Halloween is over, you’ve thrown back a bunch of candy bars and now you’re deciding that it’s time to start eating better. We agree! Eating healthy is the foundation of living a happy and healthy lifestyle. The unfortunate truth is that it’s becoming harder and harder to delve through the distractions of pretty packaging and commercials of happy people eating yogurt to know which foods are truly healthy these days.

image found at lindawagner.net

You may have hear the recent news that the WHO has now declared that processed meats, truly contribute to colon cancer. When we heard the news we all said “Well, DUH” but unfortunately, for some, it may be too late. I know that I grew up eating a variety of foods of this nature; Mc Donalds burgers, hot dogs, and cold cuts not to mention lots of sugar filled candy. It still blows my mind that these foods are so heavily marketed to children.

When you walk into a grocery store, it’s easy to assume that it’s a safe haven. That the food on the shelves is safe for consumption, and that they wouldn’t sell you poison. That should be illegal right? Well…. not so fast. The food industry and the companies that market these foods only have one thing in mind, when they tell you that something is okay to eat: the bottom line.

In this post, we’re going to share some tips with you that will help you eat healthier. As a #worldveganday bonus, I’ll share with you some documentaries you need to watch if you want to know what’s going in your food and inevitably, your body.

WARNING: Some documentaries may convince you to go vegan or vegetarian. 

Tips to Eating Better:

1.Shop the outskirts of your grocery store

Better yet, let 80% of the food that goes into your grocery cart be from the produce section. Think about it, our bodies were made to consume food that was made from the ground, something that can be picked off a tree. The majority of our food for purchase today comes in a box and is packed with preservatives that make it last longer. The vitamins that are added to it were added artificially and our bodies cannot even absorb the nutrients that the labels claim to include. There’s no point in food having vitamins if your body can’t absorb it.

2.Do NOT judge your food based on solely calories. It’s health and even what it will add to your waist line is not reflective of this number.

I want to introduce you to one of the best documentaries I have ever watched. It’s called “That Sugar Movie”. It takes you through 2 months with Damon who decided to switch his plant-based diet of about 2100 calories a day to a diet of what we think of as typically healthy foods with the same amount of calories. Foods like low-fat greek yogurt, granola bars, and fresh fruit juices that are marketed to us as ‘health foods’. Foods that you think would have next to no sugar, but are contributing to the national average of consuming upwards of 40 tblspoons of sugar per day!

His transformation was incredible. When he stopped eating mainly fruits and vegetables, and moved to what we typically think of as healthy, he gained weight dramatically without even increasing his calorie count. He gained about 20 pounds in 2 months, the amounts of triglycerides in his body spiked to unhealthy levels and he even began to show signs of fatty liver. He saw this dramatic growth in weight without consuming a single cookie, cupcake or bowl of icecream. His facial complexion turned reddish, he began to break out with pimples, and he felt progressively more and more tired.

If you we’re wondering why you can’t lose those last ten pounds, these fake ‘health foods’ like what you see in the majority of the cereal aisles are the problem. I urge you to watch this documentary. It’s actually ridiculously funny, and you’ll think so much about how much sugar you unknowingly consume on a daily basis.

Watch it for free if you join Amazone Prime Video at this link.

3.Be AWARE of the costs that people pay for your food

Now that Halloween is over, if you needed another reason to beat your chocolate addiction, get ready for this.

I was not aware of this until recently, but having a small piece of “guilt-free” dark chocolate is not as guilt free as you think. The chocolates and candies that we feed to our children, are being created by children, who live in slavery to the companies that produce cocoa beans. I know that sentence seemed very dramatic, but unfortunately, there’s no soft way to communicate that message. Children as young as 10 years are living in deplorable conditions.

I actually always wondered how they were able to produce candy for so so cheap. A chocolate bar costs less than a piece of fruit! I thought that potentially it was because the materials were inexpensive, but recently, I found out it’s more because the labour is next to free.

You can read this article to learn more about children in the chocolate slavery industry.

Don’t worry you can still have some chocolate with out the guilt. Here’s a list of companies that produce slave-free chocolate

4.Don’t Trust Whats On the Label

This video will show you some of the tricks that the food marketing companies play on you, to convince you to buy things that are not healthy:

5. But Don’t You Miss Bacon?

Every vegetarian and vegan has heard this question, and is likely sick of it. As I mentioned before, processed meats and red meats are proven to raise the risk of diseases such as cancer. Additionally the meat production industry is extremely cruel to the animals that are forced into it and the environmental repercussions are detrimental and irreversible.

Vegan and vegetarian diets use a substantially smaller amount of resources in land and water than meat based diets.

If you’re curious about a plant based diet, these documentaries are sure to educate you and help you make an informed decision.

• Watch Forks Over Knives if you’re interested in finding out how living a plant based diet can really change your health, help you get off of medications (after speaking to your doctor, of course) and having more energy than ever!

They just released a cookbook that helps you follow healthy recipes as well

• Watch Cowpiracy if you’re interested in finding out the negative repercussions that the meat industry causes on the environment, and how it is not being talked about.

• Watch FOOD Inc. and Vegucated if you just want one last push to get you to go vegetarian or vegan.

You can watch them for free at those links with Amazon Prime Video.

My boyfriend and I recently did a 3 week vegan cleanse, as documented in these three posts 1,2,3. My boyfriend lost 16 pounds in 3 weeks, I gained muscle definition, clear skin and rid myself of stomach pains that had been plaguing me for 2 years. Plus, there are tons of delicious vegan recipes, like this recipe that we teamed up with Lea from Vegan for The World on how to make a vegan icecream.

Hope you enjoyed these tips for eating better. Share in the comments your tips for eating better and help the community get their yes!