Photo By Mike Baird/Courtesy Flickr

I can't help but think about New Years resolutions this time of year along with the rest of the world.  And of course losing weight and getting in shape is always at the top of most peoples list.  It's on the top of mine too this year too!  Shortly after started this blog I really was eating super duper clean, taking supplements, and working out for the first time in my life.  Since then like I'm sure most of you can relate to I've had things come up in my life that has taken my focus away from that and now I find myself struggling to get back to my good habits.

 I recently read the book "Supplements Exposed" by Brian Clement which  basically covers reasons why your supplements may not be as good for you as you thought.  While I did learn a lot about picking the right vitamins and supplements (post to come on that) I surprising learned just as much about my food.  The main argument of this book is that synthetic vitamins are not as good for you as natural vitamins.  I agreed with the author that synthetic vitamins are not a good ideal.  Why risk adding something to your body that might hurt it?  So just buy whole food vitamins if you buy any are your OK right?  Maybe, maybe not.  Chances are your like me and actually have food in your pantry or fridge right now that has been enriched or fortified with synthetic vitamins even if you buy organic food.  So even if your not taking vitamins and eat a healthy diet with organic foods, you might be getting synthetic vitamins without even realizing it.

Even Organic Food Can Have Synthetic Vitamins
When I read the chapter about the history of foods enriched and fortified with synthetic vitamins, the ideal of fortified and enriched foods suddenly started turning sour.  I always thought the more vitamins the better right?  I never would have guessed that could be harmful. 
I ran to my fridge and started looking at labels.  I have been using

Ingredients in Trader Joe's Almond Milk image credit

unsweetened almond and coconut milk for awhile in place of milk, but we still use organic whole milk as well.  They ALL had synthetic vitamins!  What?  Even my organic milk?  Needless to say this was a shock.  I thought I was being being so good!  Even my organic milk had a synthetic vitamin in it! My Trader Joe's almond milk had three synthetic vitamins and their coconut milk had  two (I emailed them a comment about this and am waiting for their response).  When I found this out I figured I'd just have to find a brand that's not fortified.  Well the sad thing is I couldn't.  If anyone knows of one please let me know!  I guess that's even more motivation to scratch this one of my grocery list and make it from scratch too.   I haven't tried yet, but I found a great recipe for almond milk and almond meal I plan to try.  I like that you can get both almond meal and milk out of it (since I use a lot of almond meal in my recipes).  Until then I've decided to use only organic whole milk, since it at least has only one synthetic vitamin in it.

image via

I love when I find out things I'm already doing are good.  If you follow this blog you know that I'm always developing new recipes from good sources and adjusting them to have more nutrition per serving.  My focus is on eating whole foods from scratch with as high of nutrients as possible (no empty calories here).  Apparently research has shown several nutrients to be helpful in weight loss.  The cool thing is they're nutrients you should already be taking in you diet anyways just for general health.  So if they don't actually work for weight loss, at least you'll be healthier!

I'm learning more and more every day about the complexities of weight gain and obesity and just how many factors can be at work.  While usually bad diet and lifestyle choices play a role in weight gain, they are not the only contributing factor.  Often other factors like toxins, incorrect cultural ideals about diet and exercise, hormones, and stress all play a role.  With so many possible factors working against an overweight person they need as much support to get started as possible.  I think this is a great place to start, but most peoples weight issues go much deeper than this.  I would suggest also looking into how chemicals, stress, and diet and exercise wight be playing a role in your weight gain as well.

Chocolate shake after working out?  Am I crazy? Probably, but not for this.  Seriously it taste like a real shake but it's packed with good for you stuff.  That's right a no guilt reward after your hard work.  Now that's motivation!