Nutrition

This is my first semester in school. I am studying Human performance management with an emphasis on wellness and a minor in nutrition, yeah, it's a mouthful I know. I am taking my very first nutrition class, pretty much ever. I was raised without basic knowledge of what is truly healthy. In my home, my mom considered "home made" healthy. I never truly had an understanding of what my body needs to survive. I think many Americans don't have that basic knowledge. When I started my weight loss journey, I got my "blue bible" from my doctor's office. I followed it like it was literally the bible. It told me carbs and fruits were bad. I believed that. I went nearly two years without eating carbs, fruits and sugar and then it started to affect my kidneys. I didn't understand how, when I was so much healthier, a carb free diet would shut down my kidneys. Well, After less than a month, I understand. Our body needs carbs, proteins, vitamins, minerals, water and even fats to survive. What we all need to do is eat balanced diets, with balanced calories and lots of diversity with the things we eat. I was eating 1000-1200 calories max. My nutrition teacher told me that the minimum that I should be eating was 1,600 calories. I thought she was insane. I thought to myself "She is a very educated woman. Maybe you should listen" So, I tried things "her way." The results, in two weeks, I have lost 6 pounds. It needs to be said that excluding my tummy tuck surgery in which they slashed off 25ish pounds of skin, I have not lost a single pound in 7 months. Nothing. There is something to be said for eating a little more. I don't ever think about food. I'm never hungry and my body feels energized and great. Another thing I have learned about is hydrogenated oils. This is where hydrogen is added to food to basically make the foods go from saturated fat to unsaturated fat. This process is not natural and is found in many processed foods. It is worse for your body than saturated fats because your body does not recognize that they are fats that need to be broken up and essentially they go straight to build calcium that lines your heart. NO BUENO. This is present in fast foods. It's in Cheetos, Doritos Bisquick, basically anything that uses shortening, it's in frozen foods like pies and waffles and cream filled anything (ie twinkies, ding dongs etc)also it's in doughnuts and basically anything deep fried. These are foods that tear down the body, they do absolutely nothing to nourish or build. They are items that should NEVER EVER be eaten. There is one thing I have learned, You can't control what other people put in food. Cook your own food, avoid processed food and don't eat fast food. Please, stuff like this is so scary. End of rant.