Picture = 1,000 words!

Check out this picture:

I’m sure you can tell what it is. It is a picture of a Happy Meal from McDonald’s. But it’s not just ANY picture. It is a picture of a Happy Meal purchased 6 - yes 6 - YEARS AGO!

What?

Believe it or not, a woman who works for a doctor’s office, bought it one day, laid it out, and waited to see what happened. It looks, as you can tell, almost no different than a fresh out of the shop Happy Meal doesn’t it? Astoundingly it has not decomposed or even shrunk.

In a world that offers fad diets and terms like Paleo, clean eating, vegan, gluten-free, macros, bulking, cutting, etc., it can be a challenge to know what to eat and what is the best for a person to lose weight and be healthy.

But you certainly don’t have to be a nutritionist or a genius to take a look at this cardboard like food that has not rotted in 6 years to know that it cannot possibly be good for you! Imagine the types of preservatives that this has to be COATED in in order to maintain itself for this amount of time. And millions of people put it in their bodies - in their children’s bodies - every day!!

Disgusting, right?

We are definitely killing our collective selves with our society’s obsession with plowing through tons of processed and unhealthy foods.

You guys know that I am struggling and that in some ways I consider myself a maintenance failure. I am a person who can and does eat massive amounts of food - I swear I can gain 3 pounds just in a night from broccoli and carrots. Yes, I still have not mastered portion control! And yet, eating this type of food is infinitely more healthy than having a small amount of fast food!!

If there is one way I can consider myself a massive success it is in the realm of what I have eliminated from my life. I can happily say that I have not had a burger, fries, taco, chicken burger, or anything of the like since 2010! If in this journey we are more concerned about our health and well being instead of just a number on the scale - a place that I am desperately trying to get to mentally - then what we are consuming is - by far - the most important thing.

By and large I stick to the outside of the grocery store isles - eating fresh veggies, dairy, fresh meats, and all the other things that the body recognizes as being good for you! Doritos, Oreos, soda - all of those horrifically processed things are not a part of a healthy diet.

The “experts” say that once you get used to eating healthy that your body stops wanting those things. If I am any indicator, I’m sorry to say, they are LIARS. It get easier, but it does not get easy. As I watched the Superbowl, the commercial for Doritos came on and I remembered how much I LOVED Doritos - I could almost taste that overpowering fake cheesy goodness - and I allowed myself a small mental fantasy about immediately heading out the door driving to the store, buying 3 bags and pounding them down.

But the struggle is hard enough, and I can’t make it even more difficult on myself by wading back in to those addictively processed waters! How about you guys? How have you done with eliminating processed foods and help us out here - HOW DO YOU DO IT?