The Very First Thing to Do is Get Rid of One

Terrible Ingredient (Watch Video!)

The first solution to creating a healthy diet plan is to get rid of one single ingredient. According to the U.S. National Academy of Science’s Institute of Medicine, the organization responsible for advising the U.S. government on healthy policy, there is absolutely NO safe level of intake for this one terrible ingredient, which is still found in numerous packaged foods.

Watch the video below to learn how just one ingredient is responsible for this many negative side effects:

• Increased inflammation (worsening symptoms of MS, asthma, fibromyalgia, allergies, acne, etc.)

• Decreased sensitivity to insulin (making it more difficult to lose weight and making you more susceptible to type 2 diabetes)

• Decrease in “good” HDL cholesterol

• Increase in “bad” LDL cholesterol

• Impaired artery dilation

• Increased triglyercides

What is a Healthy Diet Plan?

I actually decided to do the video series on creating a healthy diet plan after one of our readers, Mita Weatherby, a teacher at Horizon Science Academy High School (in Ohio), mentioned her 4th period class was very interested in learning more about nutrition.

First of all, I applaud Mita’s class for their interest in nutrition (and Mita too for always trying so hard to help educate her students in so many ways!) I so wish I had had a teacher like Ms. Weatherby and I wish I had known about the far reaching benefits of a healthy diet plan back when I was in high school. I graduated in 1994 and back then, thanks to the media, “healthy eating” to me meant anything low-fat (I thought fat-free Entenmann’s raspberry swirl coffee cake or fat-free frozen yogurt were great choices…well, actually, I suppose somewhere deep inside I knew an apple would be even healthier, but since all three foods were “fat-free” I sort of thought they were synonymous from a nutritional standpoint.)

But here we are in 2011, almost 20 years since I graduated from high school, and the media is still putting out a tremendous amount of conflicting information when it comes to eating right. I have a feeling many high school students (adults too!) today are totally bewildered as to how to put together a truly healthy diet plan.

Let’s face it: we’re a nation obsessed with diet and eating trends, but we don’t have much to show for it. If you took a poll on a busy New York City street corner and asked the average person the following questions nine out of ten would not be able to give the correct answer.

• Is a healthy diet plan low-fat? Or is it low-carb? What does eating a “balanced” diet mean?

• Is a high protein diet healthy?

• Do carbohydrates make you fat? Are carbohydrates healthy?

• Is eating three servings of dairy a day something everyone should do? Is dairy healthy?

• What are the benefits of eating nutrient-dense foods? What are five of most nutrient-dense foods?

• What is the best way to curb food cravings?

• What is the healthiest way to lose weight? Is counting calories or “points” a good strategy?

Anyway, since knowledge is motivating I thought I’d put together a video series (starting with video #1 above) for Ms. Weatherby’s class and for anyone else interested in healthy eating that not only outlines just what a healthy diet plan actually is…but also gives the “why” behind each recommendation and helps to answer some of the above questions.

And it doesn’t matter whether you are are a 15 year old high school student or a 55-year old CEO or grandma. A healthy diet plan can benefit everyone of all ages…