Trash from Your Diet

A reader asked about my article describing the contents of the trash of my overweight houseguest who stayed with me recently. The article showed how trash contents could reveal precisely why someone is overweight, like my houseguest is.

The contents of his trash were all wrappers from meal replacement bars, fast food meals and beverages. In short, virtually all processed food, junk food and fast food, and the same kind of beverages.
Points well taken, the reader noted. So what might the trash contents of a person on a healthier diet, like The Maui Diet, be like, she asked. My answer cuts to the core of why there is so much overweight in America and the world today. I only ask that you keep an open mind as you read my answer. At the same time, ask and honestly answer where you are regarding the diet I recommend.

I say this because so many people are so far off of a healthy diet that they cannot even comprehend what the diet I recommend is all about. What The Maui Diet is all about is eating a plant-based diet of whole, fresh, natural foods. That is, foods as grown.

Put another way, if man made it, do not eat it.
That is huge. Most people do not want to hear that.

Chances are, if you are a typical American, most of what you eat is man made. Packaged foods. Pre-made frozen or ready-to-eat meals. Cans of soup. Hamburger and fries. Chicken nuggets. Snack foods. A so-called healthy sandwich made with turkey, cheese and tomato on a refined grain bun. Foods from bags, like cheese puffs, corn chips, potato chips, crackers, etc., including the so-called healthy varieties from the health food store. Cookies, doughnuts, pies, pastries and other baked goods. Canned, frozen or fresh fish or fish products. Meal replacement bars; power bars; protein shakes; meals in a can, etc.

All sorts of junk beverages, including diet drinks, sports drinks, energy drinks, designer coffee drinks and the rest. Are you tallying up your score? How are you doing so far?

Few of us get our the bulk of our food from the two most important sections of the store: the fresh produce section and the bulk section with products like whole grains, beans, legumes, raw nuts, seeds, the natural foods with nothing added, nothing taken away. That is what whole means.

Fresh means if not from your own garden, then foods grown in your area, as close as possible to your store or produce market. The closer the better. Natural means just that. Foods as grown.I cannot put it more simply than that. Foods as they come from nature.

To drive my point home further, here is an example: a loaf of enriched flour bread with words on the label like all natural, heart healthy, no added sugar, no trans fats, etc. Most people think this is a healthy food. It is not. The enriched flour means it is not a whole grain product, but made from a flour that has had been processed and refined, then vitamins and minerals added back in, along with mega doses of slick labeling designed to convince you it is a healthy food. Sorry, this not a healthy food.

The latest trick from Big Food are the small snack food items, 100 calories or less. Like Oreo cookies in a snack pack. This is a pure junk food and it has nothing to do with calories. It is loaded with refined sugar; the filling is made from partially hydrogenated fat, one of the worst substances you can ingest; and the cookie is a totally refined flour product. Total junk food product.

And those two words -- food product -- should be a dead giveaway to you by now. If you are interested in a healthy, nutritious diet that will ensure you lose fat and keep it off permanently, you will not eat any food products.

You will eat a plant-based diet of whole, fresh, natural foods. These are foods that are high in fiber, which make them naturally filling. The only foods on such a diet to be eaten in moderation are nuts. And besides eating nuts sparingly, make sure they are raw nuts, not roasted.

The trash generated by the diet I recommend? Food scraps. You can feed them down your garbage disposal, feed them to your pot-bellied pig or collect them as compost for your garden.

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