So I definitely have learned a lot on my journey to health.  In some of my earlier posts I had posted different protein bars and things that I liked.  I have recently realized in the last couple months that companies are sneaky.  There are so many things that they put in our food that makes me sick to even think about.  Did you know that in Oreo's they add I think it's around 13 different stimulants to make you crave them!!!!  Now don't quote me on that number.  My hubby told me he thinks it's more like 20.  Either way you get the picture.  Outrageous if you ask me!

Have you ever even looked at the nutrition facts on Oreo's? I want to help you to understand what to look for when reading a label.  Companies try to trick you and make you think that what your eating is healthy.

 A few things to look for when looking at a food label are:

* Unbleached Enriched Flour
*Any kind of High oil or partially hydrogenated oils
*High fructose corn syrup
*Trans fat

Looking at an oreo, here is what you would see on the box.  I've made it big so that you can see everything on the box.

"The temptations are everywhere -- soft drinks, fast food, chips. Even when you're on a mass gain diet, you need to limit these sugary and fatty foes. Most of these foods provide a lot of calories, but are low in quality nutrients. In fact, some of the nutrients can wreak havoc on your progress in gaining lean muscle.

One culprit is trans fat. This man-made fat is problematic because your body doesn't really know how to use it due to its chemical structure. Research shows it not only increases the risk of obesity and heart disease, but it can increase muscle breakdown and limit muscle growth.

Another culprit is fructose. Many junk foods use table sugar, which is half fructose -- or worse, they use high-fructose corn syrup, which is more than half fructose. Your body can not use fructose efficiently. Most of the fructose you consume must be converted to glucose in the liver. Sounds simple enough, until the liver decides otherwise. If the liver decides that you have ample glucose, it converts the fructose instead into fat! And even the fructose that does make it all the way to your muscles is problematic. Fructose inside muscle cells literally gunks them up, potentially causing them to function less efficiently."(http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/shortcut-to-size-phase-3-week-9-day-63.html)

Basically in short steer clear of anything trans fat, high fructose corn syrup, and partially hydrogenated oils.  If you pick something up and see any of these words immediately put it back on the shelf.  They are going to do more harm then good.

When looking for foods you want to make sure to look at the ingredients list.  You want the sugars, and salts to be last on the list.  For me I always just look at the first ingredient on the list.  If it's "Enriched"  I put it back on the shelf.  I also decided that the longer the list of the ingredients the worse it is for you. The shorter the ingredient list the better!

When looking at crackers, breads, or any kind of grainy food it should contain the words "whole" or "stone ground" first on the ingredients list.  But don't be fooled if they try to trick you and say whole wheat enriched/bleached flour.  These are just processed grains with some whole grain added for color.  When stuff is enriched it acts just like sugar in the body.  Actual "whole grains" take longer to digest.  Whereas Enriched flour is digested by our bodies too well.  It goes through the blood stream and it triggers an insulin response, and the insulin then makes your fat cells soak it all up.   Basically resulting in weight gain.

This is a picture of what most supposedly "Whole Wheat" breads, nutrition labels will look like.  The first words are Whole wheat flour, but looking a little further you see high fructose corn syrup!!! Seriously, in bread??? They really are trying to kill us, and we don't even know it.  

Here is the is the bread we like to buy.  You can get it at costco for a good price.  Notice the ingredients do not include Corn syrup.  It may not be the best, but it is much better than most things you can get if you live in Hobbs, where the selections are slim.

Now another thing you want to watch out for is the sugar content.  Some things that you think may be good for you like yogurt for example may have just as much sugar in them as a twinkie.  So if your eating the wrong yogurt you might as well have a twinkie ;-)

 This is the Chobani greek yourt.  It has 19g carbs and 15g of sugar!  Its one yogurt that is supposed to be greek, it sure has a lot of sugar and carbs.

This is the kind of yogurt we like to buy.  They always have lots of different flavor choices and they all taste very good.  The Dannon Light & Fit Greek Yogurt only has 9g of carbs and 7g of sugar.  Much lower than the Chobani.  Now I know it's not the best option.  But it is better.  If you really want something good, go for just the plain greek yogurt! I just can't handle eating that plain, so I like to go for this option.

Here are a few more examples of different ones I've noticed looking at labels

With peanut butter always buy the natural stuff.  Make sure to still look at the label just in case it's not actually "natural" like they say it is.  Notice the list of ingredients is much smaller on the Jiffy all natural peanut butter on the left. Most other peanut butters will look like the one on the right.  Nasty!!

Even chocolate chips have corn syrup so watch out!!  Love Ghiradelli!!  The ingredient list is so much smaller

So since I've realized basically most foods are bad for you at the store, I have started making a lot of my own stuff.  I'm still just starting out, but I've starting with protein bars.  Most protein bars that are affordable have corn syrup   ;-l So dumb.  Most recipes I've found the protein bars only have around 9g of protein.  If your like me your definitely looking for more than that and that's why you usually buy store bought ones.  So I've started experimenting with them and I'm still coming up with the best recipes to give me 30g a bar.  I'm trying to perfect them before I post a blog, but I'll leave you with one you can try.  Here is the link to the recipe I used, except I tweaked it just a bit.

http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2013/10/08/fudge-brownie-chocolate-protein-bars/

I made it into 12 bars so I added 12 scoops of protein.  Our absolute favorite is the cookies n cream Combat!! Or Dymatize has some amazing flavors and is also a very good choice.

I then mixed it all together and added a little big of almond milk.  Just enough so that it mixed together and made a very thick consistency.  With these you really want to make sure to not over cook them.  When the edges have hardened and turned a different color they're done even if the middle isn't.  Let them sit for a while.  They are much better being a little gooey!  Then keep them in the fridge til your ready to eat one!.

I've tried a few others and found one that I really liked, but I'm still trying to duplicate the way they turned out.  I'm really hoping to figure it out soon so I can share it. I also really want to venture into make my own snacks for my kids.  Even gold fish are not the best for them!!  I really want my kids to also eat the way I do.  Hopefully I can have more yummy recipes to share soon in my other blogs.