After 22 years of dieting, and following all the weight loss and healthy eating “rules,” I found myself feeling confused and defeated.

The diets were constant. The energy was low.  The allergies, sinus infections, and migraines were real, and recurring.   

My battle with food, weight loss, and health seemed like an endless, complicated, and pointless cycle.

I hated dieting, and I hated myself on a diet. But I hated being overweight and unhealthy just as much. 

What can we do when we feel we only have two choices, and neither of those choices are what we want for ourselves? 

We can realize that the solution must be outside of our realm of thinking.

We can become curious.  We can question everything we think we know.  We can disrupt our beliefs.  We can allow our minds to open to new possibilities.

My solution turned out to be healthy living.  And healthy living had nothing to do with calories, carbs, proteins, fats, diets, or any of the rules I had lived by for most of my adult life. 

On the contrary, healthy living was about escaping the rules, and breaking the dieting patterns.  It was about forgetting everything I thought I knew about food and health. 

It was about simplifying, and the truth.

Health is vitality.  Health is energy.  Health is connection.  Health is intentional.  Health is simple.

What complicates our efforts, and confuses us are the lies we have been told for decades.

I came to learn that healthy living was about expanding my life, not limiting it.

I came to understand that nearly everything about the American lifestyle and culture is unhealthy.  Including it’s approach to weight loss and health.

The truth is that food and health in America is one big fat misleading lie designed to keep you eating crappy man-made food for profit, ALL DAY LONG.

I was one of those “conventionally” healthy women, and moms.  I followed all the established rules for weight loss, and healthy eating. 

I wanted to make the right choices for myself and my family, and I thought I was.  Little did I know that the rules I followed came from the food industry itself…

Here are 10 “healthy” beliefs that will confirm that you are brainwashed by the food industry.

1. You focus on the calories in your food as a health indicator.  Truth: 200 calories of spinach is NOT the same as a 200 calorie Pop Tart.  And truth is you should be eating mostly foods that do not come in a box or a bag with an ingredient label.

2. You think 6 small meals a day will keep your metabolism revved up. Truth: Metabolism is regulated by hormones.  Hormones only work optimally with proper nutrition.  Eating 6 meals a day is a total farce designed to keep us eating food all day long.  This is great for profits, not weight loss.  I really liked this rule, and had a hard time letting it go..

3. You think that drinks like Gatorade and Powerade, and/or chocolate milk are great for post workout recovery.  Truth: Gatorade and Powerade are nothing but processed sugar and salt.  They are devoid of nutrition.  Chocolate milk is nothing more than a brilliant ad campaign from the United Dairy Council who sits in the premier corporate sponsorship spot of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.  The very place most dietitians and nutritionists are schooled.

4. You think of food in terms of calories, fats, proteins and carbohydrates.  Truth:  you should be eating food that comes from the ground. From nature. From God.  Those foods have no labels.  Most foods with labels are man made for profit with the exception of basic canning and bagging techniques for things like beans and nuts that are not processed..

5. You do not really know the difference between organic, conventional or GMO foods. Truth: You NEED to know the difference, but GMO companies do not want you to.   Too much for me to explain here.  Take my course to become an informed consumer, your children’s health depends on your knowledge.  I will give you a small factual hint right now.  The leading maker of GMO’s is a CHEMICAL company with a 100 year history of creating carcinogens that eventually got pulled off the market (think Dioxin, PCB’s, Aspartame, and Agent Orange.)  I sensationalize you not.  That is a fact, and my guess is that at least 80% of what you feed your kids has GMO ingredients.

6. You think lean meat and animal proteins are healthy choices. Truth: animal products have been linked to all our chronic disease.  This is why they have been altered with health claims like lean, 93% fat, low fat etc.  This is exactly what the Tobacco Industry did to cigarettes when the public became aware of their link to cancer.  They created low tar and light cigarettes to make it seem like they were healthier choices.  They weren’t.  You can rest assured if a food product has to be altered to make a health claim, that is a sign to stop eating it. 

7. You believe that food with health claims on the labels (more fiber, more protein, less sugar, less sodium)are healthy choices.  See above.  Same crap. Yes, they may be a “better” option, but that does not mean is it a healthy option.

8. You think genetics are the strongest predictors of chronic disease (diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer).  Here is a fact for you.  Only 5-10% of cancers have any genetic component whatsoever, and even so, that gene has to be triggered by something in our lifestyle or the environment.  Truth is that genetics may load the gun, but your lifestyle pulls the trigger.

9. You think milk and other dairy products are healthy and necessary for calcium.  Truth: We consume a ton of dairy, and have very high rates of osteoporosis.  Read this for the truth about calcium and osteoporosis.  Not to mention, milk is only a perfect food for a baby calf.  Not your mom, not your milk.  

10. You look for sugar free products that use zero calorie sweeteners instead. Truth: People are becoming more educated about this.  Again, this is the food industry trying to make sure they do not lose “stomach share.” Imagine a board room of share holders being told that they will not be as profitable this year because they need to tell the public to stop eating so much of their garbage food. That would never happen!  Innovative companies use health concerns to come up with new products to sell, like artificial sweeteners. Never have these new products improved our health, in fact, most make our health even worse.

There you have it.  If you make decisions for yourself and your family based on these beliefs, then you need to discover the truth.

Conventional thinking is not thinking, it is following.  And it is ignoring all the signs we witness every day of our lives.

• Half of America’s children have a chronic health condition.
• One in two men, and one in three women is predicted to develop cancer in their lifetime.
• One in three of our children is predicted to have diabetes.

We are surrounded by diets, drugs, disease, and death by lifestyle, and it has only gotten worse.

Please be curious. Please become informed.  Your life, and your children’s future, literally depends on it.

If interested in becoming informed and inspired to live a truly healthy life, I would love to help you.