Top Unhealthy Foods To Avoid

The food you eat can have such a profound effect on your mood, energy levels, and overall health. Food can be the greatest form of medicine if used correctly but can also be harmful for your body if you are eating too much of the bad foods like the ones we are going to discuss.
Getting rid of these unhealthy foods from you home is a great way to ensure you are eating healthier in the long term.

Here are the foods you want to avoid

1) Sugar in all its forms

Not just the obvious sugar found in cookies, candy and ice cream, but sugar by all names including cane sugar and high fructose corn syrup. These are found in processed foods packaged foods. Sugar is highly inflammatory and contributes to weight gain, diabetes, and fatty liver, all of which increase the chances of heart disease. As a substitute, try to stick to more natural forms of sugar like honey and get your sugar fix from fruits!

2) Soda/juice.

For all the same reasons sugar is unhealthy, soda and fruit juice are also unhealthy because of their high sugar content. Fruit juice is problematic because it is highly processed and has all the fiber removed from it leaving behind nothing but isolated sugar which drives the blood sugar up and contributes to a variety of problems that we mentioned before like weight gain and diabetes. This is why I prefer fruit smoothies over fruit juice, because unlike fruit juice, a smoothie involves putting the whole fruit including all the fiber into the blender and the fiber helps stabilize the blood sugar preventing it from spiking. What about diet sodas? Well artificial sweeteners trick your metabolism into thinking sugar is on its way which causes your body to produce insulin, the fat storage hormone which can lead to weight gain and diabetes. In fact, artificial sweeteners make you hungrier and cause you to crave even more sugar and carbohydrates like bread and pasta.

3) Foods with preservatives, additives, colors, or dyes.

These are often found in processed foods, candies, and cereals and are problematic because they are highly inflammatory, contain toxic cancer-causing ingredients, and cause hyperactivity in children. Avoid these at all costs. Stick to real whole foods instead!

4) Gluten.

Gluten is the protein in wheat and is found in bread, pasta, bagels, baked goods, crackers, soy sauce, and many other places. Gluten is a highly inflammatory food that many have sensitivities and or allergies to. For those that do, gluten can contribute to autoimmune disease. Remember if something is labelled gluten free it does not mean it is healthy to eat as many of these gluten free items are highly processed, contain other ingredients that are harmful and lack nutritional value. This is why it is always best to stick to real foods in the form of a whole food diet.

5) White table salt

White table salt is highly refined which means any beneficial trace minerals the salt may contain has been stripped from it. Instead, you want to use pink Himalayan salt or Celtic Sea Salt as they are not processed and contains lots of minerals. Be sure to use lightly however if you have high blood pressure as salt can increase blood pressure.

6) Dairy

Dairy including milk, yogurt, and cheese are highly inflammatory for many and can contribute to symptoms like allergies, eczema, psoriasis, and digestive discomfort. Dairy contains lactose whish is a carbohydrate that is broken down by an enzyme called lactase. The production of lactase in the body greatly declines at the age of about 4 and this is why many people are intolerant to dairy. Lactose free is not a good option either because of the proteins like whey and casein found in dairy which can be inflammatory for most.

7) Vegetable oils

Hydrogenated oils or refined vegetable oils like corn oil, canola oil, or soybean oil are highly inflammatory and can contribute to disease because of their high omega 6 content. What has happened in the last several decades is that there has been a massive shift in the ratio of the omega 6 to omega 3 fatty acids in the food supply. Studies show that the optimal ratio of omega 6/omega 3 is 4/1 compared to the Standard American Diet which is 20:1!

This is why it is important to do read the labels of the foods you are reading and try to avoid those that contain vegetable oils like canola oil and soybean oil.

Also, you want to make sure you avoid cooking with these oils as they are unstable at high temperatures and go rancid make them very harmful for the body. Instead, you want to cook with oils like avocado oil and coconut oil for high heat and olive oil for low eat as they are more stable at higher temperatures.

I hope you found this video helpful and now understand why it is important to get rid of some of these foods. I encourage you to get rid of as many of these foods as possible from your diet and home because they are harmful for the reasons I have discussed!