7:54 AM
The first type know how to cook, understand food and food terms, and have a basic knowledge of nutrition in terms of definitions. They understand the difference between a fruit and a vegetable or grains versus legumes. They can buy fresh, whole ingredients, follow a recipe, and create a finished dish.
The other type have lived a life a of eating packaged and processed foods as well as fast food. No fault of their own as they might have never had a family that could cook, they might have lived in a food desert with limited access to fresh ingredients, or were limited in funds, transportation, or exposure.
As I follow the keto pages with thousands of people trying the keto way of eating, I'm struck by the people who post pictures and ask, "Is this OK to eat?" while showing a picture of some packaged good. Food nutrition labels are so confusing to begin with.
The thing is, it's generally known these days that Big Food has hijacked terms such as 'natural', 'organic', 'GMO free', and 'gluten-free' in order to increase sales. Many times the labels not are not valid in terms of strict definitions. A good example is General Mills being forced to remove the term 'natural' from some granola products when it was shown there had highly-processed, genetically modified ingredients, such as high fructose corn syrup, high maltose corn syrup, and maltodextrin.
What's bothering me is that now 'keto' and 'low carb' are being thrown onto packages that aren't really keto friendly. Once again, you have to read the labels and have a really good knowledge of what ingredients are or are not allowed on keto. Even I don't have that knowledge yet. Like the fact that soy sauce is not allowed by strict ketoers.
These packages trick people into buying them and people think they are eating keto, but they are really sabotaging themselves unknowingly.
That's why I don't advocate buying keto packaged foods. There are tons of companies coming out with new keto foods and, while a few of them are legit, many are not. Not only that, you know Big Food will start moving into the game as well, just like they did with 'gluten-free'. (Duh! There's no gluten in meats! Sigh.)
Many of these packaged foods are short cut items. Things like packaged cookies, breads, snacks, or mixes and prepared meals. People want things packaged so they can grab and go and satisfy a craving.
Here is a list of things to keep in mind regarding packaged foods.
- If you are doing keto properly, you shouldn't have cravings and shouldn't really be hungry. Snacking should disappear.
- There are plenty of foods that are grab-and-go that are natural or easy to make/put together: hard boiled/deviled eggs, cheese, almonds.
- The few packaged foods that you can buy are things like meat sticks, pork rinds, kale chips, pumpkin seeds, and sardines.
- You have to read ingredients and know all the different ways companies call sugars now. Also other ingredients that aren't keto approved. Too many to learn/memorize in my mind.
If you are not a cook and would like to learn, let me suggest my friend's online cooking website/Facebook page. Stephanie's goal is to help you learn simple things first to build confidence so that you'll be encouraged to keep learning. Keep in mind her site is not keto, so there will be tempting non-keto dishes mentioned. Her site is Fearless Fresh and the Facebook page community is here.
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