• Avoid Packaged Foods

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  What to do: Do not eat any food that comes in a package or box for the next 7 days.

  One quick and very effective diet change that you can make if you want to see a much higher level of weight loss success is to avoid packaged and processed foods.

  Why should you avoid these? The reasons are many.

  First, packaged foods frequently contain very little nutrition. They're filled with simple sugars, flour, saturated fat, and very little protein and fiber. The vitamin and mineral content is also incredibly low as well.

  In addition to that, packaged foods are going to send your insulin levels skyrocketing. This means you'll experience a temporary energy high and then crash immediately afterwards. When you do, you'll be left feeling irritable, hungry, and light-headed. Plus, you'll want to eat more food to remedy this feeling.

  Finally, packaged foods will also pack on weight faster than any other food around. Since it's easy to just keep going back in for more and they do tend to be quite high in calories themselves, it's easy to overeat with them.

  So your challenge this week is to say no to all processed foods. How can you tell if it's processed? A good way to do so is to ask how many ingredients it contains.

  If the answer is more than one, chances are it shouldn't be in your diet plan.

  Let's give you some examples to get you started.

  1. Snack Bars

  Whether it's granola bars, trail mix bars, cereal bars, or protein bars, these are foods that you should avoid.

  2. Crackers And Chips

  The second type of food that you need to be avoiding on your diet plan is crackers, chips, and any other crunchy snack food that comes from a bag.

  These are high in simple carbs and will digest very rapidly in the body. While the baked varieties will be lower in total fat content, this still doesn't mean they'll be a healthy choice. Remember, nutrients are what you're looking for, not just calories.

  3. Cookies, Cakes, Pastries, And Donuts

  This one should be a given for most people, but it needs to be mentioned. Any of these baked goods – or any other items coming from the bakery, you want to avoid. This includes most breads as well.

  4. 'Fruit' Snacks

  If the package says 'real fruit', put it down. If you want real fruit, head to the produce selection where no packages are found.

  5. Pasta

  Finally, pasta and any other foods made with pasta should be avoided as well. Pasta is very high in carbs and will quickly pack in the calories, potentially leading to rapid weight gain.

  So keep these foods in mind and keep them out of your grocery basket for this challenge.

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