Here Are 5 Ingredients You Should Restrict In Your Diet...Plus 2 more ingredients you must limit to stay healthy. Reading food labels and knowing what's in your food is a must if you want to improve your diet, your health and to shrink your waistline. This is going to make your trips at the grocery store slightly longer, especially at first, but don't sweat it. You'll get used to it. Besides, it's worth it. Quick side note: I highly recommend you get yourself a copy of YOU: On A Diet - The Owner's Manual for Waist Management 1) Hydrogenated Oil Hydrogenation is a process that turns oil into a solid at room temperature. Oil is hydrogenated to prolong its shelf life. Basically, the hydrogenation process alters the molecular structure of oil into a form that’s just plain bad for your system. Partially hydrogenated oils contain trans fats, and that stuff is terrible for your health. Consumption of trans fats has been linked with obesity, heart disease, high cholesterol, and diabetes. A word of caution about “fat free”… If the food item has less than 0.5 grams of trans-fat per serving, the label can legally read trans-fat free. This is true even if partially hydrogenated oil is an ingredient. So for example, a bag of chips might have partially hydrogenated oil as an ingredient but still contain the words “trans-fat free.” If you eat more than one serving, the truth is that you are consuming trans fat. Kinda tricky right? Watch out for that kind of stuff! 2) Sugar Sugar has so many negative effects on your health. Sugar is a very powerful drug. It causes insulin spikes which lead to fat storage, energy high-and-low roller coaster rides, and cravings for more sugar. You don't need to totally eliminate sugar. Try to keep the grams-per-serving to around 3 to 4 or less. If you’re interested, here is a list of 146 reasons to cut your sugar intake! 3) High Fructose Corn Syrup High fructose corn syrup is a sweetener and basically has the same effects as “regular” sugar. 4) Enriched Flour Enriched flour is flour that was stripped of its nutritional value with some of the nutrients being put back in. Enriched flour isn’t much worse than plain old sugar. Stick to 100% whole grain flour. 5) White Stuff Ditch processed foods like white flour, bread and rice. Like enriched flour, these have some of the same effects on your body as sugar. Look for 100% whole grain / whole wheat products. Two More Ingredients To Watch Out For Sodium. Sodium is an essential nutrient. It should be limited, not eliminated. The daily recommended max is around 1200 milligrams for seniors and 2300 milligrams for adults. Some experts believe that the daily intake for adults should be closer to 1500 mg. The average American eats way too much salt, consuming somewhere between 3000 and 4000 milligrams of sodium daily! Gee, do you think that’s one of the reasons so many people have high blood pressure? Excessive sodium intake is linked to hypertension, kidney and cardiovascular diseases. Assuming you’re eating 4 to 6 times a day as you should be, your average meal should contain around 380 to 575 mg of sodium. If salt intake is a big problem for you, take the time to read this article later. Saturated fat. Saturated fats are found in products like butter, cheese, whole milk, cream, fatty cuts of meat and some oils. Saturated fat contributes to obesity, high cholesterol and heart disease. Your food should contain less than around 4 grams of saturated fat in a serving. Remember that polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats are good for your health. You can avoid consuming too much of the crap that I listed above by reading food labels and choosing natural, fresh, whole foods as much as possible. Related Content: References: YOU: On A Diet - The Owner's Manual for Waist Management The Truth about High Fructose Corn Syrup New! CommentsHave your say about what you just read! Leave me a comment in the box below. |
. That book has tons of great information about healthy eating.