Salty & Sweet

Here's an eye opening factoid!

Did you know that you shouldn't eat foods that are over 200mg of sodium per serving or over 9g of sugar per serving? The added sodium and sugar in the long run can have very negative effects on cholesterol, high blood pressure and heart disease.

We all get so focused on calories and fat that we forget there's all kinds of information on the label to read when we're purchasing our food. After hearing this from my Mom who's seeing a dietitian with my Dad, I did a little focused label reading at the grocery store.

Turned out a TON of my favourite foods were just disgustingly high in both categories!!! Take for instance my lunch that I'm eating right now - Smart Ones Ricotta Ravioli. I think BONUS it's Weight Watchers, only 250 calories for the dish and it's cheese stuffed pasta! Win win win!

Then I looked at those forgotten categories: sodium = 720mg!!! sugar = 12g!!!!!

What the heck!! Here I thought I was making a good healthy lunch choice (as far as prepared, frozen lunches go.. it's always healthier to make things fresh) and it turns out I'm way overindulging in salt and sugar! Your daily intake of sodium should stay under 1500mg and I've now consumed almost HALF of it in this tiny little lunch.

Let me introduce you to my favourite rule of the healthy lifestyle. The 80/20 rule (as I read in the Eat, Shrink and Be Merry book and have been practicing since August). It's simple, be a Saint 80% of the time. Eat your fruits & veggies, make sure you're not overindulging in sugar/fat/salt etc and make sure you're getting your exercise in! But to live this 'perfectly' all the time is against human nature, we need to let loose and be 'bad' once and a while so in comes the 20% - have your piece of chocolate, eat that little bit of steak, just be happy! By not depriving yourself all the time you live a much more balanced lifestyle and are happier because of it. There is no guilt, there is no bingeing, and take it from me, if you really adhere to this practice and make sure to not make it 80/20 EVERY day, you will still lose weight and still stay healthy :) (aim for once a week to every 2 weeks and remember it's a treat not a full on feast of fats and calories!)

So the message today, READ YOUR LABELS!! On a consistent basis try to buy foods LOW in sodium and LOW in sugar (and calories and fat if you can) so that daily you're staying well within the recommended intakes. Then when you're feeling 'naughty' you'll have a whole lot less guilt when you have that little 'treat'!

Happy eating!!!