Although most of us know what to do and what not to do in healthy eating, it can be difficult to follow a healthy diet when we are busy, stressed or simply fed up with salads and lean chicken. But what can shock you back to worrying about what you eat is the fact that there are certain foods that have definitely been associated with a myriad of devastating health consequences. And you are probably indulging in these foods daily.
Some of them may be convenient, others delicious, but learning about the science behind your bad reputation will help you realize how much you can do for your body just by reducing your intake.
The following are foods that have been scientifically proven to cause serious damage to health. And don’t miss it The 7 healthiest foods to eat now to start a better nutrition path today.
It is undeniable that canned foods are convenient. They are helping many of us overcome the pandemic – an increase in demand for canned soups and vegetables caused shortages on supermarket shelves last year. But canned foods generally have a bad reputation for not being healthy, and there is definitely something in that statement.
Canned foods can often be harmful because they are highly processed. While many canned vegetables are minimally processed and therefore can be part of a healthy diet, it is canned food products that really get you in trouble. (Think: canned soups, pasta, sauces, fruit competitions …) They are usually rich in sodium and sugar to preserve their flavors.
“When commercial [canned] soups are cooked at high temperature long enough to kill potentially harmful bacteria, some of the natural flavors evaporate. Salt is an inexpensive and convenient way to compensate for the loss, “say experts at the Center for Science for the Public Interest (CSPI).
A high sodium intake over time can increase your blood pressure and increase your risk of heart attacks or strokes, according to a review published in the journal Nutrients. Therefore, if you eat canned foods for your convenience, try to stay within the recommended daily sodium intake, as described by the CDC. To learn more about the risk associated with canned foods, check out what happens to your body when you eat canned foods.
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Another super convenient way to avoid cooking comes in the form of frozen microwave dinners. Unfortunately, experts say that while they can be delicious and quick to prepare, they are often causing more harm than good to the body.
A 2015 study of The British Journal of Nutrition have shown that daily consumption of prepared foods, including meals prepared in the microwave, can cause a poor diet in general. The daily consumption of “warm and eat” meals was associated with an increase in fat consumption, less fiber consumption and a higher occurrence of abdominal obesity.
Abdominal obesity, also known as abdominal fat accumulation, is highly related to premature mortality. In fact, a recent study showed that each 10 cm increase in belly fat increased the risk of death from any cause by 8% for women and 12% for men. To learn more about how meals prepared in the microwave can affect your health, see the dangerous side effects of eating meals prepared in the microwave, according to Science.
An inescapable fact about fast food is that it is mass produced and what it usually means is highly processed. Processed food it is any food that has been chemically altered and made only from refined ingredients and artificial substances (as opposed to whole foods). And one of the main negative side effects of regular intake of highly processed foods is inflammation.
According WebMD Medical Reference, inflammation can be triggered by refined carbohydrates (like white bread), sugary drinks, processed meats, margarine / vegetable fat and, of course, fried foods – also known as everything fast food is made of. In fact, fast food can cause your body to have a type of inflammatory response similar to what occurs when your body is fighting disease, according to a study published by the magazine. Cell through the University of Bonn.
When this type of inflammation is supported by the body for an extended period of time, it can cause serious health problems, including heart disease, arthritis, depression, Alzheimer’s disease and even cancer, according to Hope Ricciotti, MD, and Toni Golen, MD, Chief Editors of Harvard Women’s Health Watch.
Sugar is found in everything today, not just in obvious places like desserts. Drinks, sauces, condiments and even breads and baked goods are usually loaded with added sugar, contributing to the excessive consumption of this dangerous nutrient by Americans.
One in four Americans consumes much more than the 50-gram daily added sugar limit recommended by the USDA, consuming 105 grams of added sugar per day. (The American Heart Association guidelines suggest no more than 24 grams of added sugar for women and no more than 35 grams for men.)
The tricky thing about excessive sugar consumption is that its health consequences may not be noticed until years later, says Elizabeth Spencer, MS, RDN, LDN, a registered dietitian at Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital. “This includes the risk of type 2 diabetes, fatty liver, heart disease and joint inflammation,” she adds. Not to mention the most immediate, which is weight gain.
To find out if you are eating too much of the candy, you need to learn how to decode the messages your body is sending. To learn more, see The most dangerous sign: you are eating too much sugar, nutritionists say.
The high daily consumption of red meat, including beef, pork and lamb, has been linked to higher cases of colon cancer, according to the Harvard Medical School website.
A seminal study from Europe in 2005 followed 478,000 healthy men and women over a five-year period, during which 1,329 were diagnosed with colon cancer. Those who ate more red meat (5 ounces a day or more) were about a third more likely to be diagnosed with colon cancer than those who ate less red meat (less than 30 grams per day). The consumption of other types of meat, such as chicken or fish, did not affect the risk.
The scary thing? The average American consumed 222.4 pounds of red meat in 2018 – the equivalent of almost 10 meatballs per day (or about 10 ounces a day), according to the USDA. A quarter of adults in this country still eat more unprocessed red meat than the recommended level according to data published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics in 2019.
To find out if you’re one of them, check out the 6 subtle signs that you’re eating a lot of red meat.
For more healthy eating tips, read the 108 most popular soft drinks ranked by their degree of toxicity.