John Myers
There are healthy foods, less healthy foods, and clearly unhealthy foods. If you prefer the healthy ones and only occasionally eat a little of the less healthy ones, you’re already on the right track.
The list of the unhealthiest foods
Today this is considered unhealthy and tomorrow that is. And it is not uncommon to claim that what was unhealthy yesterday is suddenly extremely healthy or vice versa. Don’t get confused anymore. And above all, don’t let yourself be fooled into thinking that you have to “sin”, i.e. eat unhealthy products, in order to experience a pleasure.
True enjoyment is only possible with foods that give your body strength and energy and not with industrial creations that strain and weaken your organism.
The perceived pleasure we think we get from eating some unhealthy foods is merely the gratification of an addiction—much like a smoker’s happiness while inhaling lungs or an alcoholic’s bliss in anticipation of his next high.
But there are also unhealthy foods that basically don’t even taste particularly good. They’re only eaten because advertisers claim they’re healthy (e.g., protein bars), which, on closer inspection, they really aren’t. So the sacrifice of an awful taste is made for nothing.
The reward is not great health, nor stunning beauty, but rather the opposite…
The nine unhealthiest foods
So while there are foods that, despite their disadvantages, can also have advantages for our health (eggs, meat, whole grain products, etc.), there are nine foods that only have disadvantages – except for the manufacturer, who of course also has a few advantages.
The following hit list of the nine unhealthiest foods is worth memorizing. And if you have an increased interest in staying healthy, then it’s best to never eat these foods again:
- White flour and white flour products
White flour, white bread, pasta made from white flour, biscuits made from white flour, etc. are completely free of vitamins and almost completely free of minerals. At the same time, they are quite high in energy, i.e. high in calories. Therefore, in this context, one speaks of empty calories. They fill our stomachs without providing us with the micronutrients we so desperately need.
At the same time, our body needs vitamins and minerals to be able to digest and metabolize white flour products. Since white flour products do not provide these, the necessary micronutrients have to be stolen from the body’s own stores, which can lead to a deficiency situation in the long term – depending on the rest of the diet.
In most cases, white flour also comes from cereals containing gluten, preferably from wheat. However, gluten has numerous negative effects on our health, not least on the intestines, but also on our mental performance.
Finally, white flour is a concentrated carbohydrate that is not converted into anything in the body other than pure sugar. This circumstance puts the pancreas under massive pressure since it has to release large amounts of insulin again and again in order to get the sugar into the cells and lower the blood sugar level. Diabetes could be the result.
There are also frequent fluctuations in blood sugar levels, with high values on the one hand and phases of low blood sugar on the other. However, fluctuations in blood sugar are considered to be a contributory cause of food cravings, obesity, acne, hormonal imbalances, and many other things.
Instead of white flour, always choose wholemeal flour, ideally freshly ground. Prefer spelled to wheat and try gluten-free side dishes more often. You can find practical tips for gluten-free nutrition here: Living gluten-free
- White Rice
White rice is also almost pure, i.e. isolated and concentrated carbohydrates, from which a large part of the valuable micronutrients was removed when the rice grain was husked. The metabolism of white rice, therefore, entails problems similar to those that we have described for white flour.
Wholegrain rice varieties are therefore always the smarter choice. Brown rice provides minerals, vitamins, and a balanced blood sugar level.
- Conventional Ready Meals
Most commercial ready meals contain a variety of additives and ingredients that the identical meal would not even remotely need if prepared fresh. This is completely normal. After all, ready meals have to look good over a long period of time and have a long shelf life.
At the same time, industrial ready meals are mostly not prepared from the high-quality raw materials that you might use if you were to cook the same meal fresh. Of course, for a potato dish, you buy fresh potatoes and not potato flour, and for desserts, you use fresh eggs and not liquid eggs.
You will also not use industrially processed and hydrogenated oils and fats in your kitchen because you naturally want to avoid trans fats. Instead, use high-quality, organically produced, cold-pressed olive oil, linseed oil, and coconut oil. However, oils and fats of this type are not found in conventional ready meals.
You probably also know that pre-cooking and heating up food is not necessarily ideal for its vital substance potential. However, ready meals are usually pre-cooked so that they only have to be warmed up quickly.
Conventional ready meals, such as fish fingers, etc. are therefore not suitable for healthy cuisine. Prefer to prepare your own meals from fresh ingredients. If necessary – for days when things have to be done quickly – choose high-quality ready-made or semi-ready meals from the organic trade.
- Microwave popcorn
This fast-food item is considered one of the favorite snacks for movie buffs and other sweet tooths – and microwave popcorn is one of the unhealthiest foods you can ever eat. Almost every component of microwave popcorn, from the potentially genetically modified corn and its high carbohydrate content to the processed salt (in salty popcorn), the high sugar or sweetener content (in sweet popcorn), to the preservatives, is harmful to your health and increases your risk of disease. What’s more, popcorn like this contains a flavoring chemical called diacetyl, which can damage your lungs.
If you like to eat popcorn from time to time, then it is best to use organically grown corn, which you can turn into popcorn yourself in the pan at home, and then refine this popcorn with healthy ingredients such as coconut oil, organic butter, and natural salt.
- Sausage and meat products with nitrites
Cold cuts, smoked sausage, hot dogs, bacon, and many other types of meat and sausages you can find in the grocery store often contain large amounts of sodium nitrite and other chemical preservatives that can cause heart disease and cancer. If you want to eat meat, stick to uncured meat that is free of nitrites. In this case, it would be best if you could also use meat products from organic farms (grass feeding).
- Seitan
Seitan is another term for gluten. Seitan is pure gluten, which is made from white wheat flour by removing the starch and ultimately only the gluten remains. Seitan is often used to make meat substitutes, e.g. B. to vegetarian goulash, vegetarian cold cuts, vegetarian sausages, etc. You have already learned about the disadvantages of seitan under point 1 above.
If you buy vegetarian meat substitute products, then it is better to choose those made from lupine protein, vegetables, jackfruit, or from organic tofu.
- Traditional protein and energy bars
Given the way energy and protein bars are often advertised, one might almost think these products are excellent additions to a healthy diet. Unfortunately, in most cases, these bars no longer contain anything natural. They consist primarily of processed soy or milk proteins, refined sugars, sweeteners, hydrogenated fats (trans fats), artificial flavors, and other harmful additives, all of which can contribute to the development of chronic diseases.
It is therefore better to switch to energy bars or energy balls from organic retailers. In most cases, these preferably consist of nuts, seeds, dried fruit, and nothing else. Bars of this type can also be made very well by yourself. And if you think you need an extra portion of protein, then mix some organic and purely plant-based rice protein or hemp protein, or even basic lupine protein into your homemade protein bar – and you’ll be supplied with high-quality protein all around.
- Conventional sweets
All conventional sweets are similar to protein bars. Apart from the odd nut or two, sweets actually contain nothing that could even come close to being useful or healthy for us.
The contents list of a popular bar might look something like this:
- sugar
- peanuts
- glucose syrup
- skimmed milk powder
- cocoa butter
- cocoa mass,
- sunflower oil
- milk sugar
- butterfat
- vegetable fat
- whey powder
- Salt
- Emulsifier soy lecithin
- protein powder
- vanilla extract
- hydrolyzed milk protein.
So we have isolated carbohydrates (sugar, syrup, lactose), processed proteins, most likely lecithin from genetically modified soybeans, and fats that have been heavily processed for production reasons, resulting in a certain proportion of trans fats. Who would want to eat something like that?
If you take a closer look at this chocolate bar, you will find that it weighs just under 60 grams and has a good 500 calories, which is as many as a hearty but healthy breakfast. While breakfast fills you up for the next few hours and provides you with everything you need for half a day, the bar brings you nothing but harmful substances that put a strain on the body and a craving within an hour.
Conventional sweets are therefore extremely unhealthy. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy anything sweet from now on. no way! It’s about choosing your sweets carefully (in organic shops) or making them yourself from high-quality ingredients in the future. For example, healthy chocolate can be made from cocoa butter, organic coconut oil, cocoa, honey (or another harmless sweetener), some vanilla, and, if desired, nuts within half an hour.
- Soft drinks
Soft drinks contain either sugar, artificial sweeteners, sugar substitutes, or glucose-fructose syrup. In addition, depending on the variety, they are full of artificial flavors and stimulating caffeine.
Change your life! Now!
Even if you only replace your daily amount of soft drinks with still water, you can experience a noticeable improvement in your well-being, since your body is spared a lot of harmful substances and instead suddenly has plenty of water available, which can flush out poisons and slags can use. Of course, you don’t like the still water at first. It doesn’t matter. Stay tuned! You’ll get used to it after a few days – and when you do reach for a cola or apple spritzer again, you suddenly realize that it’s not doing you any good.
If you then gradually reduce the other eight unhealthy foods step by step or ban them entirely from your diet and at the same time eat more and more of the really healthiest foods, you will be amazed at how your life will suddenly change.
Nutritional Advice – So that healthy eating is easy
Sometimes you don’t manage to actually make the change in diet. You relapse again, eating far too many sweets, too many snacks, too many baked goods, and pasta and far too few vegetables. Perhaps because colleagues eat unhealthily, which is contagious, or because the family doesn’t feel like eating healthy.
In this case, nutritional advice is a very good idea. Because the nutritionist will not only draw up a nutrition plan that suits you and will be at your side with advice and action, but will also motivate you to stop being influenced by your environment and to be dissuaded from your good intentions.
After a while – as you become leaner and more active and you feel better and better with your new diet – the others will suddenly let you influence them and become more and more interested in your healthy diet. Actually, unhealthy eating is really no longer popular.
