Knowing what not to eat, just got easier because there are certain foods that everyone from doctors to nutritionist agree you should never eat and have to be avoided at all costs. In this blog you will discover the 11 Foods You should never eat. These may be your everyday staples, but you may be surprised to find what’s really hiding in them. So get ready to ditch them!
WHITE BREAD
Modern wheat is nothing like the grain your mother or grandmother consumed. Today, wheat barely resembles its original form, thanks to extensive genetic manipulations of the 1960s and ’70s to increase yields. By definition, white bread and refined flours in general are toxic for your body because they have been stripped of virtually all vitamins, minerals, fiber, and other important nutrients. Because of this, the body does not know how to properly digest and assimilate these so-called foods, which can lead to health problems. Refined white flour has also been bleached with chlorine and brominated with bromide, two poisonous chemicals that have been linked to causing thyroid and organ damage.
BUTTER-FLAVORED MICROWAVE POPCORN
This processed food is a favorite among moviegoers and regular snackers alike, but it is one of the unhealthiest foods you can eat. Practically every component of microwaveable popcorn, from the genetically-modified (GM) corn kernels to the processed salt and preservative chemicals used to enhance its flavor, is unhealthy and disease-promoting.
On top of this: The chemicals that are used to keep grease from leaking through fast food wrappers, are being ingested by people through their food and showing up as contaminants in blood.These chemicals (Perfluoroalkyls, which include perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS)), are part of an expanding group of chemicals commonly referred to as “gender-bending” chemicals, because they can disrupt your endocrine system and affect your sex hormones. The EPA has ruled PFCs as “likely carcinogens,” and has stated that PFOA “poses developmental and reproductive risks to humans.” Researchers have also linked various PFCs to a range of other health dangers, such as:
- Infertility — A study published in the journal Human Reproduction3 found that both PFOA and PFOS (perfluorooctane sulfonate), dramatically increased the odds of infertility. PFOA was linked to a 60 to 154 percent increase in the chance of infertility.
- Thyroid disease — A 2010 study4 found that PFOA can damage your thyroid function. Individuals with the highest PFOA concentrations were more than twice as likely to report current thyroid disease, compared to those with the lowest PFOA concentrations. Your thyroid contains thyroglobulin protein, which binds to iodine to form hormones, which in turn influence essentially every organ, tissue and cell in your body. Thyroid hormones are also required for growth and development in children. Thyroid disease, if left untreated, can lead to heart disease, infertility, muscle weakness, and osteoporosis.
- Cancer — PFOA has been associated with tumors in at least four different organs in animal tests (liver, pancreas, testicles and mammary glands in rats), and has been associated with increases in prostate cancer in PFOA plant workers.
- Immune system problems — Several studies by scientists in Sweden indicate that PFCs have an adverse effect on your immune system. As described in a report on PFCs by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), PFOA was found to decrease all immune cell subpopulations studied, in the thymus and spleen, and caused immunosupression.
- Increased LDL cholesterol levels – A 2010 study in the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine5 found that children and teens with higher PFOA levels had higher levels of total cholesterol and LDL or “bad” cholesterol, while PFOS was associated with increased total cholesterol, including both LDL cholesterol and HDL or “good” cholesterol.
I strongly recommend avoiding any product you know containing these toxic compounds, particularly non-stick cookware, but also foods sold in grease-proof food packaging, such as fast food and microwave popcorn. Clearly, if you’re eating fast food or junk food, PFCs from the wrapper may be the least of your problems, but I think it’s still important to realize that not only are you not getting proper nutrition from the food itself, the wrappers may also add to your toxic burden.
ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS
Most artificial sweeteners actually increase cravings for sugary foods, boost fat stores, and contribute to weight gain, some even more than sugar. Aspartame breaks down into methanol, which damages DNA and proteins vital to healthy cellular functions. Sucralose is chlorinated sucrose and it accumulates in the kidneys and liver, enlarging them while shrinking the thymus gland. Artificial sweeteners may even change the way we taste our food, desensitizing us to the complex and subtle flavors we could be enjoying and making healthier foods seem blander than they really are.
CANNED TOMATOES
Most canned foods are lined with bisphenol-a, or BPA, to protect food and extend shelf life. Unfortunately, it has also been linked to infertility, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and both breast and prostate cancer. A small amount of BPA finds its way into just about any canned foods, but acidic foods, like tomatoes, leach even more out of the protective lining. Cans aren’t our only source of BPA exposure either. It is found in other plastic packaging and even our receipts. BPA free products are available, but most of these simply switched from bisphenol-a to bisphenol-s, which may be just as toxic.
NON-ORGANIC POTATOES AND OTHER FRESH PRODUCE KNOWN FOR HIGH PESTICIDE CONTAMINATION
Your best bet is to buy only organic fruits and vegetables, as synthetic agricultural chemicals are not permissible under the USDA organic rules. That said, not all conventionally grown fruits and vegetables are subjected to the same amount of pesticide load. While many focus on potatoes, as they tend to take up a lot of pesticides and other agricultural chemicals present in the soil, I would recommend reviewing the “Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce” by the Environmental Working Group.
Take a look at the chart above, this will give you a glimpse of what are the fruits and vegetables you need to buy organic and non organic.
SOY
Soy is not the health food people once thought it was. Most soy in the U.S. is genetically modified, heavily treated with pesticides, and wasn’t really all that healthy before GMOs became more common. Soy contains phytoestrogens that mimic human hormones and interfere with our natural balance. It is also considered a common allergen, causing allergic reactions in many people, especially children.
SOFT DRINKS
You may get a kick out of the fizz and the adrenalin rush that soft drinks give you, but there’s a reason why they’re so addictive – they’re full of sugar. “Soft drinks are sugar in a can and contain no nutritional benefit,” says David Gillespie author of Sweet Poison. The sugar in these drinks has been linked to obesity, type 2 diabetes and fatty liver disease. Stay away from any diet soda or foods, sugar-free candies, and gum containing artificial sweeteners such as sucralose, aspartame, acesulfame K, and neotame, among others.
FROZEN YOGHURT
It may sound healthy but sweet yoghurts can have as much sugar as ice-cream and just as many calories, especially when extra syrups, nuts and treats are added.
CURED MEAT PRODUCTS WITH NITRATES, NITRITES
Deli meats, summer sausage, hot dogs, bacon, and many other meats sold at the grocery store are often loaded with sodium nitrite and other chemical preservatives that have been linked to causing heart disease and cancer.
Nitrites can be converted into nitrosamines in your body, which are potent cancer-causing chemicals. Research has linked nitrites to higher rates of colorectal, stomach and pancreatic cancer. But that’s not all. Most processed deli meats also contain other cancer-promoting chemicals that are created during cooking. These include:
- Heterocyclic Amines (HCAs) which are hazardous compounds created in meats and other foods that have been cooked at high temperatures. According to research, processed meats are clearly associated with an increased risk of stomach, colon and breast cancers.
- Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs): Many processed meats are smoked as part of the curing process, which causes PAHs to form. PAHs can also form when grilling. When fat drips onto the heat source, causing excess smoke, and the smoke surrounds your food, it can transfer cancer-causing PAHs to the meat.
- Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs): When food is cooked at high temperatures—including when it is pasteurized or sterilized—it increases the formation of AGEs in your food. AGEs build up in your body over time leading to oxidative stress, inflammation and an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes and kidney disease.
The truth is, processed meats are not a healthful choice for anyone and should be avoided entirely, according to a 2011 review of more than 7,000 clinical studies examining the connection between diet and cancer. The report was commissioned by The World Cancer Research Fund2 (WCRF) using money raised from the general public. Therefore the findings were not influenced by any vested interests, which makes it all the more reliable.
MARGARINE
This unnatural substance was first created to replace the perceived unhealthy saturated fats found in butter. We’ve since learned that saturated fats aren’t as terrible as we once thought and trans fats, like margarine, are quite possibly the worst. We took questionable vegetable oils and then made them to resemble the molecules found in saturated fats by forcing hydrogen into them. These hydrogenated vegetable oils thus carry all the problems we mentioned earlier about regular vegetable oil and then some. Trans fats contribute to a host of health problems, especially revolving around cholesterol and heart disease. They are also even more likely to be oxidized and contain emulsifiers, chemical solvents, and preservatives.
VEGETABLE OILS
Vegetable oils are a fairly recent addition to our diet if you look at our evolutionary history, only becoming available in the early 1900s as new processes changed the way we make food. These oils are not made by simply pressing or separating, as is the case with olive oil, coconut oil, and even butter, but require heat and chemicals like hexane, a petroleum solvent, to extract the oils. These are then cleaned, recolored, deodorized, and altered to make them palatable. Most of our vegetable oils also come from genetically modified crops that are heavily treated with pesticides. The processing increases the oxidization of the oil, meaning it begins to go rancid and any health benefits are negated.
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