Your Abs Are Created in the Kitchen! Really!

ElaineDianne70
ElaineDianne70 Posts: 243 Member
edited September 23 in Food and Nutrition
Sure, P90X and Insanity were important to my transformation, but I SWEAR it's the change in my eating habits that started last January that changed my body. I had been working out for YEARS, but until I understood CLEAN EATING, my body didn't change.

Don’t just track you’re the food you eat, track the INGREDIENTS of the foods you eat.

For example, my old diet included:

Instant oatmeal: whole grain rolled oats (with oat bran), sugar, artificial flavors, salt, calcium carbonate (a source of calcium), soy lecithin, guar gum, caramel color, niacinamide, vitamin a palmitate, reduced iron, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin, thiamin mononitrate, folic acid.

Lean Cuisine: tortilla crusted alaska pollock (alaska pollock, enriched bleached flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), water, modified cornstarch, tortilla chips (yellow whole corn, vegetable oil {corn, soybean, and/or sunflower oil}), sugar, yellow corn flour, potassium chloride, white corn flour, salt, spices, dextrose, egg white, tomato powder, natural flavor, whey, maltodextrin, yeast, onion powder, leavening (sodium aluminum phosphate, sodium bicarbonate), soy flour, garlic powder, torula yeast, citric acid, corn oil. prefried in cottonseed and/or canola oil), blanched enriched long grain parboiled rice (water, rice, iron, niacin, thiamin mononitrate, folic acid), skim milk, corn, tomatillos, red peppers, water, chile peppers, onions, 2% or less of reduced fat cheddar cheese (cultured part-skim milk, salt, enzymes, annatto color), buttermilk powder, dehydrated sour cream (sour cream (cultured cream, nonfat milk)), modified cornstarch, salt, soybean oil, garlic puree, cultured whey, cilantro, jalapeno puree (jalapeno peppers, salt, acetic acid and calcium chloride), bleached wheat flour, sugar, potassium chloride, lactic acid, spices, calcium lactate

Quaker granola bar: whole grain rolled oats, brown rice syrup, crisp rice (rice, sugar, salt, malted barley flour), sugar, dried sweetened cranberry pieces (sugar, cranberries), semisweet chocolate chunks (sugar, chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, salt, vanilla), almonds, peanuts, honey, sunflower oil, inulin, whole grain rolled barley, whole grain rolled wheat, molasses, soybean oil, water, glycerin, salt, vanilla, soy lecithin.

TOTAL ingredients: more than 100!

And that is just breakfast, lunch and a snack. Sure, my calorie intake was FINE, but my NUTRITIONAL intake was CRAP.

An example of clean eating and what my normal day looks like now:

Breakfast: Organic steel cut oatmeal, Honey, Almond milk
Snack: Almonds and raisins
Lunch: chicken, spinach, tomatoes, oil and vingar

TOTAL ingredients: 10 - See the difference???

Our bodies aren't meant to eat processed, chemicalized (is that a word?) "food". Diet sodas, fast food, convenience foods, and all that CRAP is horrible for our bodies. Eat clean and you WILL see changes!
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Replies

  • AwMyLoLo
    AwMyLoLo Posts: 1,571 Member
    Very true! Good post!
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    True dat.
  • mariannekehl
    mariannekehl Posts: 66 Member
    Wow. I never really thought about that but it sures makes sense to me! Thanks for the insight!
  • Thank you for that very simple explanation. I've been reading for the last 4 weeks about abs being made in the kitchen, but no one ever explained it in terms I could really "get" (not that I'm a dummy, mind you...but, still!). Great post!
  • Goal_Seeker_1988
    Goal_Seeker_1988 Posts: 1,619 Member
    Great post! Maybe more ppl will read this and understand clean eating. It took me a while too to understand clean eating as well.
  • FemininGuns
    FemininGuns Posts: 605 Member
    Nice post and so true!!
  • FitJoani
    FitJoani Posts: 2,173 Member
    So very true Jillian Michaels once said "Never eat anything a third grader can't pronounce" It is true and for that matter most of us can't pronounce those terms, we don't have a job a Bayer to understand chemistry
  • kristi223
    kristi223 Posts: 78 Member
    Thank you so much for this post!!!!
  • I feel the same way!!! Eating my steel cut oats right now. I am cooking all of my own food -- no chemicals!!! I feel so much better for it -- and look better! Great post - thanks!!:smile:
  • bigdawg62
    bigdawg62 Posts: 127 Member
    100% agree, I was doing a lot of marathon training the past few years and was having a lot of trouble losing weight until I eliminated products containing High Fructose Corn Syrup. So read your labels and eat clean!
  • bettyboop573
    bettyboop573 Posts: 610 Member
    great post....love the comparison example!! I have tried ot cut out so many things to eat clean but i know i can do more :)
  • vraesgame
    vraesgame Posts: 129 Member
    great post!
  • Wow! That really makes sense. I have to start cooking more meals!
  • sabrinafaith
    sabrinafaith Posts: 607 Member
    So true! My friend and I were just talking about how every child deserves home cooked meals every night, but so do we! Home cooked meals are healthiest and best for you. Takeout is fine once in a while, but there are so many hidden ingredients!
  • chrissym78
    chrissym78 Posts: 628 Member
    So very true!
  • Great. I'm going to try to incorporate this into my life.

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    Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Nutrition Facts For Foods
  • The one I like is, if it wasn't around when your grandparents were your age, you probably shouldn't be eating it. I do eat some Lean Cuisines (maybe one a week, if that) and use things like cooking spray and some other convenience foods, but I try to keep them to a minimum. Simple is usually best.
  • lindajay3
    lindajay3 Posts: 144 Member
    what a great post - it's true that we eat way to much processed food these days - Keep it simple!
  • Very true, great post!!
  • Schula03
    Schula03 Posts: 171 Member
    I am trying to get on the band wagon with "clean" eating, totally get it!!!! Why does it seem harder? Thanks for the great post!:laugh:
  • Very true...and wonderful post! I've heard people talk about "clean eating" and never explained it, and I never bothered to ask. Thanks for explaining! :)
  • TrainerRobin
    TrainerRobin Posts: 509 Member
    Amen! It's tough to be perfect in today's world, but it's possible to do a much better job and you nailed it.

    You have no idea of how often we trainers get folks coming up to us asking how they can get six-pack abs. For the folks who have weight to lose, they always seem disappointed in the answer but it has less to do with the crunches and EVERYTHING to do with getting rid of the body fat that is covering their abs up. Until they get "revealed" there's no exercise in the world that'll give 'em that look. It's so common that when someone asks a group of trainers, we almost always look at each other with that look that asks "who wants to disappoint her?" look on our face. I wish there were an easier answer, but you nailed it.

    Keep your calories under control, eat healthful foods, and stay active and you'll uncover not only your abs, but that great physique that lies beneath!
  • ladybu6205
    ladybu6205 Posts: 165 Member
    Wow... an eyeopener for sure. I try to eat healthier, but not always paid attention to all the ingredients listed. Maybe I should! Thanks for the post!
  • lesliemk
    lesliemk Posts: 382 Member
    Chalene even talks about this in one of my CLX workouts. That you can do the exercises, but that until your diet really takes priority you won't notice the changes taking place in your body. It's so true! I try to eat clean not only for myself, but for my family's health too! I plan to teach my children a different way.
  • TrainerRobin
    TrainerRobin Posts: 509 Member
    I try to eat clean not only for myself, but for my family's health too! I plan to teach my children a different way.

    That rocks. What an awesome gift to give your kids. I have to confess that I was a semi-healthy eater when my first one was young, and to date, his eating habits are about the same. By the time my middle child was young, I was eating healthier and she is the same. By the time my youngest was young, we were eating clean and she was raised that way. She has the BEST eating habits of any young adult I know. So ... it does pay off. The kids will replicate what your family does. It'll become their normal.

    My dad and mother both passed early due to health conditions brought about by being overweight. I figured it out halfway through my life. My kids are getting it right from a young age. With some good hard work, and modeling good habits in the grocery store, in the kitchen and when eating out, we're gradually changing our kids "normal" and gifting them a healthier life.

    Way to go.
  • RMinVA
    RMinVA Posts: 1,085 Member
    Completely agree. None of us are perfect but I definitely make as much as I can from scratch. Soups, sauces, etc. I still rely on some "convenience" items but not many. I even make my own salad dressing these days.
  • gnutrifitness
    gnutrifitness Posts: 169 Member
    Excellent!!
  • efahey
    efahey Posts: 33 Member
    well said!!

    xo erin
  • ggjome
    ggjome Posts: 3
    Thanks for that wonderful info I'm new to this site and I can see already the wonderful info thats here!
  • Amanda42657
    Amanda42657 Posts: 45 Member
    I love this post! I honestly want to eat cleaner and I really need to start working on that. I also have a boyfriend who eats a ton of processed foods and I wish I could get him to eat cleaner as well. The only vegetables he will eat is white potatoes and black eyed peas! I would love to have corn, squash, tomatos etc but when I fix them he says he doesnt like them. Reading a previous reply about teaching children is something I think about a lot because if we ever have children they will see one thing from him and something different from me and I dont like that. Oh and about the steel oats, do you cook them the same as regular oats? Ill have to try them, I love oats!
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