Read what you eat

A good friend of mine is a health-junky these days. The amount of time I've put into Survival, firearms practice, etc is about 1/2 of what he's done in nutrition, exercise, etc. the one thing he's hammered into me is to read what the hell your eating.

For example I never liked white bread, I've preferred wheat. But not all wheat breads are the same. There is a German Dark Wheat made by Pepperidge Farms that's got 3 grams of fiber per slice, where the Home Pride wheat I liked as a kid has only 1 gram of fiber. It's a little more money, but more fiber means it's better for you. they even have breads with flax for healthy Omega-3 fats.

Take a look at a bottle of Coke and your going to freak out with the amount of sugar in it. I mean just might as well dump a bowl of sugar in a glass of water and drink it. Look at the differences between all-natural peanut butter vs. Jif. Or check out the amount of salt in one of those microwave-meals the officeworkers tend to get - the lean cuisine and such.

We should be growing all our own food and eating it, but for those of us who can't - start reading the labels, and you can make better decisions on what you eat. I can guarantee you that if you actually read what a Big Mac is nutritionally your not going to want to have one.

Most of the time the "regular" food is better for you than the "fat-free" or "low-fat" versions. The take out the fats (which make you feel fuller - so smaller portions) and pump in corn syrup. It's "fat-free" until your insulin goes bonkers from the sugar and then makes it pure fat. Fat-free so long as it's not eaten! I'm a Hellman's mayonnaise fan, and they have a version that's not fat-free, but has Omega-3's for fats instead of the bad fats. Just so you know Omega-3's are the fats in fish and flax seed that are wicked good for you.

Now I'm not saying to become a food Nazi like my buddy and eat 8 meals a day with pre-and post workout shakes and such. What you should be doing is educating yourself on the foods you do eat, so you can make minor changes that have a huge impact on your health. Just getting the better wheat bread, or the healthiest yogurt, or using EV olive oil instead of corn oil.

Part of survival is providing for you and your families health. The first thing you need to do is take that food triangle the FedGov has been pimping for years and cram it up their ass. We NEED fat as biological creatures to survive. The trick is to eat the better ones.

Now that I got you all gung-ho to eat healthy, there is one thing my food-Nazi buddy says we must absolutely do. And it's cheat on the diet. Once a week you should eat whatever the heck you want for one meal. It's actually healthier for you to eat crap once a week than not too. I'll have to see about getting him to do a guest article sometime, because when he starts to explain it it goes over my head. I do know one thing though, when you have a cheat meal a week it's a hell of a lot easier to stay on the diet the rest of the week. You can pass on the ice cream on Tuesday, because Saturday night you got a date with cheese ravioli with meat sauce, garlic bread, and a pint of Ben and Jerry's Oatmeal Cookie Chunk!