The Saturday Skinny: WW Week 13 - Reading Labels

Welcome to the weekend everyone and thanks for stopping by The Saturday Skinny! I woke up to much cooler weather this morning than we've been having here in central Florida. Right now, its only 50 degrees outside! That is going to make for a great walk this morning!

I've just completed my 13th week on Weight Watchers Online and I am pleased to report I am right on track! I lost another 2.2 pounds this week, bringing my total weight lost to 21.6 pounds! I am so pleased to have surpassed the 20-pound mark!

This journey has been so enlightening to me and I've learned so much, not only about myself, but about nutrition in general. I've realized that there are many foods and snacks out there that I thought were healthy only to realize they really aren't. One big surprise was granola. I really love granola and used to eat it with my yogurt and I ate granola bars as snacks. But not any more. Granola actually isn't that healthy and is not helpful if you are on a weight loss plan. Recently, I picked up a box of granola cereal that was advertised as a 'healthy alternative' and after looking at the nutrition label and reading the ingredients, it was very clear that it was not healthy at all. I use my WW PointsPlus calculator religiously to help me stay on the right food track and when choosing cereal, I don't like to go over 4 points per serving. I found that most granola cereals are at least 6 points per serving not counting the milk. I also found the sugar levels in many of them were higher.

This revelation about granola lead me to do some research and I came across this article called Not-So- Healthy Health Foods on MedicineNet.com that was very interesting. It talks about how some 'healthy' foods are not that healthy and how to spot the hidden pitfalls of these foods. Before joining WW, I used to only read the calories and fat on the nutrition label, but now I read all of the nutrition label of everything I eat. These labels are there for a reason and we should take advantage of them and not just accept what we're told through advertising. You can learn a lot by reading those labels.

Another area that was an eye opener for me was fruit juices. I'm not a soda drinker and I always prided myself for drinking a lot of juice instead, thinking I was choosing the healthy alternative. Boy, was I wrong! Some juices are almost as bad as soda because of the sugar levels. Tomato juice has become my favorite juice. Thankfully, I love the taste - as long as it's cold and it only has 1 WW Point per 8 oz. serving. I have a glass every single day around 11:00. There are many healthful benefits with tomatoes and tomato juice, including fighting cancer cells. But the liquid I drink the most of is plain ole water with lemon. You can never have too much water and even though I fought it in the beginning, I have changed my thinking and I have seen the benefits in my own body. First and foremost, it helps with weight loss and secondly, my skin is so much clearer than before. Because of my age (47), I am having some dryness on my face and since I've been drinking as much water as I have, I've noticed a huge difference!

There is so much nutritional information out there if we only take the time to read it. I cringe when I think back at how I used to just grab whatever I was craving off the shelf without even looking at the label. That is how I ended up 20+ pounds overweight in the first place. Once you get in the habit of reading the labels and understanding them, it will become second nature to you.

I'd like to thank you once again for stopping by and sharing my weight loss progress. I'm on the downhill side now and I am even more excited to reach my ultimate goal. Be sure to let me know how you are doing on your journey as well. I look forward to hearing your story!