Comparing a Trashy vs. a Trashless Breakfast

I have consumed essentially the same breakfast for 2 years. A grapefruit (preferably, but if it's not in season I will substitute with some other citrus fruit), a slice of bread with peanut butter on top, and a hard-boiled egg. I originally started eating this breakfast when I tried the "military diet," but I quickly gave up on the military diet as a whole and added a little more protein (egg) to my breakfast. I love this breakfast because it feels healthy, tastes delicious, and fills me up.

My breakfast this morning

When I started eating this breakfast, I used conventional produce, white bread, Jif peanut butter, and conventional white eggs. Now that my diet is more organic and trashless I have made a few modifications. I eat organic grapefruit, homemade whole wheat bread, fresh ground peanut butter (with no additives), and pasture raised eggs. Organic produce has been proven to be more nutritious in countless studies. I recently read a study published by the Organic Center, a non-profit research and educational center, which found that just over 60% of organic produce is more nutrient-dense than conventional produce. Organic foods are especially high in antioxidants, which the normal American diet is lacking. 

I decided to compare the nutritional facts of my old trashy breakfast with my new trashless one. Below are the results.

One of the first things you'll probably notice is that the calorie count for my new breakfast is a little higher. Fad diets will have you believe that your calorie count is the end-all be-all of your diet, but that is not the case. It is much more important for you to get a sufficient amount of nutrients and minimize your sugar/fat intake (I say this because most Americans get far too much sugar and fat in their diet). I would like to point out the significant reduction in sodium I get from using more natural and organic foods rather than the "conventional" store-bought ones. My sodium intake for this one meal is nearly cut in half. I am also slightly reducing my total fat and sugar intake, and increasing my dietary fiber, protein and iron intake. All around, this is a much more nutritional meal than it was before, not to mention the fact that I am reducing my plastic waste from bread bags and peanut butter jars.

You'll also notice that I have excluded the percent daily value numbers. I simply despise the way the FDA has encorporated the percent daily value numbers onto food labels so that it is the only thing most people look at. Especially for myself, a 5'0 tall woman, a 2000 calorie diet is about 1.4 times what I should be consuming. Also, the FDA conveniently does not require food producers and manufacturers to include a percent daily value for sugar intake. I find that a complete disgrace, and I think it is highly motivated by the fact that most food manufacturers incorporate far too much sugar into their products. Active provides a handy nutritional needs calculator on their website, so you can find your personal daily values there and calculate your percentages accordingly.