SlimRoute Experts Blog

In my attempts to do better by my body, I have tried everything from soy cheese to soy ice cream to more fruits and vegetables to everything.  Some things are better than others.  For example, the imitation meats they have generally aren’t that bad, and though shaped oddly, tofurkey actually tastes about the same as real turkey.  I really only use it for the fact that I love turkey and cranberry sandwiches.  But for that purpose and for other purposes, it tastes almost exactly the same.  This being said, I really can’t say the same thing for soy cheese.  It’s partly an allergy to milk that drives me to do this.  But while I’m just picky about soy milk and it’s hard to find a good one, it’s literally impossible to find a good soy cheese.  So if you need cheese that much, just keep eating the real thing.  This being said, soy ice cream is exactly the same way, it’s just not worth it.  But recently, I have discovered that they have these ice cream sandwiches that you can’t buy the soy ones, the soy ones are bad.  But there are some that specifically in bold letters say “tofu” on the front.  That’s how you differentiate them.  They are these small little sandwiches and to be honest they taste exactly like the real thing.  I was skeptical when my friend first introduced me to them, because I’m picky.  But honestly speaking, there is some hope for the world of milk and ice cream!

It helps to plan when you are trying to lose weight or in your daily life in general.  Not planning often leads people to go into fast food chains and restaurants and get the biggest burger they can find or a salad that is often misleading in the case of fast food chains.  But if you plan right, you may be able to take an actual lunch break to go to a restaurant that gives you greater options, which are not that high in calories and otherwise.  Or even better, you could have time to actually pack your own lunch or create your own dinner and skip takeout or restaurants all together.  This will help you to actually properly measure the amount of food that is going into your diet along with seeing what kind of foods are going in.  For example, you could have a fruit salad somewhere else that has tons of extra sugar added without you knowing it.  However, if you make your own fruit salad at home, you know if you’re adding extra sugar or not and you can therefore properly assess the real calories and nutritional benefits.  So planning is key in really losing weight.

I am a bit of a brand freak when it comes to food.  Unless it’s fruits or vegetables which are completely unprocessed, I check out the label and I only buy certain brands.  I have to look out for milk, due to allergies.  But a big thing I’ve found motivating me not to buy prepackaged foods is all the preservatives and such.  I have a sensitive stomach to any upset.  So I can tell the difference between brands with just one ingredient’s difference.  This being said, there is a reason why a lot of people actually experience stomach upset over certain foods, they just don’t know why.  It might surprise you to know that despite the fact that MSG is known to contribute to obesity, known to cause organ damage, and known to all in all hurt the body, the FDA allows it to be put into foods.  Your favorite Chinese restaurant may say they don’t use MSG.  But unless they make all their own foods from scratch, I can guarantee they do.  They don’t know they do.  But MSG quite frankly is now named under various names such as “red” or some other innocuous name like that which could actually cover quite a few different things.  But companies are allowed to do that, because the FDA has determined that they would not make as many sales if they were honest about it.  Likewise, propylene glycol, which is named on packages, is basically like a small dose of antifreeze.  Small or large dose, antifreeze is antifreeze.  In foods, it damages the stomach and its lining among other things, and in cosmetics it causes major skin damage.  So in short, there is a reason to be brand picky.

When looking to go healthier, lose a little weight, etc, I switched from many meat based proteins to salmon and soy.  Well I mostly switched to soy.  Salmon provides you with a lot of the good fats, but tofu is known for a lot of benefits.  And frankly, with edamame, it was easy, I could buy it at the grocery store, and it is extremely filling.  But in terms of soy, the question for many would be does it actually promote weight loss?  Before I say yes or no, there’s a lot of things to consider.  The nutritional value of soy based products is extremely high.  They provide quite a bit of protein without the fat and otherwise associated with many meats, and it also is thought to have many of the benefits of skim milk.  It is low in calories in general and provides you with substantial fullness when you eat it, and it is thought that as a part of a healthy diet, it would improve significantly.  But while multiple studies have evaluated the effects, it hasn’t been connected directly as a weight loss supplement, at least not in the way that others like glucomannnan or caffeine have.  It definitely reduces your bad cholesterol by up to 40% and it can reduce the risk of heart problems.  But in terms of actual weight loss, the results are not as sure unless of course you consider it like fruits and vegetables, as part of a healthy diet.