Read It Before You Eat It!

It's important to pay attention to everything you are putting into your body. With the way foods are currently processed, you need to watch out for foods that are made up of trans fats, sugars, chemicals and way too much sodium. The best way to do this is to analyze the ingredient list on any food you intend to purchase.

Ingredients are listed from highest to lowest. If the first ingredient listed is "whole wheat flour" there is more of that ingredient than anything else. Avoid foods that have fats and sugars listed at the top of the ingredient list.

Sugar can be listed under many names; fructose, sucrose, dextrose, lactose, maltose etc. - remember that these names rhyme with "gross." There are other forms of sugar such as honey, molasses, corn syrup or grape juice concentrate but try limit yourself to small amounts of any sugar products.

You should always avoid foods that are processed with words such as "high fructose corn syrup," "partially hydrogenated" or "hydrogenated". These ingredients are not natural and with time, will do damage to the body.

A good rule of thumb is if you can't pronounce ingredients in the ingredient list, it's most likely not good for you. It's always good to do your own research but many of the "hard to pronounce" ingredients are chemicals that you do not want to put into your body.