7 Foods You Should Avoid at All Costs 1 Coleslaw Coleslaw ErikForsberg 7 Foods You Should Avoid at All Costs Looks can be deceiving when it comes to coleslaw. While it is often served right next to a healthy, green salad, coleslaw itself is anything but good for your body. Although it provides you with carrot and cabbage, it contains a disproportionate amount of calories per serving, and it is full of fatty mayonnaise. The average portion of coleslaw will provide you with at least 260 calories, and more than 20g of fat. Some popular brands of coleslaw are even worse. For example, KFC’s coleslaw contains close to 26g of saturated fat, making it worse than a portion of fries. If you like coleslaw, why not try making it yourself? Using fat free yogurt or a reduced fat mayonnaise, you can easily create a healthier version that tastes great with your salad. Make sure that you add cabbage, but try spicing up the flavor with lemon juice or vinegar. Better yet, try to get used to eating a side salad without pairing it with another side dish. With a light dressing and a creative mix of herbs, salad portions can be extremely tasty, and you may soon find that you don’t even miss the fatty coleslaw that you once enjoyed. #2 Frosting If you love to bake, you are probably very familiar with the tubs of delicious frosting that you can buy from most major stores. While you may be aware that frosting is not exactly a health food, you probably don’t know just how bad it really is. In truth, it is so terrible for your body that you should avoid consuming even small amounts. Frosting typically contains trans fats, which are hazardous food additives that undermine weight loss and promote a range of health problems. They lower your cardiovascular health by increasing the level of LDL (i.e. ‘bad’) cholesterol in your body and decreasing your levels of HDL (i.e. ‘good’) cholesterol. In addition, they encourage your body to store fat, particularly around your abdomen. There is also some evidence that regular consumption of trans fats is linked to an increased likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes. Finally, the amount of sugar in frosting is enough to spike your blood sugar way past healthy limits, providing you with empty calories that make it difficult to lose weight or to maintain a healthy figure. No matter how much you might enjoy the taste of frosting, the cons of consuming it clearly outweigh the pros. #3 Packaged Sandwiches When you want to eat a sandwich, it is always better to make it yourself, because the sad truth is that the bulk of packaged sandwiches lining the shelves in grocery stores have a surprisingly large amount of calories given their relatively small size. Sandwich Indeed, the average sandwich will contain over 400 calories, and many people think that a lunch should contain closer to 200 or 300 calories. You are also likely to find that these sandwiches contain large amounts of fat and saturated fat, as most of them are stuffed full of mayonnaise or cheese. Even the sandwiches that are advertised as lighter options for dieters may contain at least 50% of your recommended daily intake of fat. The ideal sandwich is made with wholemeal bread, healthy salad vegetables, a little margarine, and a light dressing. Lean meat is an excellent addition, and if you are vegetarian then you can add an extra source of protein (like soy, or meat substitutes). Alternatively, you could switch to having a healthy vegetable soup for lunch, or opt for egg on toast. Although prepackaged sandwiches are convenient, it will be easier to stay slim if you make the extra effort and create your own lunch #4 Tomato sauce for pasta or chili you are cooking a pasta dish or making a big pot of chili, it is easier to buy a large jar of tomato sauce from a store than it is to make your own at home in the kitchen. However, these tomato sauces are often packed full of refined sugars, promoting weight gain and increasing your risk of developing diabetes at some point in your life. Many people have no idea about this surprising sugar content, as it makes sense to assume that vegetables are the dominant ingredient in tomato sauces. Thankfully, you can make a sauce that is simple to prepare, low in fat and low in sugar. Just follow these instructions: 1. Heat a small amount of vegetable oil in a pan, and then fry one finely chopped onion until it is soft. 2. Add one chopped garlic clove, then pour in one can of chopped tomatoes, two to three tablespoons of tomato puree, and your favorite herbs (good suggestions include oregano and basil).For a spicier sauce, try adding one chopped red chili or sprinkling some chili flakes over the sauce. 3. Simmer the sauce until some of the liquid boils off and you are pleased with the consistency #5 Soy sauce Although soy sauce is a classic addition to Chinese meals and vegetable stir fry dishes, you need to think very carefully about whether you really want to put it in your body. Unlike many of the foods mentioned above, soy sauce does have a low calorie content and it is a source of some healthy vitamins, so it can look utterly harmless at first glance. However, just one spoonful contains around 900 milligrams of sodium, and so adding it your food is likely to cause water retention, leaving your abdomen feeling watery and uncomfortable. More importantly, an excessive sodium intake is strongly connected to a higher likelihood of developing hypertension (i.e. high blood pressure). If your blood pressure is consistently high, you risk damaging your cardiovascular system and increasing your risk of serious health problems like heart attacks and strokes. Luckily, there are alternative versions of soy sauce that have a reduced salt content. However, you should be aware that the reductions tend not to be dramatic, so even reduced sodium soy sauces should be used sparingly. It is also good to investigate healthier sauces and to experiment with using fresh herbs and spices to liven up your meals. #6 Multigrain products It is natural to assume that multigrain breads, pastas and cereals are healthy, as it seems unlikely that they would contain refined grains (which are much less healthy than whole grains). However, the law regarding ingredient descriptions actually allows companies to label their products as ‘multigrain’ foods even when their primary ingredient is refined grains. Refined grains lack nutritional value, and they are strongly correlated with weight gain. For example, huge study conducted by a team of researchers at Harvard Medical School found that the participants who ate the greatest amounts of refined grains were most likely to gain weight over the course of twelve years. Indeed, they were almost 50% more likely to gain weight than the people who eat the most wholegrain products. When regularly consumed, refined grains also come with a staggering 141% increase in your likelihood of developing the connected disorders that characterize metabolic syndrome (i.e. heart disease and diabetes). When looking for breads and pastas, your best bet is to choose wholegrain and wholemeal products every time. Multigrain products do not always choose to display their ratio of refined to unrefined grains in a prominent place on the label, so it is smart to err on the side of caution. #7 Foods containing artificial sweeteners Although dieters can see cakes, desserts and cookies that contain artificial sweeteners as a wonderful way to enjoy treats while losing weight, the bad news is that these sweeteners seem to cause serious health problems. Firstly, there is the surprising issue of weight gain. Although artificial sweeteners contain no calories, many of them (such as aspartame) seem to impair your body’s ability to detect whether your stomach is full, triggering overeating and stronger cravings that can thwart your attempts to lose weight. For example, one study conducted in Texas found that the more diet sodas a group of participants drank, the more likely they were to become overweight. Perhaps even more worryingly, people who consume the greatest amounts of artificial sweetener are two times more likely to suffer from impaired kidney function. This was discovered after scientists completed huge study that lasted over a decade, so the results are credible (though the precise mechanism of action remains mysterious). If you follow our advice and cut these seven foods out of your diet, you will end up with a healthier, happier body. You should find it easier to stay in shape, and your lifespan may even be extended as well. If you are struggling to lose weight in spite of consistent and genuine efforts, it may be the case that you have some misconceptions about what constitutes healthy eating. While things like fried chicken and cheeseburgers are widely know to be bad for your body, it is unfortunately true that dozens of foods and drinks with a reputation for being healthy can nonetheless cause people to pile on the pounds. Here are seven of the very worst offenders, and some smart food substitutions that you can make in order to shed excess weight and attain the slim figure you desire. 1) Muesli Many people make the move from consuming sugary cereals or fatty fried breakfasts to eating a portion of muesli in the mornings. This is no surprise, as muesli is often specifically marketed to the health-conscious crowd. However, you may be dismayed to learn that the type of muesli that you can find in most stores is actually quite bad for your body if you are trying to shed fat or maintain a healthy weight. Specifically, muesli often provides you with up to 500 calories per serving, has a high fat content and contains an unacceptable amount of added sugar. 7 Healthy Foods that Turned Out to Be Unhealthy If you hate the idea of giving up muesli but are committed to eating healthily, the best thing that you can do is make your own muesli. All you need to do is buy oats, sunflower seeds, a small amount of dried fruit, and some macadamia nuts (though you should be conservative when adding the fruit and nuts in order to keep the sugar and fat content of your muesli under control). With a serving of fat free milk, this tasty muesli will give you the fuel you need to start your day without causing your blood sugar levels to skyrocket.
Posted on: Thu, 28 Nov 2013 03:53:36 +0000
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