Alternative Meats

Are they healthier? They definitely can be, but they cannot be, as well.

I know I already talked about my view on meat, but all that aside, let’s talk. Meat patties, for example, can be healthy and less healthy (depending it you buy lean meat or not or if you’re eat chicken or pork).

Veggie patties can be healthy. They can be made from lots of veggies or lentils or chickpeas. They can be made from soy, which isn’t ideal. Or they can be made from potatoes or flour.

So basically, check the labels, and meat alternatives can be a delicious healthy option.

Happy Eating,

Ashley

The Importance of a Home Cooked Meal

I prefer to cook my meals at home for many reasons. The biggest reason being that I know what’s in the food. Why is this so important?

First of all, I can avoid any ingredient I don’t want to eat, such as flour or fatty dairies or any of the foods listed in Weight Loss i, II, or III.

Second, I can un-food-like-products that preserved food companies, grocery stores, and restaurants put in food. What are these un-food-like-products? One is artificial food coloring. Artificial food coloring is made from chemicals derived from petroleum and can lead to many terrible conditions, such as brain cancer, hyperactivity in children, and nerve-cell deterioration.

Another is bromated flour or potassium bromate, which is used in baked goods to speed up the baking process and reduce cost, but it is derived from bromine which is used to stop carpets from catching on fire and is linked to kidney damage, nervous system damage, and cancer. The same goes for brominated vegetable oil, which is used to make food dye stick to liquid but is linked to growth problems, schizophrenia, major organ system damage, hearing loss, and birth defects.

A fourth is Azodicarbonamide, which is known to induce asthma but is used to bleach both flour and foamed plastic. A fifth and sixth go closely with my post on meat and are synthetic growth hormones rBGH and rBST, which are found in dairy products and potentially cause weakened muscle growth, infertility, and a whole array of cancers, and arsenic, which is found in poultry to make meat appear pinker and fresher and will kill you if you ingest enough.

Happy Eating?

Ashley

When to eat, when to exercise

Let’s start with exercise, since it’s easy. You should exercise at a time that will make it easy for you to be consistent. There is actually no benefit to exercising in the morning or before you eat (exercising before you eat is worse in many cases because you work out less intensely and you eat more when you finish). Personally, I work out in the evening, since I cannot convince myself to wake up early…

Now, when to eat. You should not eat before going to bed or taking a nap. (No matter how tempting!) Doing this action (well, inaction) will not give all the food you ate the opportunity to be burned through normal activity. If you are going to eat something you know is breaking the rules, then I would eat it in the morning, then you have all day to burn it off!

Also, as far as how big your meals should be, my general rule of thumb is to eat your biggest meal in the morning and then your smallest meal at night. So, in the mornings I work and at night is the only time I have to cook, so what do I do? I generally make food the night before and eat a small portion for dinner that night then take a larger portion for lunch the next. And in the morning for breakfast, I make eggs with yummy vegetables (which I cut the night before) and yogurt with yummy fruit (which I also cut the night before) with some cut avocado and hummus on the side. Fast, quick, and easy.

Happy Eating,

Ashley