age is really just a number

In the United States, the typical diet that most Americans consume daily is very unhealthy. The rest of the world has a nickname for it, which is the SAD diet. This stands for the standard American diet, and the typical American diet is one of the most dangerous lifestyle choices that a person can make.

First of all, it is chock full of red meat and dairy, which are absolutely fabulous at clogging your arteries and causing hypertension or high blood pressure. This might not be so bad if the red meat was grass-fed. Unfortunately, many of the cows in North America are full of growth hormones and other chemicals that can leach into the meat and cause significant problems in the human body. Meat is often contaminated by carcinogenic chemicals that are distributed to the cows to keep them growing at an accelerated rate and keep them free from diseases that could spread among the other cattle. 

Another issue with the standard American diet is processed foods. Processed foods are highly available in North America and are often considered a staple food for the daily diet. The issue with this is that these foods lack fiber and tend to be excessively high in saturated fats and sugars. Not to mention the highly dangerous and often hidden salt content. The standard American diet consists of foods that make it difficult to lose weight, especially processed foods containing high fructose corn syrup.

It would be best if you avoid high fructose corn syrup at all costs. It sticks in the body and makes it nearly impossible to lose weight. Not only that, but it is pure sugar, and it packs on the pounds like nothing else.

You don’t have to go cold turkey off your burgers and fires, but if you want a healthier future, it is time to make some changes. There are some easy things that you could do to improve your choices. Try to eat fruits and vegetables with every meal. Half of your plate should be the color of the rainbow. Please don’t allow yourself to have a meal that doesn’t have something green or another shade of the natural food rainbow in it. Try new things; they might turn out to be surprisingly good. If you’ve never had zucchini spiralized to simulate spaghetti, how can you say you don’t like it? If you need to have your meat, choose lean, and try to find grass-fed beef. Instead of eating white flour bread, look for whole flour alternatives. Whole-wheat has far more fiber and is much more nourishing for the body. Real food is so much better than processed. If it comes in a box, you probably don’t want to eat it.

You want to be able to consume foods that are high in fiber. The fiber not only helps you feel full and improves digestion, but it can eliminate the toxins from your body that cause you issues and also helps you lose weight. Without fiber in your diet, you become fatter much faster, and it can become a challenging trend to break.

As a rule, avoid the standard American diet if possible, but if you can’t, make sure you are implementing changes that make it work for you. You’ll be glad you did, if not now, then in the future when you are not suffering from chronic diseases caused by your dietary choices.

If you are interested in making some healthy dietary changes and want to move away from the SAD diet, check out my cookbook, The Physician’s Guide to the Mediterranean Diet for Women Over 50. (and yes, we had some editing issues that have been fixed, so ignore the format reviews :))