Avoid These Foods As Much As You Can

Processed foods are easy to get. With them, life can be easy and convenient. However, as much as they bring you joy and get you filled up with little or no effort at all, they can also be very dangerous and should e avoided as much as you can. Eating processed foods has been linked with many negative health conditions.

Although they are convenient, at the same time, they are bad for your health. All of them, without exception. Some of them include pre-chopped vegetables, canned beef, and canned juice. All of these should be avoided. This convenience can deposit large quantities of compounds like sodium, sugar, and unhealthy fats in large amounts into your body. Your body will then automatically become a tank where unhealthy compounds are stored.

• Some of the processed foods that exist today include;
• Cheese
• Cereal
• Bread
• Milk
• Cookies
• Potato chips

Different methods are used in the processing of foods, so also are different ingredients. The processes of processing foods include canning, freezing, drying, pasteurizing, and baking. They pass through the processing process and are then packaged, preserved, and sold. Note that, before they get packaged, a number of additives and preservatives would have been added to improve or elongate the shelf lives of these foods. Thus, compounds like salt, sugar, calories, and oil will be deposited in large amounts in your body because they are major compounds that are used to process foods.

This is enough proof that the pros of eating processed foods outweigh the cons. The most common additives used in food processing are the following;

• Maltose
• Trans fat
• Hydrogenated oil
• Dextrose

These compounds can provide your body with two times the required daily intake value of sodium.

Processed foods to avoid include;

Bacon

Bacon has very high salt contents that can lead to high blood pressure. However, the sodium part is just a minute aspect of it.

One of the reasons why bacon is as delicious as it turns out to be is because it is packed with saturated fat, which is a major risk factor for illnesses like obesity and severe heart conditions.

Bacon also holds a lot of preservatives, which have also been linked with severe health conditions like headaches and cancer.

Now imagine all of these health issues in just you. Eating bacon puts you at risk of developing headache risks, cancer risks, obesity risks, high blood pressure risks, and heart disease risks. All of these things put together are possible effects of consuming bacon.

Rather than bacon, why not eat this instead;

Peel avocado and slice it up and eat it. It is a healthy substitute for bacon. It is packed with healthy and natural protein and fats. It also has a very nice flavor, just like bacon. Anytime you want to use bacon, try substituting it with avocado. You can also combine your avocado with eggs.

Granola Bars

Granola bars are made of cereals. They are stuffed with grains and are packed in boxes. Some granola bars brands contain an unnecessarily high amount of sugar. This sugar, according to research, digests on time and therefore does not give granola bars the ability to fill your hungry stomach up. Considering its nutritional profile, a granola bar is not healthy for consumption. Instead of granola bars, why not try this instead;

Some other alternative bars that have lesser added sugars can be used to replace granola bars. You can also make a DIY bar by yourself at home. Try to regulate the amount of sugar you put, and ensure that you are using a safe sweetener to sweeten our homemade bars.

Flavored Nuts

Although nuts naturally have a little bit longer shelf life compared to some other kinds of foods. However, they can be unhealthy for you. Flavored nuts are usually packed with excess sugar. Ranging from soy sauce to maple flavor or toffee coated nuts. All of them contain very high amounts of sugar and salt. Excessive sugar content can cause you to gain weight, put you at the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, and the high sugar content can leave your blood pressure high.

Rather than flavored nuts, eat unflavored nuts. You can boil or roast them to enjoy them. They are natural and 100% organic. This makes them good enough for your health. If you eat just a handful of flavored nuts, you will end up consuming large quantities of salt, sugar, and fat, much more than you ever bargained for. Eat natural nuts like cashew, walnuts, and pistachios, as well as other healthy and protein-rich nuts.

Microwave Popcorn

You do not have anything to worry about when it comes to eating popcorn. Microwaving food can be healthy, so you might probably be wondering why microwaving popcorn is unhealthy. The problem is the popcorn bag. The bags are produced with certain chemicals that are unhealthy for you. One of these chemicals is perfluoroalkyl. His chemical has been linked with numerous health challenges, some of which include; poor semen and sperm quality, poor kidney function, and other health issues.

In addition, some people add too much salt and butter to their popcorns, thereby increasing the fat and sugar contents beyond normal. Also, some brands of microwave popcorns are made with controversial palm oil.

Rather than microwave popcorn, make the popcorn yourself at home. Buy the corn and pop it on your stove.

Dried Fruits

Eating natural fresh fruits is healthy. However, eating dried ones can expose you to high calorie and high sugar intake. In addition, when you eat excess sugar, higher than our bodies can take from dried fruits, you might just begin to put on weight, and your body, on the other hand, may begin to store fat.

Eat frozen fruits instead of dried ones. They are sweet and fresh, natural and delicious. Cut them into bits and enjoy them. You can also add them to your cereal or smoothies.

Margarine

Some people consider margarine to be a healthy alternative to butter. People use margarine to eat their bread and make their pancakes. This is, however unhealthy, because some brands, or virtually almost all brands of margarine, are packed with trans fat. Trans fat has been discovered to be the unhealthiest fat of all the different types of fats that exist. Trans fat has the tendency of storing bad cholesterol in your body, which can automatically lead to the risks of developing health conditions like stroke and heart disease.

Although, some researchers have not been able to pinpoint the relationship between cancer and trans fat. However, some studies have suggested that people who have cancer or have tumors that are not cancerous should completely stay away from trans fat.

Instead of consuming unhealthy trans fat, why not try out mashed avocado? Avocado is delicious and healthy for you. You can apply it as a spread for your bread. You can also add it to your nut milk, smoothies, cooking, and baking. It is delicious and can conveniently and effortlessly replace margarine.

Ketchup

Ketchup is one of the widely used condiments everywhere in the world. However, as much as this condiment is delicious and appealing to the eyes, it is unhealthy and has a lot of bad news flying around it. To begin with, ketchup, especially tomato ketchup, is mixed with large quantities of salt and sugar. This, therefore, makes them have no single nutritional value.

Rather than consuming processed ketchup, you can make your own ketchup at home by mixing a tomato paste in vinegar and adding flavors of your choice to make it taste better. You could also add salt and sugar but in moderate amounts.

Frozen Dinners

Frozen dinners are rich in fat, sodium, sugar, and other additives. These additives can expose you to severe health conditions like heart diseases, stroke, weight gain and obesity, and high blood pressure.

If you must consume frozen dinners, try the ones that have fewer sodium contents. You can do this by examining the labels for the ingredients.

It is best to make the dinners yourself at home. Imitate the frozen ones, but grill them yourself and add no unnecessary additives to them. Grill your chicken, bake your biscuit, mash your potato, cook your corn, then freeze them by yourself. This would give you a dinner free of additives.

In conclusion, processed foods can make life easier for you but can also reduce the quality of your life.