When we decide to remove a food element from our nutrition regime due to medical advice or by personal choice we usually immediately seek a substitute. For some odd reason our human psyche hate to let go of things we have grown used to, even if we know they are bad for us.
It is invariably easy to find a easily available replacements for macro and micronutrients in alternate foods, but dropping source of the food element always seems difficult.
Some examples:
- When gluten intolerant we seek gluten-free instead of removing wheat from the diet.
- When insulin resistant or decide to drop sugar for weight management, we substitute with sweeteners
- When going vegetarian or vegan we turn to veggie burgers, tofu or soya based substitutes.
- When lactose intolerant we turn to lactose free, soy, rice or almond milk.
There are some pretty good reasons to follow a nutrient replacement strategy rather than seeking a substitute:
- Substitutes will remind us of what we are missing every time we eat them, it remain hard even as time passes.
- Substitutes never taste the same and are invariably contain unhealthy chemical taste and colour enhancers.
- Substitutes rarely replace the nutrient profile of the original food.
- Substitutes are usually highly processed and unhealthy in their own right.
- If an element is removed from a food (eg lactose) it is invariable replaced with an unhealthy taste enhance (eg sugar)
Have a look at the substitute packaging and you will almost always find a chemical or an equally unhealthy taste replacement, if not it will probably taste awful or have a weird consistency.
I take a little research to find a natural nutrient replacement. Two weeks of a little willpower and discipline and the allure of the offending element source food will abate.
Give it a go, it really isn’t that hard if you truly want to remove or reduce the offending element.
