Oh my goodness!  I had no idea that my “healthy snacks” were undoing what I’ve worked so hard for.  Thank you so much for letting me know. I’ll think I’ll just reserve these for incline hiking.
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OliviaB.
San Diego DUI lawyer

I find things are so much easier when you just don’t purchase things with labels.

Or, limit yourself to almost no foods with labels, and then, for the 1-5% of your diet you ‘indulge’ with, label-watching becomes utterly unnecessary. Or, overkill. (Or paranoia. LOL)

Still, I get it: caveat emptor.

schmadrian, that’s a great point!  REAL foods really are the healthiest way to eat.  The nut mixes can be especially misleading since we all perceive them to be a healthy, natural food, but then when it’s all mixed up with chocolate and dried fruits, it becomes calorie and sugar city.

I read Michael Pollan’s ‘In Defense of Food’ this year; maybe the most important book I’ve ever read. His motto is ‘Eat food, mostly plants, not too much’. I’ve shortened that to ‘Eat fresh food.’

I *generally* don’t eat anything prepackaged, anything with cooking instructions, anything with preservatives. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no saint. But most of what I eat now…it’s been a gradual shift…is fresh. Even my baked goods are fresh, baked by me. I control what’s in more than 90% of the food that I eat -as I cook mostly everything I eat, rarely eating out- and combined with a lifelong fitness regimen, I know that I’m doing mostly what I can. Having gurus like Shin around make inspiration a no-brainer. : )

Rule of thumb - if it looks too good it probably is.  beware low fat - often means high sugar, beware no added sugar - means lots of sugar already in it and who knows about the fat.  Use unprocessed foods that are fresh and you’ll not go far wrong.

I don’t want to swamp this comments section, so I’ll make this my last contribution… We got into this ‘mess’ regarding foods…pre-packaged, processed, manufactured foods…for some very identifiable reasons. (These alone are fodder for a spirited discussion.) But one of the paths we went down, some thirty years ago, was the misguided notion about fats. (Check out ‘In Defense of Food’. Seriously.) Some/many/most of us have lost our innate ability to know what’s right or wrong in terms of what to eat.

Think about it: ‘low-fat’, ‘fat-free’ foods have been MANUFACTURED. It’s not ‘natural’. My mom will not eat low-fat anything. “It tastes horrible!’ is a good place to start. And really; if you’re eating enough of something that you need to be thinking about dropping the fat content…maybe you should either a) eat less of it, or b) stop eating it.

You can’t have EVERYTHING, it simply doesn’t make any sense to expect that you can. And in the end, doesn’t it all come down to that computer programming adage, ‘Garbage in, garbage out’?

As usual Shin awesome! I was fully aware of this and with the summer months coming thanks for the reminder to cut down on the nuts. During the winter my snacking sky-rockets, when i spend a week outside no heating in the middle of winter northern quebec my food increasing probably to near 8000 calories or higher and I will still lose weight, these nuts and mixes are very important for these times because to keep warm your caloric intake during the winter depending where you are and what you do increases dramatically. In the summer I generally drop back down to 3000 if I am at home…3500 or 4000 there abouts if i am out in the woods.

Hey Shin,

Wanted to thank you for all the great articles and tips and advice. I have lost 40 pounds in the past 8 weeks using your techniques. At the present time I have a child due in September and need all the extra money I can save for upcoming expenses, in saying that I need to cancel my membership for now. 20 bucks is a bag of diapers, I’m sure you understand. I will however return once things are back to normal as I feel I wouldn’t be where I am today without your knowledege. Thanks again. I’ll be back soon.

Sincerely, Josh Martin

Trail mix almost killed my diet last year.  Thanks for the reminder, sometimes I find myself falling off that wagon, because it is just so yummy.  Now I put a single portion size in baggies and actually only have the trail mix when I am on the trail.

I just want to start by saying I absolutely LOVE Trader Joe’s! I drive almost 2 hours to get to the nearest one and am never sorry! Ok, just had to get that out!

I love nuts and know they are healthy in SMALL quantities, so I will actually count out 15 or so and that is all I eat. I may eat 1-2 servings a day, spaced out. I totally agree about eating raw nuts. I will not want to eat nearly as many as salted ones, plus who needs all that sodium?!

I love the idea about posting a picture in front of where the “indulgences” are to deter you from grabbing more! I’m gonna have to give that a try. My problem is CHOCOLATE! Do you think it’s true that eating dark chocolate is better than eating milk chocolate? I know dark chocolate has antioxidants, but what do you think as far as weight loss goes?

I have read a 1000 explanations on how to look at the back of packets to decide on how we know whats healthy, unhealthy, fatning, non fatning, good or bad for you. And still today i do not know how to understand the description and quantities.  Please can you help and put it in simple english. That would be great.

Hi Everyone:
The other thing to remember is that if you can discipline yourself to eating a small portion of these nuts, they do make for a good in-between meal snack! And there’s the rub…this stuff tastes so good and looks so small that we tend to overeat these kinds of foods.

Shin, thanks for your great tips on how to stay healthy. I look forward to hearing from you soon! Thanks again,Jonah

Thanks for today’s tip, I think that’s the most effective tip you have ever given me especially the half naked woman. Thank you so much and I am already glossing weight

Great Information.

I was doing the same and I put on about 8 pounds. My weight went from 185lb to 193lb. Once I cut back, I lost the weight.

I love mixed nuts & fruit for snacks, and sometimes it’s really hard to just eat one serving.

Larry

I agree with this article because it is so true. Eating healthy foods is very fun and great but things like nut mixes is so addictive. I have to not buy them or just very small packages. Also a great reminder that calories are calories- no matter how healthy. great reminders!

Yeah—get the word out!!  The serving size on these high calorie mixes is usually 3 Tablespoons or 1/4 cup!!  We all know 3 Tablespoons turns into 3 cups when the package is open right in front of you.  I too have done this and just choose NOT to buy them anymore!  I do eat almonds almost every day-but only 12 of them which is 1/2 oz which is 90 calories. I count them out and close the bag—-period!!

My weight went from 185lb to 193lb. Once I cut back, I lost the weight. I Like mixed nuts & fruit for snacks, and sometimes it’s really hard to just eat one serving.