I might be contradicting myself here but it's got to be done. 'How so?' you might be saying to yourself. Well for a while I was encouraging you to do something nutritionally that I believed was in your best interests. That would give you better results related to weight loss and performance. But maybe I was wrong. (said in a whisper so no one can hear me) What it is that I had you doing was reading food labels. So how can this be a bad thing? Why would I suggest you stop doing so? Well for three reasons. Reason #1 to Stop Reading Food Labels - You are being misled I wouldn't go so far as to saw you are being lied to but consider the following titles on food packages: 'made with real sugar' 'all natural' 'organic' '95% fat free' So how are these titles on packaging misleading? Well there really is no benefit to eating real sugar. It still causes an insulin spike and puts the break on your fat burning. What about 'all-natural' and 'organic'? Well just because something occurs naturally doesn't mean it's healthy and a good idea to put it in your mouth. Heck, in the case of arsenic, it can kill you. And organic, well often times this is marketing-hype imo. If you eat organic for environmental reasons, do organic bananas leave a smaller organic footprint to ship to Canada than regular bananas? Reason #2 To Stop Reading Food Labels - It's less about the calories Ask most people what they check when they read a food label and what is the most common answer? Calories. We still believe, incorrectly, that a calorie is a calorie and we simply need to create a deficit or surplus in order to have the best results. The truth is that it's probably more important to consider the quality and timing of your food selections rather than the calorie count. Knowing this, and the fact most people don't check the sugar, protein or fibre content on labels means they could probably save themselves the effort. Reason #3 To Stop Reading Food Labels - If it has one it's 2nd rate food Question? While doing research for this blog post I couldn't seem to find the label on the following food items. Maybe you can help me out. I was looking for labels on: * some fresh salmon * some broccoli * an egg * an apple If the majority of the foods you eat don't have a label, good for you. This means you are probably preparing most of your meals yourself and eating better quality nutrition than the masses. Because it really is a contradiction to be trying to have the healthiest life possible when we're comparing the labels on ice cream at the super market. Or when we buy 100 calorie size samples of chocolate bars to manage our cravings. We're fooling ourselves if we read labels for any of the above three reasons. However if you read labels to seek out essential nutrients or if you read labels to ensure the absence of gluten, HFCS or some other ingredient than carry on. Otherwise quit reading food labels and enjoy the benefits of optimum health, fitness and performance. Chris okanaganpeakperformance.com 'always moving forward'