There are numerous products on the shelves nowadays that aren’t very health-building. But this is real life. Chances are, you’re not going to eat all health food all the time – especially not at first. You can, however, start to decrease some of the junk food, and there are a couple of really awful food categories I suggest you eliminate altogether.

Hydrogenated oils and artificial sweeteners are some of the worst things you can eat. I’m an 80/20 kind of girl most of the time – that is, I think if you eat well 80% of the time, your body can manage the 20%. (That’s not an exact breakdown; I actually prefer to keep the “eating well” number higher, but you get the idea. I don’t aim for perfection.) However, these two things are zero-tolerance items for me, or pretty close to it. If at all possible, I recommend you entirely eliminate these.

Junk food is not healthy, obviously, but in moderation I don’t think it’s terrible. Other “bad fats” are best minimized, but not so flagrantly bad as hydrogenated oils. So let’s talk about fats/oils, and about sweeteners – what to choose, what to avoid, and why.