It seems like a contradiction, but many Americans who are above their optimal weight are actually undernourished. Filling up on junky snacks, baked goods, and overly processed foods can lead to taking in too many calories, but not enough of the nutrients your body needs to flourish. A whole host of health concerns can result from nutrient deficiencies, but did you know that being unable to lose weight can be one of them?
Here’s an example of a how a typical American might eat in a given day: For breakfast, a white bagel, or a muffin, or a sweet cold cereal, or nothing. For lunch, a burger or pizza grabbed on the go, or just a bag of chips due to work being too busy to even sit down to eat a meal. For a snack, more chips, or a cereal or granola bar. For dinner, some meat, white rice or potato, and a small side salad or side vegetable that would fit into an espresso cup (okay, I’m exaggerating about the espresso cup—but just a little). For dessert, half a pint of ice cream. This menu might well exceed the calories one is supposed to consume over a day, but there’s very little going on nutritionally. White carbs like bagels, muffins, white rice, white pizza dough, white burger buns, and potato chips offer us virtually nothing in the way of nutritional value. There’s too much added sugar in this menu from the muffin, sweet cereal, snack bars, and ice cream. The foods that truly nourish us—lots of fresh vegetables and fruit, nuts, seeds, beans, whole grains, and high-quality protein—are scant or completely absent.
So how do our bodies react to a menu like that? We feel hungrier than we should because our body is desperately seeking what it needs, so we eat even more. Our insulin spikes from all the white carbs and sugar, which leads to fat storage in the body. And without proper nutrients, we can end up with a poorly functioning metabolism.
A good rule of thumb is to fill your grocery cart with the kinds of foods that either don’t have an ingredient list at all (a head of broccoli, apples), or only one (“Ingredients: Almonds”). The less your daily fare looks like the above menu, the better off you’ll be!
