I’m writing these tips because they’ve worked for me, and if anyone can get help from them, more power to you. Lord knows we all need to feel as good as we can, physically and mentally. Good nutrition helps on both counts.

By now, you’ve probably heard about the evils of hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils. If you haven’t, here’s the scoop in a nutshell:

Natural vegetable oils are liquid at room temperature. They also start naturally degrading after awhile, being natural/organic.

In order to increase its shelf life,  manufacturers mix the oil with hydrogen at high temperatures. What does this do? It changes the chemical makeup of the good oil and makes it unhealthy and hard-to-eliminate for your body. It coats your cells, making it very difficult for the cells to pass in nutrition and pass out waste. After awhile, your body can’t fight through all the gunk you keep loading it with, and it starts to break down. Diseases develop.

Think of your body as your final car. You wouldn’t expect to pour bad fuel in your car’s gas tank and have it run right (if at all). The only reason your body continues to run, is because it is a living organism with a will to survive (unlike an automobile). It adapts (as best it can) to unfavorable fuel. After awhile, forget it. The body can only adapt so much, before it quits. And what are you going to do without your car, if it won’t work right? It is very expensive to be unwell.

Manufacturers put hydrogenated oils in almost everything, so they are preserved on the shelves until someone buys. When I first started reading labels, I got a little panicky. Hydrogenated (or partially hydrogenated) oils in cake mixes, mac & cheese, things you’d never think of. I started worrying about what I would be able to eat. Nothing processed or pre-made, that’s for sure. I bought a food processor, because I was going to have to make pretty much everything from scratch. (When I did, I was pleasantly reminded how good food really tastes.)

Fortunately, there are many more health products out now that are pre-made, and are still good for you. For a healthy and tasty alternative to butter or margarine, I use Earth Balance brand buttery spread. I got mine at Trader Joe’s, although health food stores carry it, too.

If you can’t have wheat, you probably CAN have Ezekiel bread. (There are also other breads, like rice bread, but they take some getting used to, for me, anyway.) Although there is wheat in it, it is sprouted wheat, not refined wheat. They carry Ezekiel bread hamburger buns and tortillas, too. I’ve been happily eating it for a few years now, with no ill effects.

If you have any healthy eating tips you want to share, feel free.