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Photo 4/18
The 'Victim': Jane K., Assistant Editor
The meal: A Smuckers "Uncrustables" peanut butter and jelly sandwich, Lays Baked Original chips, Fresh & Easy sweet iced tea.

Kimberly Snyder's assessment: "Hmm, OK, OK let�s just dive in from the top! Let�s make the switch from peanut butter to almond butter. Almonds are a healthier and more beautifying nut, without the pesky risk of aflatoxin mold, which may be present on peanuts at various levels. The jelly isn�t such a great option either-- when fruit is heated and processed like that it becomes acidic in the body, and there are usually processed sugars added into it on top of the natural fruit sugars.

[Of course with PB&J] we have the food combining issue of eating so many food groups at once- protein (peanut butter), starch (the bread) and fruit (jelly). Let�s take a hint from our wild animal friends, who eat much more simply than we do, and eat each food group at once. Why? Eating so many food groups takes a lot of work to digest. While we can certainly do it, it can waste a lot of our energy and make for a very groggy afternoon, and [it also] ties up energy that instead should be used to cleanse the body and elevate our beauty!

'Sweet' iced tea is scary and dreadful for the skin, as it is usually laden with a ton of inflammation-causing sugar. Maybe Jane can make her own iced tea and sweeten it with stevia, xylitol or another natural sugar (never use artificial sweeteners). Or better yet, stick to water or sparkling water with lemon!"

Next: See Snyder's changes/suggestions

Photo 5/18
Changes/Suggestions:
Why don�t we switch to an avocado sandwich instead [of the peanut butter and jelly] or a grilled veggie wrap? If Jane really loves nut butters, almond butter on celery sticks [would work] as a snack later on. The baked potato chips aren't horrendous, and would actually combine decently with the sandwich, but if Jane wants an A+ she would go with a green salad instead of the chips.

Next: Senior editor Sarah's lunch is appraised

Photo 6/18
The 'Victim': Sarah C., Senior Editor
The meal: Turkey Sandwich on a wheat roll with lettuce and garlic/olive oil spread, reduced-fat tortilla chips with tomatillo salsa, and a Coke Zero

Kimberly Snyder's assessment: "What I really want to stand up and scream about is how people continue to voluntarily consume chemicals and acids via diet drinks and sodas such as Coke Zero. This is madness! First of all, Coke Zero is sweetened with an artificial mix of potentially harmful sweeteners, including the aspartame, which among many other things is being investigated by the National Cancer Institute for a potential link to brain cancer. Coke Zero was even banned in Venezuela!

For anyone that cares about beauty, health, or trying to delay or slow aging even a little bit, Coke Zero ranks among the very worse things you can put in your body. Sure we can slather sunscreens and anti-aging creams on all day long, but putting acidic chemicals into the body will erode our beauty and age us with each passing day from the inside out.

Sarah, please, I beg of you to stop! Can you imagine saying at lunch, 'Yes I'd like that carbonated drink that includes sulphite ammonia caramel (for artificial color), phosphoric acid (also used to clean chrome), sodium citrates, acesulfame potassium (another chemical sweetener), sodium benzoate (you wouldn�t even want this to touch your skin), artificial flavors and caffeine'? Eek!

I�d also love to see more fresh, water-containing produce in her lunch. Right now the only veggie I see is a measly piece of lettuce on her sandwich. The salsa is processed I'm guessing (from a jar), which makes the tomatoes acidic, so that doesn't count. The turkey, bread and oil spread combo is difficult to digest, as all the different food groups (protein, starch and fat) require different digestive enzymes to break down, and this combo would therefore be very slow. It is also very low in fiber -- the wheat roll is full of gluten, which more of us are increasingly sensitive to, especially as wheat becomes more genetically modified, and I avoid wheat at all costs and recommend that my clients do the same.

The corn chips may be reduced in fat, but unless that product contains non-GMO corn, the corn they were made from is most likely grown in a cornucopia of toxic, liver-clogging chemicals and pesticides. In any case, corn chips in general sure are starchy and also full of low quality, bloating table salt. "

Next: See Snyder's changes/suggestions

Photo 7/18
Changes/Suggestions:
"Sorry Sarah, I can tell you were trying to be 'healthy' by calorie-counting, main-stream standards. But I want you to do better, and you can easily make some changes. I recommend having a big salad at lunch, with beauty-supporting veggies like cucumbers and carrots and throw some high-enzyme sprouts into the mix. If you're going to have a sandwich, a veggie wrap or avocado sandwich would digest better than the meat-starch mix will. The idea is to simplify your food groups for easier digestion and more energy in the afternoon. Or if you want to keep your turkey, chicken or fish in at lunch, you can put it directly on the salad and leave out the starch. If you eat a bountiful amount of fibrous greens, with the choices above, you probably won't even miss the corn chips, or at least can separate them and eat them later in the afternoon as a snack.

And finally and most importantly, for the love of beauty, please ditch the Coke Zero!"

Next: Intern Kristal's lunch is appraised...

Photo 8/18
The 'Victim': Kristal, Editorial Intern
The meal: Frozen Healthy Choice Tuscan Style Chicken meal

Kimberly Snyder's assessment: "I understand the intense temptation to buy those frozen meals at the supermarket. After all, all you have to do is microwave them and you're all set, right? And, it sure is convenient how all the nutritional info is neatly listed out on the back of the box, without having to guess, right?

But behind the glitzy, easy temptation that packaged foods present as being 'healthy' and 'low calorie' the truth remains: Packaged foods are processed foods. And processed foods never, ever behave the same in the body as fresh, whole foods do.

The company's website didn't provide a full ingredient list on this product, but I'm sure there were more than several that do not qualify as whole foods. The nutritional information did say, 'contains milk, soy and wheat' probably because they are such high allergens. They are also two of the most mucus-forming, extremely acidic foods in the body, and combined with the gluten-containing wheat, we are seeing a meal that will not digest very cleanly in the body, or promote Kristal's natural beauty. Why? Because the more acidic we are, the easier it is to hold on to excess weight and the faster we tend to age.

Another thing to point out is the 540 mg of sodium, which is more than likely coming from cheap, denatured table salt. As we are moving into summer, who wants to look overly bloated from cheap salts?"

Next: See Snyder's changes/suggestions for Kristal

At this time of year it seems like every woman is on a diet. Makes sense since summer's around the corner and we all want to be able to wear cute little sundresses, short(ish) shorts and, eek, perhaps even a swimsuit.

The thing is that a lot of us simply don't know how to eat healthily -- whether we're dieting or not. And, since a personal nutritionist is cost prohibitive for all but a lucky few of us, we're pretty much left to our own devices when it comes to figuring out what to eat. Even here at Total Beauty, where looking good and being fit is our business, most of us fall short in the "eating for optimum health" category.

That's why we thought it would be fun to enlist the help of celebrity nutritionist, and natural health/beauty expert Kimberly Snyder in making over our lunches. We asked Snyder, whose diet expertise has worked wonders on all sorts of celebs like Drew Barrymore, Fergie and Channing Tatum, to critique Total Beauty staffers' lunches. We wanted her honest (read: sometimes harsh) opinion on the choices we're making and her professional recommendations for what we should be eating instead.

See the dramatic lunchbox makeovers.

The result? Nine complete lunchbox makeovers. For the next couple of months, Tuesday will be "Lunchbox Makeover" day and you'll get to see what Snyder thought of an individual staffer's menu and find out her suggestions for making the meal more healthful. (She's the consummate pro at this as her new book, "The Beauty Detox" illustrates beyond the shadow of a doubt.)

Did our staffers take Snyder's advice to heart? You bet. Will they forever and always adhere to her every word and suggestion? Probably not, but knowledge, as they say, is power and we're all definitely wiser when it comes to nutrition now thanks to her frank assessments.

So, without any further ado, let's begin with the first "guinea pig"�
BY AUDREY FINE | SHARES
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