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Did you know that 55% of the calories in our diets come from processed foods?  Some of the highest foods consumed come from chips, frozen processed foods, & white bread. These types of items are often high in sugar, salt, saturated fat and preservatives. 

Food processing is anything that changes the natural state of a food like canning, freezing, drying, or milling.  Just because a food is processed to some degree doesn’t always mean it is not healthy. What makes some processed foods unhealthy is the salt, sugar, and/or saturated fat added during the processing stage to lengthen shelf life or to taste more appealing. In the end these highly processed foods are usually low in fiber and vitamins/minerals, leaving not much left but empty calories.  What can you do to eat less processed foods? Read below for a few simple ideas to keep nutrition number one as you lose weight.

Check Food Labels: Highly processed foods will often have many ingredients versus whole foods with a much shorter and simpler list.  Also check the big three for Salt, Saturated Fat, and Sugar amounts and choose the product with the least amount. This will help save calories too!

Shop Smart: Shop from a list of meals planned for the week. Choosing as many whole foods as you can makes eating healthy rather simple. For example a lean meat like chicken breast, with broccoli and a sweet potato.  Canned and frozen fruits and vegetables are also good choices and can be a great way to shop healthy on a budget and keep healthy food from spoiling before you get a chance to enjoy them.

Make Whole Snacks: Instead of processed snacks choose more whole foods. Instead of dried fruit (often with added sugars) try a whole apple instead. Or in place of flavored yogurt try plain yogurt sweetened with a drizzle of honey or topped with fresh or frozen berries. Instead of potato chips make your own popcorn and lightly salt.

For more information on losing weight and eating healthy in Lincoln, NE or Omaha, NE visit WeightLossNebraska.com

 

 

 

 

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