No boxes!
This may be one of my LEAST popular posts. I’m okay with that.

I chose these photos because I’m considering making one of these four recipes. And, it occurred to me these were all things I’d bought in the past.

Cocoa roasted almonds
Scones
Chocolate peanut clusters
And rolls (hamburger buns)

Everything made in a factory, taken from a box or package, and I wouldn’t have thought twice about it. That was food. I wouldn’t have read the nutritional info or the ingredients list.

And while it seems odd, novel, strange, and even old-fashioned to some that I would make things like this, the truth is that I do it because there’s nothing acceptable in a box.

What does that mean? “Nothing acceptable in a box”! Yes, friends. I’ve been on Amazon, in Costco, in the grocery stores and even in other “low carb or keto” forums. I’ve seen the boxes and packages with the labels “keto”, “sugar-free”, “low-carb”, and the worst and most maddening of all “diabetic friendly”. 🤬 98% and I’m being generous, of those products are none of the above. I don’t care what in tarnation they claim. I don’t give a stink bug about “net carbs”.

What I do care about vehemently is the truth.

And here it is:
If you pick up a package with food starches (and resistant starch is the biggest lie ever!), maltodextrin, dextrose, modified corn starch, glycerin, inulin, phenylalanine, aspartame, wheat, sugar, honey, coconut sugar, and I’ll sure there are three dozen more deceptive ingredients, then you’re being hoodwinked. Those ingredients (ain’t calling them food) will raise blood glucose or insulin in nearly anyone with metabolic issues.

And I don’t care what a doctor says. If you’ve got more than 50lbs to lose and have had for several years and you’ve lost and gained and lost or you have PCOS, diabetes, hypoglycemia, or skin tags, then you likely have metabolic issues. Now…. Aunt Susie might use those products. Good for her. She can drink diet soft drinks by the caseload, but Imma tell you that nearly every person I know who complains about being stalled or slow weight loss, is using packaged crap. And some look me in the eye and say “that’s not the problem”. And I look them in the eye and ask “How do you know? If you ain’t lived two weeks without it, then you’ve got no evidence to the contrary, do you?” 🤔

Yes, I know others “use” commercial ice creams that claim to be keto or low carb. Yes they “use” sugar-free jello (one of the worst things ever), and lying low-carb wraps (2nd worst thing ever and tied with the dang ice cream).

Two more truths. They ain’t doing themselves no favors because those products will impede weight loss and will cause ongoing cravings.

And I’d bet you two Winston kisses that the people who more often than not use packaged processed crap don’t stay on plan. They’ve set themselves up for failure. First, because they don’t see the progress they want—not long term at least. Second, because those products keep hunger and cravings out of control and three, because they never learn how to eat real foods. Not from a box. They keep doing what they’ve always done and so they won’t get something different. I’ll do another post about net carbs because that’s another big fat hairy lie on packaged foods, and it makes me too angry and sad to add here.

Shop the perimeter. Eat foods without an ingredient list. Make foods from foods without ingredients. Pay attention to the ingredients on anything you purchase. When in doubt, leave it out. Listen to your body. If you’re hungry, you’re doing it wrong.

Want to prove me wrong? Go a minimum of two weeks without those things and see how you feel. Your body is the final arbiter.