May
Eating healthier makes the most impact compared to all other lifestyle changes. A diet of processed foods affects your health in several ways, and none of them are good. Making better choices when you eat can start you on a path of looking and feeling better. Processed food is often high in sugar and chemicals. It lacks fiber and the micronutrients of the original product.
Have you ever wondered why junk food lasts so long?
Junk food like Twinkies and HoHos aren’t vacuum-packed, but they last months on the shelf. It’s the preservatives in them. Unlike popular lore, if the earth faced an apocalypse today, in 1,000 years, man would be eating the Twinkies left on the shelf. They don’t last that long, but the new Twinkies last 45 days. How can they? It’s mostly white flour and sugar but contains over three dozen chemicals like sodium stearoyl lactylate and polysorbate 60. It gets the buttery flavor from diacetyl, the same toxic ingredient in microwave popcorn.
The more highly processed food you eat, the more chance there is of inflammation.
There are two types of inflammation: chronic and acute. Acute inflammation occurs because of an infection or other illness. They fight off the invaders to help you get well. Chronic inflammation is different. It’s a glitch in your immune system or a chronic offender entering your body. Either way, it can trigger an attack by your immune system. Instead of attacking a pathogen, it attacks your body. Chronic inflammation can cause rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and cancer. Sugar is inflammatory. Many whole foods are anti-inflammatory.
All food has some processing.
If you picked a tomato from the garden, you’d probably wash it before eating it. Washing is processing. What’s dangerous is the highly processed foods that are Frankensteins. Foods with HFCS—high fructose corn syrup—is one of those ingredients. It’s cheaper than using cane sugar, but it digests differently. It’s high in fructose, which digests differently than glucose. All your cells metabolize glucose, but only the liver metabolizes fructose. Animal studies show that when they are given high amounts of fructose, the lab animals develop cirrhosis and fatty liver disease. It increases the risk of brain damage, weight gain, and hypertension.
- You don’t have to give up sweet treats when you eat healthy. Mashing half a ripe banana in Greek yogurt and mixing it until creamy, then adding chopped cherries and walnuts creates a yummy healthy pudding.
- You don’t have to eat fresh fruits and vegetables to eat healthy. Canned and frozen fruits and veggies are just as healthy. Make sure you read the label to ensure there are no additives.
- It’s not just snack food and sugary treats that are offenders. Processed meat falls into the unhealthy column as well. What you drink also makes a difference. Opt for water, plain tea, plain coffee, or milk rather than soft drinks.
- Hydrogenated oils were praised initially because of their long shelf life. Ultimately, science found that it contained trans fats, the most dangerous type of fat.
For more information, contact us today at Get RIPPED! by Jari Love
