Natural flavor that is a chemical is in nearly every single food product in a supermarket. Even a bag of prepared clams in the frozen aisle. Even in rice cakes. Even in protein bars.

The biggest myth is that protein bars are healthy and give you energy.

They’re loaded with natural flavor and high in sugar. I refrain at all costs from snacking on protein bars anymore. As well, it’s because the bars simply don’t taste good.

I found out that Skinny Pop popcorn–again, a seductively named product–is made with a harmful ingredient. Sunflower oil is man-made.

The book How to Be Well: 6 Keys to a Happy and Healthy Life exposes the real deal about this and other oils.

Coconut oil and olive oil and avocado oil are the best kinds of oil to use. Palm oil if you choose to use it should be labeled “conflict-free” because the harvesting of palm oil can cause harm to rain forest ecology.

The following are unnatural fats and should be avoided at all costs:

Vegetable oil ( there are no vegetables in it)

Margarines and spreads

Canola oil

Corn oil (GMO-laced)

Safflower and Sunflower oil (extracted with hexane, thought to be a neurotoxin) and high in inflammatory fatty acids.

Bet you didn’t think Skinny Pop was harmless. Now you know sunflower oil–one of its ingredients–is high in inflammatory fatty acids.

Peanut oil – also higher in inflammatory fatty acids.

America is a capitalist country. The prevailing business model for food companies and other big business is often “Anything to make a buck.”

Creating and manufacturing food and drink and other products is often predicated in this business model on using the cheapest ingredients and components to rush out quickly products that are sold cheaply.

Yet the products still have a high markup–that is retail price–because the cost of producing them is mere pennies compared to the selling price.

Money is then spent on seductive advertising to get consumers to buy the food and drink and other products.

Alas, too many people if not most people don’t want to spent a lot of money on food and drink upfront.

Then when people become sick and ill they conveniently don’t make the connection between their diet and their disease.

And when most of us fail at maintaining our weight and health via the “calories consumed versus calories burned” guideline we could tend to feel like failures who were responsible for not succeeding.

I tell you based on my own experience: I can’t resist having a pastry from a bakery every two weeks or so. That’s it really.

If you ask me it comes down to common sense again:

If you’re not stuffing your face and going back for second and third helpings at a meal:

Chances are you’re not consuming too many calories in one day.

Like said you can weigh more yet eat fruits and vegetables and be healthy. Or you can be stick thin with a magic metabolism, eat junk, and be flabby and unhealthy.

I’m going to devote a third blog entry to How to Eat Healthier then move along.

After this trio of blog entries I’m going to update the results I’ve achieved in Step Three Perspire of the Changeology 90-day action plan for realizing goals and resolutions.