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Photo 14/18
The 'Victim': Jess A. -- Project Manager
The meal: Eat Right Macaroni and Cheese Frozen Meal, 1/2 cup of watermelon, 1/2 cup of mango, 1/2 cup of sugar snap peas, 2 Girl Scout cookies, 100 Calorie pack popcorn, nonfat blueberry yogurt, 1 whole tomato

Kimberly Snyder's assessment: "First of all, there are so many different foods in this lunch that it is mind-boggling (and definitely belly-boggling). Indiscriminately eating so many different kinds of food groups at once takes an enormous amount of work to digest.

My first piece of advice to Jess is simplify her meal into fewer food groups. A salad with different veggies in it is one thing, as the veggies digest easily and well, but here, there are a few different kinds of dairy (the cheese in the mac and cheese and yogurt), two different kinds of fruit, various forms of starches (in the cookies and popcorn), and a few veggies thrown in there (though none of them are dark, leafy veggies, which would be nice).

To be blunt, the "Eat Right Macaroni and Cheese Frozen Meal" should be called "Eat Wrong." Frozen mac and cheese contains three top inflammatory, allergenic foods: gluten, in the form of the flour for the macaroni, dairy, in the cheese, and most likely various forms of corn, in the form of corn starch, tapioca starch or one of the dozens of other aliases corn goes by.

On to the yogurt. To me, nonfat yogurt screams artificial and problematic sweeteners, and when I checked ingredient lists online I saw such products containing fructose and sucralose. Fructose has been shown to encourage weight gain in lab studies, and sucralose may be linked to numerous toxicity and health issues. I recommend never, ever putting either in your body. We need to avoid artificial sweeteners like the plague.

Then we get to the (seemingly healthy) fruit. The problem? Fruit shouldn't be mixed with the other foods, it should come at least 30 minutes before or 45 minutes after. Fruit digests very quickly in the stomach (around 25 minutes), and if we mix it with heavier foods which take a few hours to digest, it gets backed up in our system like a traffic jam and can ferment, leading to bloating and other issues, so it essentially rots before we can assimilate all of its nutrients."

Next: See Snyder's changes/suggestions for Jess

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Changes/Suggestions:
"Let's get back to the frozen mac and cheese, I couldn't find an ingredient list online for this product, but I saw the box label, which boasted of high levels of protein and calcium.

The issue of dairy, which is made up of the highly controversial protein casein, and in this case is presented in a highly processed and ultra homogenized/pasteurized form, is it's full of highly problematic digestive and health issues. It is also up for contention as far as how much calcium is actually absorbed in the body from these processed dairy products, when one takes into account the acidic quality of dairy and how it may instead be causing calcium (an alkaline mineral, to balance the acidity) to be leached from the body in the form of urinary calcium.

This is way too big of an issue here, but I do discuss the detrimental beauty and health qualities of dairy in "The Beauty Detox Solution" or on my site, if you're interested in knowing more. But for now let's leave it at the fact that it's really highly processed, and I (again bluntly) urge Jess to stop eating this and all processed food! Especially on a daily basis.

Please try to find fresh options for lunch, that include salads and foods that don't have to be reheated in a microwave, after being laden with myriad preservatives, fillers and cheap salt. Please, please, no more microwaveable frozen lunches!"

Next: See what Kimberly Snyder has to say about Tracy's seemingly healthy lunch...

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The 'Victim': Tracy H., Social Marketing Coordinator
The meal: PB/J sandwich on whole grain bread, with Trader Joe's flax seed peanut butter and organic raspberry fruit preserve, organic fruit, hummus and dark chocolate with almonds and sea salt.

Kimberly Snyder's assessment: "I think it's great that Tracy starts with the organic fruit, and I would encourage her to make sure she is waiting at least 20 to 25 minutes before eating the other foods, or having the fruit as a late morning snack for optimal digestion of the fruit.

There are some good items in this lunch, but there are also a lot of different food groups jumbled together -- starch (whole grain bread), protein (peanut butter), protein and starch together (hummus, which contains chickpeas, has both). There is also an absence of dark leafy green vegetables, which are among our most important foods. We should ideally strive to incorporate them into every meal in some form."

Next: See Snyder's changes/suggestions for Tracy

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Changes/Suggestions:
"I would substitute the flax seed peanut butter for almond butter. Almonds are a healthier, more beautifying nut with lots of minerals, and don't have the potential risk of aflatoxin mold, which accumulates in peanuts and definitely in peanut butter, organic or not. Next, the 'jelly.' Cooking and processing fruit makes it really acidic, and I think all fruit preserves are a bad idea for beauty, especially on a regular basis. Though they may have 'no added sugar' and are 'low in calories,' these cooked fruit spreads are not adding anything to increase our beauty or health, and Tracy also gets enough fruit sugar from the fresh fruit she is eating earlier. Instead of whole grain bread, she should switch to sprouted, and preferably gluten-free bread, which digests better. Sprouted breads, such as the Ezekial brand, can be found at Trader Joe's. An avocado, lettuce and tomato sandwich is a better sandwich combination, from a digestive standpoint.

Instead of the sandwich every day, at least a few times a week she should have a large green salad topped with carrots and other veggies, and use the hummus as a thick salad dressing, or as a side dish with one piece of the aforementioned bread. The almond butter could come later in the afternoon with some celery sticks as an afternoon snack instead.

Dark chocolate plain without almonds digests better with all food groups, and she is getting enough nuts already in her diet with the almond butter. Tracy, please make sure you eat the chocolate in moderation -- one to two ounces a day is enough! Remember dark chocolate, while containing flavonoid antioxidants, still contains added sugar, which causes inflammatory responses in our body and may contribute to wrinkles. Try some of my raw cacao recipes, like my Happy Cow Dairy-Free Hot Chocolate, which contain raw cacao for antioxidants, and stevia and other natural sweetener alternatives."

Next: Coming next week ...

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The next 'victim':
Coming next week in our final installment of Lunchbox Makeovers, Kimberly Snyder reviews Christine's lunch -- a Trader Joe's Reduced Guilt Based Ziti meal. Christine has lost 25+ pounds -- will Kimberly Snyder like what she's eating to accomplish her goal?

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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