Define "Clean Eating"

Eating "clean" is gaining traction — but what does it actually mean, and how is it good for the body? You hear about it almost every day if your reading food blogs or watching cooking shows.

Clean eating is a deceptively simple concept. Rather than revolving around the idea of ingesting more or less of specific things (for instance, fewer calories or more protein), the idea is more about being aware of the food's pathway between its origin and your plate. At its simplest, clean eating is about eating whole foods, or "real" foods — those that are un-processed, refined, and handled, making them as close to their natural form as possible. However, modern food production has become so sophisticated that simply eating whole foods can be a challenging proposition these days.

Stores like Whole Foods have changed the food scene. We have more mini grocery's that specialize in fresh foods, organic foods, and healthier brands. Ten or fifteen years ago we had 3 major grocery's where I live, and we had Whole Foods and convenient foods in gas stations. Today the scene is much different. Healthy foods are becoming commonplace in the majors and small grocery chains are springing up throughout the city selling organic, fresh, healthy food. Restaurants are starting to offer healthy food on the menu. The difference is today the public demands it. The menu will have to show the calorie count. And recently the FDA what's food manufacturers to put the amount of added sugar on food labels. These changes won't happen immediately but the changes will be a good thing for consumers.

Not eating processed foods is the biggest part of "eating clean". I was surprised to learn how many people don't really understand what foods are considered to be processed foods. Most people don't realize that bread is processed food and that some cheese is processed. These new kinds of milk like soy milk and almond milk are processed foods and may have chemical additives.

I just finished a sugar detox recently. For 10 days I couldn't eat anything with added sugar. I'm glad I did the detox, but it's difficult finding foods or drinks without sugar.  I had to just buy the basics and make my own food. It's very healthy and I learned a lot and I have no regrets. The hardest part was not eating in restaurants. The other hard part was only drinking water, tea, and coffee. I could add lemon for flavor and add cinnamon to black coffee. I could eat salads in some restaurants but no salad dressing, only lemon, oil, or vinegar.

The reason I mentioned the sugar detox is if you want to get a taste of what it's like to "eat clean", try a sugar detox.

If you really want to lose your body fat then look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. 

There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans, or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. 

Why You Have To Keep A Food Log

A cookie here. A bowl of pasta there. A handful of veggies drenched in ranch dressing. We think we know what we're taking in nutritionally, but reality is often pretty far off base. If you have trouble keeping weight off, there's usually a simple reason why. 

Most of us that watch the scale often know pretty quick that we're gaining weight. Gaining weight, if your not a body builder like those people on Venice Beach in California, probably means your increasing body fat. And if you're like most of us when we want to lose weight, we cut back on food. That's wrong. Most of us don't overeat, we just eat the wrong things and drink most of our calories. The average American will drink half their daily calories. You can probably lose weight simply by "stop drinking calories". It's very easy to drink more than 1000 calories a day.

In particular, calorie intake when dining out -- which, let's face it, most of us do more often than we should -- is usually grossly underestimated. Even so-called "healthy" meals can get derailed in a hurry, thanks to poor nutritional choices. Salad dressing is the number-one source of fat in [many] women's diets, which attests to how many women turn a good salad into a cardiac disaster. Most restaurant salads with dressing are about 800 calories, some can be even more, like a Chef Salad, Taco Salad, or a Cobb Salad.

When it comes to diet, we do a lot of things right, but most of us manage to make some serious blunders. Keeping a food log can help us get back on track, and it's not as difficult as you might think. See if any of these excuses sound familiar:

But... I don't understand what the point of a food log is. You know those contests where people fill a huge jar with jellybeans and you guess how many the jar holds, but you're wayyyyyyyyy under? That's pretty much what happens when it comes to "eyeballing" your calorie, fat and sodium intake. We think we know what we're consuming, but we're usually light years away from reality. A food log will help you keep track.

But... I don't have time to keep a food log. Back before the World Wide Web, my dad had a book full of foods and their calorie content. He painstakingly researched and recorded each and every meal and added up the calories himself. Let's all raise our voices in thanks for apps that now do the work for us. (I particularly love My Fitness Pal.)

But... I already eat healthy. Keeping a food log isn't only about the obvious culprits, like calories and fat. Most people unknowingly put away far more sodium than they realize in a given day, and we often overestimate our fruit and veggie consumption. A food log can be a wake-up call to improve habits we didn't even know needed fixing.

Fruit and Vegetables should be 3/4 of every meal. When watching calories, never drink anything with calories. You might not realize it but half the calories we consume come from drinks. If your gaining weight it's all about the calories. You can't exercise away a bad diet. Keeping a food log with an App is the quick easy way to keep track of calories. 

Someone was telling me, you can find an App that tells you the calories in any item on any menu. If I find the App I will post it.

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. 

There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. 

Can't Do Yoga, Think Again

If you think you're not the yoga type, think again. Just about anyone can do it, and it's not about bending yourself into a pretzel. For men and women of all shapes, sizes, ages, and abilities, yoga builds strength and balance. It's also a great way to ease stress. 

"In a gym, you're really pushing yourself to go further when you're working out. In yoga, it's the opposite. The poses encourage all the range of motion that the body is designed to do," says Megan Dunne Krouse, a yoga instructor in Chicago.

Doing Yoga When You're Overweight

When Megan Garcia signed up for yoga at Smith College, she felt intimidated because she was the only overweight person in the class. She stuck with it, though, and noticed she started gaining strength, plus feeling and sleeping better, too.

Now she is a plus-sized model and Kripalu-certified yoga instructor who teaches in New York and specializes in teaching yoga to people of all shapes and sizes.

Garcia found that yoga changed her in unexpected ways. "Before I started doing yoga, I really lived life from the neck up," she says. "After yoga, I began to really feel at home in my skin. If I didn't have yoga, I can't imagine feeling so good in my body. Yoga has made it comfortable for me to sit on the floor, to twist, to bend. It grounds me in my body."

RaeAnn Banker, who owns River Yoga in Lahaska, PA, started taking yoga classes on her 42nd birthday as a present to herself.

"I was overweight, and since my mother was morbidly obese, I knew I better do something or I was going to end up just like her," Banker says.

"It took several months of driving by the yoga center before I got up the courage to go in. But once I started, I loved the classes. I was the weakest student in the class, but I kept going," Banker says. "I ended up losing 35 pounds over the next 2 years and becoming a yoga teacher. Yoga literally changed my life."

I personally started yoga at the age of 70. They were offering free classes at the senior center so I thought I'd try. I felt a little out-of-place at first, but after a few weeks, I was getting the hang of it. The instructor was older than me and most of the students were my age. After a few months, I started to lose body fat and build strength. The senior center only offers a class twice a week, but I do Yoga at home on the other days. I'm always trying to do the poses better each time. I don't have to go to class anymore. I know most of the poses but I go anyway, the instructor always adds new poses when she has time to fit them in. 

Today I'm a happy, confidence and stronger. I don't care how old I am, it's about how old you feel and I feel 30 years younger. If you're not ready for a class but your interested, pick up a book at the library or find a book at the store orr on the internet. 

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. 

There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. 

Can You Think Your Way Thin?

It’s obviously not that simple, but there are little mind tricks you can use to bolster your efforts to lose weight. Try these smart ways to put your brain to work for you:

1. Imagine Yourself Fitter. You’ve undoubtedly heard about the power of visualization. And when it comes to exercise, an important part of any weight loss program, your imagination can be an effective motivational tool. One small study published in the Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology in 2010 found that adults who imagined their future selves -- either as slimmer and fitter or out-of-shape and inactive – were more apt to stick with their exercise routine. So whether it’s hope or fear, choose whichever motivates you to keep moving. 

Yes, think positive and always imagine you as a fit, healthy person who jogs or bikes with friends and having fun. This is the best way to keep motivated.

2. Tweak Your Attitude

You may occasionally catch yourself thinking things like, “There must be an easier way,” or “I wish I could have potato chips instead of carrot sticks.” When this happens, cognitive behavioral therapy expert Judith Beck, Ph.D, author of The Beck Diet Solution, suggests countering those thoughts with an “oh, well” attitude. In other words, say to yourself, “I may not like this, but I’ll accept it, do what I have to do, and move on.” A shorter version? “I want the potato chips but I’m going to skip them. I know better now".

3. Focus on the Habit, Not the Calories

You’re really not hungry, but that 100-calorie snack is only … 100 calories. Will it bust your calorie count for the day? Not likely. But here’s the problem: When you cave to that urge to nosh, it doesn’t matter if it has 20 calories or 200. Eating when you’re not hungry reinforces the habit of giving in to temptations, according to Beck. Instead of focusing on calorie count, stop and think about why you’re reaching for food. Are you bored or upset? Is it time for your favorite show and you always eat in front of the TV? Whatever the trigger, go for a walk, work on a hobby or call a friend --anything that distracts you from feeding a bad food habit.

Losing weight is a lot like quitting smoking. It is mind-over-matter. The ones that succeed are the ones that don't give up. Study everything you can find about weight loss and remember that we can't all lose weight the same way. What works for me probably won't work for you. You have to find what works for you.

After 30 years of struggling to lose body fat, I hit across something that worked for me. I had little success losing body fat until I retired. I took the time to study about losing body fat and after about six months of a healthy diet and exercise, I lost my last 20 pounds of fat.

Losing body fat should be your goal. Read up on weight loss and losing body fat. It doesn’t cost money to lose weight. The internet is full of free information.

But the quickest way and cheapest way is to buy an ebook online and get everything you need in one short read. I have two ebooks on Amazon:

How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight

Getting To A Healthy Weight

Check out one of them, I think you can find all the info you need and plenty of tips on how I lost my body fat. 

Look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. 

Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find these e-books. These books give you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my books at Amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. 

Why Do We Have Fat?

Good question. Human and other mammals are built to store body fat for times when they have no food and to insulate their organs in the cold weather.  Some body fat is necessary; we need it to cushion the organs in our body. Also, our body burns good fats like fats from plants, like avocados and nuts, as fuel to create energy.  Approximately  30% of all the calories burned every day to create energy come from fat that you eat or stored fat that your body keeps in reserve.

So why is fat bad? you might ask. There is good fat and bad fat, I'll explain. Your body will try and process all the food and drink you consume, but some things that we eat can't be processed; it has no value to the body, so it's stored in fat cells for an emergancy. But in modern times we have no need for stored fat we wear clothes to protect us from the weather. When your body processes food it separates it into food it can use and the waste it can't use, but if your body can't process something or you over eat and the body hasn't the time to process it, then it gets sent to fat storage cells before the body can process it.

Our ancestors needed this system of fat storage because Man  never knew when he would find food again. Because of the active lifestyle of our ancestors, always doing physical work, always walking about, there was never any thought about Man storing too much fat. Man was not designed to deal with excess body fat. Man was designed to store fat whenever possible for the purpose of survival. And yes we were given brains to deal with our evolution because over time we would evolve. But in spite of the brains we were given, we haven't done a very good job of maintaining our bodies. The body has no mechanism  to control our weight. We have no way of knowing that we are eating too much.

Our activity level is much lower than our grandparents even. Today we do most of our work with our mind's. Yes, we do small things to keep us active, but the average office worker is only on their foot about 4 hours a day.  So we do have to be more active all day long whenever possible. But that's not our only problem; American are in the habit of eating whatever and whenever they want. We have food available 24/7 and on average we consume twice the calories we should.

Her lies the problem. To stay healthy and keep a healthy weight you have to burn the calories you eat. Simply right? Not really. If man had a fresh food diet and only fresh food like vegetables, fruits and lean meat and some whole grain like brown rice and there was no other food; than Man wouldn't have a weight problem. As long as you were moderately active you couldn't eat enough to gain weight. But today we eat all types of food that give us no nutrition; the body can't process this type food and stores it as fat. We consume too much fatty foods that overload the Liver, so if the Liver can't process all the fat  it passes through into the blood stream and clog up the arteries.

To be healthy and stay healthy you have to stick to a fresh food diet. Look up "The Mediterranean diet" and look for the food pyramid that shows all the choices. If you eat healthy you will lose body fat over time. By walking more, and I recommend the 10,000 step a day program for beginners that don't exercise regularly,  you can lose the weight quicker. But losing weight does take time. Don't get discouraged, stick to the program and don't cheat. Cheat days only ruin all the good that you've done.

The Atkins Diet is an alternative. It's a little more restrictive, but it works. Check out both those, they are the best one I know.

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. 

There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. 

A Post From The "Hungry Woman" Website

I reblogged this from one of my readers. She writes a good post on a subject that we all need to pay more attention to. Let me know what you think.

So I have decided that…I am going to start my diet…tomorrow.  I have assigned an official start date, in writing!

Now, this is going to be a little bit more difficult, as I am still in holiday mode but I just want to feel good about myself… that is all.

I am not egotistic or suffer from vanity (clearly). Looking HOT would be great but it is way down on my priority list. I want to FEEL good…it has nothing to do with how I look. I just want to have confidence. I want to not care what anyone else things about me. If I feel happy in a black plastic bag then damn it I want to wear that black plastic bag with pride. I think we have all at some point started a diet and within a few days we are thinking “Damn – I feel good” and although the dress may be a size 20-22 we feel different.

That is what I want. I want that feeling EVERY SINGLE day.

Lately, there are a lot of people saying that you should be big and proud and that big confident woman are an inspiration to us all. I am a big woman and I completely disagree. Of course, if you want to be overweight and feel good about that – then good for you! But the bottom line is it is unhealthy …and is just as unhealthy as an anorexic person. We need to see ourselves in the same bracket as a person with an eating disorder… because we too have an eating disorder. We are no better or no worse but fat people are called lazy and presumed to be unmotivated to change their lives but that is not the truth… we have an addiction.

Now I am not looking for pity. I am just trying to explain the difficulties of having this kind of eating disorder. I know I choose to eat the 10 packets of crisps but in a way… it feels like I have no control! You see a “normal” person becomes LESS hungry or LESS interested in food the more they eat. They become SATISFIED. The more I eat; I become hungrier and more interested in food. If I don’t feel stuffed to the brim then I need to keep eating until I can’t possibly eat anything else.

I am really determined that tomorrow will be the answer to all my prayers. That tomorrow I will wake up and finally everything will make perfect sense and this “diet” will be a lifestyle change and I will be a new positive ball of loveliness.

I have great admiration for this women who know that she has a problem and knows she has to fix the problem. She has probably tried several times with little success but she doesn't stop trying. She will succeed, I know it and she knows it.

Not everyone can lose weight the same way. I personally think the Mediterranean diet could help her. You don't have to deprive yourself. No calories to count, just stick to the food pyramid for your food choices.

Spend more time walking. I like the 10,000 steps a day routine. That's enough activity to lose weight. 

The chart above is broken down in 3 parts. It's not a skimpy diet. You can fill-up, but stick to the plan. The bottom half of the pyramid you can eat every day. The walking you should do every day and only water with one glass of wine everyday. The top of the chart you can only eat once a week and meat only once a month. So if you've noticed the emphasis is on carbs. Animal fats are in the diet but only sparingly. The reason this is a heart healthy diet is because the animal fats are the ones that raise your LDL or Bad Cholesterol.

Fats from plants like avocados or olives are good fats and will lower your cholesterol. I know many people who have changed their diet and have been able to get off their medications.

If you really want to lose the extra flab you can get help, I write 4 blogs and I’ve written two E-books. E-books are the easiest and cheapest way to learn about any subject without groping through hundreds of website looking for the material you want.

My first e-book is “HowBadDoYouWantToLoseWeight” and it sells for $2.99 on most online bookstores like Amazon.com, BN.com, iBook, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, and Gardner books in the U.K.

My second e-book is available in the same stores. And on smashwords.com. If you use the smashwords' promotional code You can get my second book for $1.99 (TL96R). Just type in the search line “getting to a healthy weight”.

The Dangers Of Processed Foods

This post is a great example of the dangers of processed foods that I preach about constantly.

A Closer Look at Processed Foods

Editor’s note: This post is part of our WebMD Special Report: What’s In Your Food?

By Brenda Goodman
WebMD Health News

Melanie Warner is the author of Pandora’s Lunchbox: How Processed Foods Took Over the American Diet. A former reporter for The New York Times, she spent a year and a half investigating the modern system of food manufacturing in the U.S. to conclude that “much of what we now eat is not so much as cooked as it is engineered into finely-tuned, nutrient-deficient creations of science.” Look for more articles by Brenda Goodman, she knows "Processed Foods".

She began to wonder what manufacturers were adding to foods after she started what she calls her “food museum”—a collection of products like cookies, crackers, and even guacamole from a grocery store deli that she discovered could sit on the shelf of her pantry or refrigerator for months or years past their expiration dates without spoiling.

Since her book came out in 2013, the FDA has told food manufacturers that trans fats are no longer safe to use in processed foods, and many major companies, including Kraft, General Mills, and Nestle have pledged to get artificial colors and flavors out of their products—a practice called “clean labeling.”

WebMD asked her what she thought of these developments, and whether companies have really committed to making healthier products.

Q: I’m sure you’ve noticed this recent spate of public announcements from Kraft and General Mills and Nestle that they’re going to get artificial ingredients out of their foods. Do you think companies are feeling more consumer pressure to talk more about how they make their food?

A: Companies, I think, are only going as far as people push them, and by people I mean consumers—the people that are eating their products. They’re doing it because they’re being pushed in that direction by consumers.

They get all this input coming from social media and focus groups and all this market data gathering that they usually do. What they’re hearing is that people are concerned about this, and they’re worried about sales. They feel like if they don’t do this there’s going to be an impact on sales, and they’re probably right.

But they aren’t doing it to be better companies. They’re not trying to truly open up the doors. They’re not truly trying to reform their foods to make them healthier. They’re simply reacting to what consumers are telling them. I know that sounds cynical. That’s just my observation of how food companies think and how they operate. Or any consumer-facing company, really.

Q: After telling us so many revealing details about how processed foods are made, you say in your book that food companies aren’t going to fix this. Since they’re making the food to begin with, why shouldn’t they be the ones to reform it?

A: I’ve had this debate and argument with some people in the food movement who think that we need to be putting pressure on companies. We need to look at regulation and force companies to do things. That’s great if it happens, but companies are so good at getting around regulations. They find every loophole they can. And it’s also really hard to get any regulation passed.

So I think it’s really about pushing forward with a new consciousness about food and educating people and opening people’s eyes up. I’ve been really amazed and heartened by how much has happened on that front within the last 10 years. There have been books written, articles, documentaries. People are looking at all this much more with a much greater awareness about what’s healthy for us to eat and caring about our health. Not everyone — there’s still a huge ways to go.

I think that’s where the momentum needs to continue. We need to keep focusing on opening up people’s eyes to what happens inside the food industry. And if they decide ‘Oh, it’s fine. No big deal,’ then let people decide for themselves. But most people when they see what happens inside the food industry, whether it’s on the farms or in factories decide, ‘Oh, that’s kind of gross. I think I’m going to find other options.’

Q: Where is the FDA in all this?

A: I think people have gotten so used to the FDA not doing anything that it’s hard to summon anyone’s outrage about it. They say, ‘Well, the agency doesn’t have a big enough budget to really police our food supply.’ But they’ll never get enough money if people don’t get angry about it and insist on greater regulation.

It is a Herculean job to try either initiate or try to stay on top of the scientific research on so many different food additives. Let me just say that. It is a really big deal. But there’s just clear examples of how the FDA is just not being rigorous at all in ways that it definitely could.

Trans fat is just the most recent and glaring example. We’ve known for at least 10 years, probably more, that trans fats are one of the most harmful things in the food supply and it’s just now that FDA has taken away the GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status of partially hydrogenated oils. So, just the fact that they sat on it for that long and didn’t want to press the food industry, and from what I can tell, the reason they didn’t take action was that the food industry said ‘No, wait, it’s not that bad. We’ll just reduce the amount, and we’ll still have half a gram, you need to give us time.’ So they kind of go in line with the schedule that the food industry requests.

There are other examples like BHT, which is the preservative that’s used so that oils don’t go rancid in foods, and you find it in a number of processed foods as well as in packaging. That’s a probable carcinogen, according to the Health and Human Services department, so clearly that could be something that’s banned and not allowed in food. So those are just small examples of where the FDA could take simple action without going through tons of scientific studies. The data is already there.

Six months ago, there was a study that popped up on a couple of emulsifiers that are pretty widely used. Polysorbate 80 was one of them. It’s a whole area where there has been hardly any research done because it’s relatively new, our knowledge of the gut microbiome. We have no idea what all these additives are doing to our gut bacteria. That’s just another example of how there is a need for more research.

I’m not going to be the one screaming, ‘Don’t eat any food additives, they’re all horrible.’ I think in a limited amount, your body can handle (them) and has a system for detoxifying. Because everyone eats some processed food. We’re all exposed to food additives. It’s just a question of quantity. If people are consuming a diet heavy in processed food, then they’re getting an abundance of all these different kinds of food addititves. And I think the FDA needs to be a lot more aware of that, the accumulation of many, many food additives coming into our bodies day after day for people who are eating these diets heavy in processed food.

Q: What do you think is the next trans fat?

A: Certainly the most dangerous things in our food now are sugar and refined grains. They’re in abundance in processed food and their effect on the body in excess is well documented.

Refined grains get turned into glucose in the body very quickly. If you’re eating a whole grain product, like oatmeal, there’s some fiber that helps to slow down the absorption in the body, but if you take out that fiber, there’s nothing to prevent it from being readily converted into glucose and functioning very similar to the way sugar does in terms of rapidly going into the bloodstream and causing these rapid spikes in blood sugar, and your pancreas produces a lot of insulin to compensate, and you have that whole cycle that can lead to metabolic syndrome and diabetes if left unchecked.

Q: Do you think when you take artificial colors and flavors out of a processed food, that makes it a better product? Is clean labeling really going to make our food healthier?

A: That’s a tough one, I think. Some days I think, ‘OK, that’s kinda good. It’s making something less bad.’ It’s good to have those options as a better alternative when you do want the chips, cookies, frozen stuff and cereals. But on the other hand, the concern is that it gives those foods a health halo and confuses people. And then people think, ‘Well I can eat more … or (it’s) a healthy product.’ … I think people have to be sophisticated about it and think ‘Well, there are none of these seemingly horrible additives, but what are the other ingredients in them?’ If there’s a lot of sugar and refined grains, then I think you have to look at those ingredients and make an assessment.

(Some companies) are taking out artificial colors and flavors without really addressing the other stuff. Like BHT and methylcellulose and all these other ingredients and preservatives.

Q: How natural are “natural flavors”?

A: All the natural flavors are still highly processed. Special strawberry flavor doesn’t come from a strawberry. They’re coming from a natural source. It could start with corn, or soybeans, or yeast. It starts with a natural source, but the way you get to it is highly processed, similar to the way you would for an artificial flavoring. The process is very similar. It’s just what you start with that’s different, that makes it natural. People can decide whether that’s better. I don’t necessarily think it’s better.

Q: We looked into problems of adulteration with processed foods like parmesan cheese.  When I asked a cheese expert if he wanted the FDA to do something about it, he said no. He said the agency has to stay focused on preventing foodborne illness caused by contamination with E. coli and Listeria and things like that.  He said these additives aren’t really a health issue. What do you say to that?

A: If you have to choose one or the other, you’re going to go with prevent E. coli and Listeria, obviously. But why do we have to choose?

It’s ironic that the FDA was inspired by Harvey Wiley, MD, who wanted an agency to oversee food, specifically because there was so much adulterated food and no one was overseeing this. That was the original inspiration for the FDA in the first place. So you didn’t have sawdust in your coffee and things like that. Now it’s cellulose in the parmesan cheese. Maybe that’s why all those shakers of parmesan cheese, when you buy them, have no taste. There’s no flavor. You have to put so much on to get a little bit of taste.

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. 

There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page.