The Chemical Compound You MUST Start Eating!

If you pay even a bit of attention to the news you will have more knowledge about food than a scientist would have 100 years ago. You know that food has calories, you know about fats, carbs, proteins, you've heard of good and bad cholesterol , antioxidants, omega 3 fatty acids, saturated and unsaturated fats, fish oil supplements and every vitamin from A to Zinc.

But I find people consistently miss one of the most basic elements of food, and one that can help them make much better choices than knowing there's so many milligrams of folic acid per serving.

Give me an H! Give me a 2! Give me an O!

If you want to have a diet that supports your body and keeps you slim, you need to EAT YOUR WATER.

Drinking water is nice, but not as important as you may think (the 8 glasses a day myth has been shattered for years now). Eating water is where it's really at.

What do I mean? Let's consider a table with 3 carbohydrates on it.

Exhibit A: A potato.

Exhibit B: A few slices of bread

Exhibit C: A plate of crackers

These three items have about the same number of calories (around 100). But when you look at their water content you'll see a very different story.

A potato is 80% water.

A slice of bread is 35% water.

A cracker is about 3%.

So to get your 100 calories out of a potato you'll also consume a the equivalent of a half cup of water. The crackers, however, are essentially giving you that 100 calories "dry".

Ever gone camping? You'll remember that the most annoying, heavy thing in your pack was your water. Considering it's a 0 calorie element, water is absurdly dense. It fills you up. In other words, for the same number of calories the potato will make you feel more satiated and full than the plate of crackers.

Processed foods have a lot of problems. They are filled with additives, sugars, and salt, but just as important is that every step further away from the source food sees an evaporation of the water that is so abundant in natural foods. A potato is a source food that is 2/3 water. Bread has gone through one step of processing and comes in at 1/3 water. A cracker has gone through an extra step of processing and ends up with almost no water content.

When people stop eating processed food they often remark how incredibly full they feel. PCPers will often complain around week 2 and 3 of simply not being able to get all the food down. And yet they continue to lose fat. This is all because they've started eating their water.

So forget about all the fancy micronutrients and ask yourself the simple question, "how much water is in this food?" To put things in perspective, check out these numbers.

Water Percentage of some unprocessed foods:
Apple - 84%
Avocado - 81%
Banana - 76%
Carrot - 92%
Grapefruit - 90%
Red Bell Pepper - 91%
Strawberry - 91%
Tomato - 97%

As you can see, natural foods will usually have a water content around 80% or higher. Eat more of foods like the ones above, and less like the ones below!

Water Percentage of Highly Processed Foods
Beef Jerky - 3%
Milk Chocolate - 30%
Popcorn - 13%
Potato Chip - 2.5%
Pretzel - 8%
Pizza Crust - 25%
Twinkie - 65%

Remember, the body that is going to eat these things is also made predominantly of water. It's 75% of your brain, 75% of your heart, 86% of your lungs, and so on.... Eat foods that have at least as much water in them as you do, and you'll see the fat come off and the energy levels rise. This is not an academic exercise. You can try all this advice in real time with one trip to the supermarket. Get out there and make better choices TODAY.