Blame it on the sugar

Do you schmear the fake "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" all over your whole wheat bread for breakfast as you take a drink from your glass of orange juice and eat your "healthy" cereal? Do you REALLY believe that the fake butter is natural? Is it good for you? NO to both. Food items that are altered from their original state are mixed in with several chemicals and crazy other things that make it.. well.. not good for you.

Oh. And that whole wheat bread that is supposedly supposed to be healthier for you than white bread? Whole wheat bread contains a ton of sugar. Surprised? Yeast needs sugar to react.. and any kind of bread contains a ton of sugar. Orange juice contains a ton of sugar as well. Don't believe me? Go check the carton in your fridge! You should be having no more than 22 grams of sugar per day, according to nutritionists. Looking at the container of ORGANIC (yep, that's right) orange juice in my fridge right now, I see that there are 24 grams of sugar in just ONE CUP! My advice... squeeze your own and save money (and your bodies).

It's not that sugar is bad for you. We all need sugar in our bodies to survive. However, too much sugar will (yes, I'm going to say it...) make you fat! Like many other things, anytime our bodies are filled with more fuel than needed, your body needs to do something with the excess. In the case of sugar, excess glucose is turned into fatty acids by the liver and return into the bloodstream where it is delivered throughout the body and stored as fat! Main regions where the "excess-sugar-turned-to-fat" is stored are the hips, stomach, breasts, and butt.

But it doesn't end here! Once those areas are full of adipose (fat cells) tissue, the fatty acids begin to spill over into organs such as the heart, liver and kidneys. This raises blood pressure, restricts organs, and weakens the immune system! Ya, it's bad news for the body.

...I bet you're about ready for some good news
There are TONS of foods that you can still eat and not harm your body. Here's a list of just a few:
-apples

-oranges

-pears

-plums

-grapes

-bananas (not over-ripe)

-grapefruit

-oatmeal

-lentils

-whole corn

-sweet potatoes

-yogurt

-beans

Something I've really gotten in the habit of doing lately is reading the ingredients list off of everything before I buy it. It has become sort of a strange passion of mine, and I encourage you to start being more aware of what you are putting into this "Temple" of a body that God has given you. Here is a list of things to WATCH OUT for:
-Overall, stay away from processed and packaged foods as often as possible (they tend to include tons of artificial sweeteners... which KILL the liver!)

-sucrose

-maltose

-dextrose

-fructose

-galactose

-glucose

-arabinose

-ribose

-xyose (what the.. HOW do you pronounce this!? If you can't pronounce it, DON'T EAT IT!)

-deoxyribose

-lactose

See a pattern? The ending of -ose means SUGAR!!! These are ALL fake names for SUGAR!
Be careful.. even "healthy" juices and foods contain these ingredients.

Just try it. Stick to no more than 22 grams of sugar a day and see what happens to your body. That "bloated" area around your stomach will shrink (or even disappear if you keep it up), you will feel more energized throughout the day, and over time, your body won't crave sugar as often. It takes will power, but it is so worth it.