter or bought it from someone who did.
No-one would have dreamed of bubbling hydrogen through vegetable fat and throwing in some nickel to help the process. But that's a very quick explanation of how margarine is made. It's originally white and has yellow dye added to make it appear more appetising.
As a general rule, if you can't pronounce some of the ingredients of your food or describe how they're made, it's time to think long and hard about whether you should be eating that particular thing.
Of course, the ingredients lists are often in small print and the production process is likely only found by digging through somewhere like Wikipedia.
But the end result is the same: food that looks and tastes like food but that is actually something that's been carefully constructed in a laboratory and then a factory that only looks like a kitchen when it's domesticated for a television advert.
Our bodies cope with this. But not always well, which is why weight loss is usually easier when you keep to mainly natural foods that have had as little processing as possible.
The easiest way to check this for yourself is to forgo as much processed food as possible for the next few weeks and see how you feel.
If you're like most people, you'll feel better. Maybe slightly trimmer. Maybe a slightly lower blood pressure. And almost certainly more energy.
Which is the body's way of telling us "do more of this!"
The other benefit is that you'll probably eat less.
Even something as innocent looking as fruit juice is processed.
You'll happily quaff a glass or two of orange juice.
But you'd look at me as though I was a madman if I suggested that you ate 4 or 8 oranges right now instead of those one or two glasses of juice.
And even the most ardent sugar addict (or sweet toothed child) would be unlikely to add 12 teaspoons of sugar to a cup of tea or coffee. But that's roughly what you get in a can of fizzy pop.
So do your waistline a favour and reduce your intake of processed foods.
For more information, check out this article on real world weight loss.
And if you're in or near Cheltenham, feel free to give me a call.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Trevor_Dumbleton
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