In today's society, eating is completely out of control. Food convenience has led to a nation of overfed and undernourished people, and the statistics and waistlines are growing by the day! I often wonder if people actually understand the dramatic impact food has on the human body.



There is mass confusion in regards to dietary guidelines and healthy eating. With the overwhelming amount of information about health and fitness at hand, people's health and waistlines are suffering more and more.

The more confused people are about dietary guidelines, the more likely they are to jump from one fad diet to the next with a nice mix of yo-yo dieting in between. This is hardly healthy or effective.

Today, people are literally obsessed with weight loss and extreme dieting. People spend billions of dollars each year on expensive gadgets, lotions, and pills for that quick weight-loss fix ? that never works. Your dream body can't be bought; you must earn it through educating yourself on nutrition and exercise. Only then will you see results that are lasting.

If you want to win the battle of the bulge, then you need to make some healthy changes that turn into lasting healthy habits.

It's now time to discuss the fattening habits you must eliminate now!

Fattening Habit #1 ? Feeding your thirst with colas

Generally, when someone is thirsty he or she grabs a soda. Sure, a soda is a wonderful thirst quencher, but it is void of nutrients. The principle of food and water it to provide nutrition to the body for fuel or building purposes.

Water is the basic element of life, not cola. Colas are packed with sugar and carbonation.

Sugar promotes tooth decay, interferes with the absorption of protein as well as the absorption of calcium and magnesium, contributes to osteoporosis, causes water retention; the list goes on and on.

Don't let the diet sodas fool you. You may find many health and fitness "experts" promote diet sodas, but there is nothing healthy or that promotes fat loss with diet colas.

Diet colas can actually cause fat gain! Aspartame can cause an insulin reaction in the body. It's not due to the carbs because diet drinks don't contain any. The insulin spike is in response to the sweetness of aspartame. The sweet taste sets off a chemical reaction in the body, the same as it does in the presence of carbs. A constant high insulin level equals fat gain.

Be weary of the "expert" that claims aspartame is okay.

Fattening Habit #2 ? Lack of essential fat

When the low-fat era hit in the late 1980s, the consumption of essential fat dramatically dropped. Whole eggs were shunned for the highly popular egg white, and red meat was tossed aside for its low-fat counterpart chicken and turkey choices.

With the low-fat movement, we have become fatter and on top of that, undernourished.

Your body requires fat to function. Essential fat is necessary for your metabolism, brain function, hormone production, absorption and transportation of vitamins and minerals; all important facts when it comes to fat loss.

If you eliminate essential fat from your diet, you are eliminating an important element!

If you are worried about cholesterol, don't. Cholesterol is actually a building material in the body and a protector. Cholesterol build hormones and essential for normal brain function.

Fattening Habit #3? Eating boxed "healthy foods"

Commercially prepackaged meals and food items contain more chemicals than nutrients. What can your body do with chemicals? Lodge them in your fat cells to be come toxic and cause illness and disease, cellulite, and prevent fat loss.

Just for the fun of it I went to the market and read the side of a boxed food item that appeared healthy to the average person. The food item was Morning Star Veggie Bites. I counted over 40 ingredients, and some of those ingredients were broken down even more.

Understand that it's not 40 ingredients of nutrients for energy or building materials. It's over 40 chemicals! Even the spinach was genetically modified. If your body can't use the ingredients you put into it, how can it burn fat? It can't.

Fattening Habits Conclusion

Your body needs to be able to process what is put into it. If your body cannot use what you eat, it will store it as fat and/or toxins.

To lose fat, stop drinking colas and diet colas and start drinking more pure and filtered water. Don't be afraid to eat fat. Your body needs it to function and lose fat. Stop eating boxed (processed) foods, even if they read "healthy," "low-carb," "low-sugar," etc.

Nothing is as good for your body and waistline as nature's God given food supply.