Before my health transformation, I would scoff at a bowl of fruit, a plate of vegetables, or a salad and say, “This for birds and rabbits.” “I want man food.” “I don’t want to eat this, I want real food!”

I was reminded of my reaction while watching the Dr. Oz show recently. Dr. Oz interviewed two members of his audience who underwent a 5 day cleanse. He asked if it was difficult for them to do them to do the cleanse.  Both agreed that starting the program was hard but then easier on the second and third day. Dr. Oz asked either of them if they cheated during cleanse.  One of the ladies admitted that on Day 4, “Dr. Oz,  I needed to get some real food!“  When he asked her what she had she said, “Chinese!” Dr. Oz surmised she had General Tso’s chicken and she nodded yes.

So after four days of eating fresh fruits and vegetables, berries, olive oil, and green smoothies, she felt like she needed ‘real food’ when in fact she was already eating real food.  What she didn’t know (and what I didn’t know way back when) was that…

“…we were both really craving sugar, salt, and fat,
and the feeling obtained when they are over eaten.

Sugar, salt, and fat (SSF) are the main components of ‘comfort foods’ in almost every culture.  We are wired to desire sugar, salt and fat because it is rare to find them in large quantities in nature. You have to hunt it, cook it, cultivate it, or preserve it.  When we eat these substances we are inclined to store them in our bodies for later use.  However, sugar, salt, and fat are everywhere, and their convenience combined with a sedentary lifestyle, makes it easy to over consume them and cause harm to our health.  You want to break you addiction to SSFs on a ‘cleanse’ or a detox. These substances are at the core of the The Pleasure Trap set by fast food and processed food companies when they use synthetic or concentrated forms of SSFs to over-stimulate our taste buds.

Avoid the ‘trap food’ whenever possible.

It was interesting to hear the woman discuss how she felt after she ate her cheat meal. She explained how her stomach hurt and how her body rejected it.  This is a good reason not to cheat on a detox.  More importantly, her reaction to the cheat meal was a strong indication that her body was undergoing a positive change. She immediately returned to the cleanse and felt better.

It was also ironic that the ‘real food’ she chose to cheat with is not even an authentic Chinese dish.  In addition, an order of General Tso’s chicken has between 1500 and 1900 calories and its sugar, salt, and fat content makes it an absolute avoid for anyone trying to regain their health.  For more information on General Tso’s Chicken and advice on what to avoid at Chinese restaurants in order to lose weight can be found here.

Keep it real.

So what do I mean by real food?  Here are some thoughts I gathered along my journey. I will be going into more detail on some of these in a future post but for now, REAL FOOD:

• Naturally helps my body to function, grow, and repair.
• Is living, minimally processed, and preferably organic.
• Does not clog or inflame my body.
• Is nutrient dense and not just calorie dense.
• Satisfies and not just gratifies.

I hope you walk away from this article ready to redefine what ‘real food’ is in your life because,

A lot of what we call ‘real food’
is really fake food or comfort food.

During my battle with my weight over the years, my father shared a lot of wisdom with me that I ignored.  I believe one of those gems applies to the next time you want ‘real food’: “Ask yourself, is it nourishing you, cleansing you, or clogging you.”  So before you hit up the vending machine or the drive-thru remember, chances are it is #trapfood.  (You heard it here first.) Enjoy.

Redefining ‘Real Food’ by www.offthegridhealth.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.