Top 5 Foods to Avoid
Monday, September 19th, 2011This is a guest post from I friend I met at Brendon Burchard’s experts Academy. This is great info if you are pursuing a healthier diet or if you are looking to increase your energy and vitality. i look forward to your comments below.
1. Trans Fats, Partially Hydrogenated and Hydrogenated Oils
Scan your food labels for them and avoid them like the plague.
These types of fats/oils are associated with considerable weight gain,
inflammation, and plaque formation inside your blood vessels (which can lead to
heart attack and stroke).
They are generally found in margarine, shortening, pastries, doughnuts,
muffins, biscuits, cookies, cakes, frostings, pies, crackers, chips,
bread, instant flavored coffee drinks, microwave popcorn,
and the usual fast food suspects like fried chicken, chicken patty
sandwiches, French fries, etc. Anything fried should be viewed
with suspicion.
2. Sugar
These days it seems like sugar is hidden in everything! Even
something as benign-sounding as fruit juice or a smoothie can
be loaded with sugar.
Sugar has several chemical names making it even harder to identify;
anything that ends in -ose is suspect, such as High Fructose
Corn Syrup or Sucrose.
There are a litany of severe problems associated with sugar.
It stimulates a major stress-response in the body and leads
to chronically high levels of cortisol in the blood. High cortisol
levels have been linked to several types of disease.
Additionally, sugar effectively disables your immune system
by disrupting the function of your white blood cells. Sugar also
disrupts appetite regulation and can trick you into eating more even
when you’re not hungry.
Sugar promotes fat storage, weight gain, severe systemic
inflammation, and is the primary driver behind the development
of Type 2 Diabetes, Heart Disease, and Obesity.
P.S. Alcohol metabolizes down to Glucose (i.e. sugar) in the body.
So the more you can limit alcohol consumption, the better. It has
also been shown that alcohol consumption slows down metabolism
by up to 73%. Not something you want if you’re trying to lose weight.
3. Corn oil, Vegetable oil, Cottonseed oil, Safflower oil,
Sunflower oil, and Soybean oil
The above mentioned oils are all insanely high in Omega-6 polyunsaturated
fat, which skews our natural dietary ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 far too
much in favor of the Omega-6 side of the equation. An Omega-6-heavy
diet has been shown to increase weight gain and lead to plaque formation
in blood vessels.
Choose healthier fats such as Olive oil, Coconut oil, Avocado oil,
Macadamia nut oil, Palm oil, Fish oil, Krill oil, pure beef lard,
grass-fed butter, or clarified butter known as Ghee. These options are
lower in Omega-6 fatty acids and contain a much healthier variety of fat
known as monounsaturated fat.
When choosing animal-based fats, try to select grass-fed products
when available, as grass-fed fats contain high levels of conjugated
linoleic acids (CLAs), that have been proven effective in fighting
several types of cancers.
4. Processed Foods
Processed foods are simply a repository for many of the
above-mentioned ingredients, like sugar, hydrogenated oils, trans fats,
and commercial seed oils, containing very high levels of Omega-6
fatty acids. Which means they can easily lead to quick weight gain.
Processed foods are also known to be very high in sodium.
Sodium is a necessary mineral for proper cellular function,
however, more than about 2-3 grams per day can be problematic
and play a role in the development of high blood pressure,
which can lead to things like kidney failure, heart attack and stroke.
Lastly, processed foods are a great example of high-calorie,
low-nutrition foods. Calorie for calorie, you’ll get way more bang
for your buck by eating fresh or frozen whole vegetables, meats,
seafood, poultry, nuts, eggs or fruit.
5. Grains – whole, multi-, or otherwise
Unless you take the time to ferment or sprout your own whole grains,
I would avoid grains and grain-based products all together.
Grains are full of anti-nutrients that block the absorption of essential
minerals (unless sprouted or fermented) such as zinc, selenium,
magnesium, and calcium, and they contain a wide array of toxins
(intended to protect themselves against predators) that wreak havoc
on our digestive, endocrine, vascular and immune systems.
Grains and grain-based products are also full of carbohydrates,
which tend to stall weight loss or even increase weight gain.
Vegetable-based fiber (instead of grain-based fiber) is
a far more effective route for weight loss, without all of the toxins
and anti-nutrients.
Reprinted from “Anna Morrison’s Monthly Health, Nutrition & Fitness Newsletter”
Subscribe at http://myhighenergylife.com/free-monthly-health-nutrition-fitness-newsletter.
