Say sayonara to your sugary cereal.
“I
need to eat healthier.” That’s been your refrain, for what, the past
five years? Get it together, man. If you’re ready to take steps towards
better health and, naturally, a better body, start today. Step 1: Ban
these 10 foods from your pie-hole and never look back. (Don’t worry,
pie’s not on the list.)
1. Processed Meats
In a 2013 study published in BMC Medicine,
researchers concluded that of 26,344 deaths studied, high consumption
of processed meat was responsible for 3.3 percent of them. Apart from
being packed with preservatives and sodium, processed, packaged meats
are high in nitrates, which have been linked to stomach cancer, says Jim
White, R.D., spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics
and owner of Jim White Fitness
training studios. And many processed meats are shockingly low in
protein, giving your cold-cut sandwich little if any redeeming
qualities, says dietician Georgie Fear, R.D., author of Lean Habits for Lifelong Weight Loss.
2. Margarine
Billed
as a healthy alternative to butter, margarine’s trans fats, which put
you at risk for heart disease and diabetes, are far worse than the
natural saturated fat you’ll find in butter, Fear says. Does your
margarine’s label say, “0 trans fat.” That might be a flat-out lie. The
Food and Drug Administration currently allows food manufacturers to
claim their products are trans-fat free as long as they contain less
than 0.5 grams of trans fat in each recommended serving. While you’re
tossing out your margarine, you should also take a look at the labels on
any frozen food and bakery items you have in your kitchen. Many contain
margarine as an ingredient, Fear says.
3. Sugary Cereals
Millions
of guys start each and every day in one of the worst ways possible.
High in sugar and low in nutrition, sugary cereals set you up for fat
gain and a 3pm slump. Meanwhile, it’s basically impossible to eat a
recommended serving of cereal, which, for many brands, is just ¾ of a
cup—not even half a bowl. “The sugar and crunch produces a dopamine
surge in the brain, which urges us to keep going,” Fear says. And since
most guys don’t buy cereal in single-serving packages, it’s easy to eat
five or more servings in a single sitting. Congratulations, you’ve just
consumed three days’ worth of sugar.
4. Fast-Food Burgers
“Ultra
cheap food is made from ultra cheap ingredients, and burgers are no
different,” Fear says. “Even if you try to minimize the bacon, fries,
soda, cheeses, and sauces added to your fast-food meal, the meat in your
burger is a far cry from what you’d buy from a butcher. In one Annals of Diagnostic Pathology
study, researchers studied eight fast-food brands and found that all of
their burgers contained between 2.1 percent and 14.8 percent meat. The
rest was water, connective tissue, blood vessels, nerves, fat,
cartilage, and, in some, even parasites. Gag.
5. Donuts
“Considering
that refined grains, sugar, and deep-fried foods are all independently
unhealthy, you have to admire the donut for falling into all three
categories,” Fear says. And, as if the 400-plus calories of sugar and
fat (including trans fat) per serving wasn’t bad enough, some food
manufacturers and donut shops use nanoparticles such as titanium
dioxide, which the International Agency for Research on Cancer has
classified as possibly carcinogenic to humans.
6. Microwave Popcorn
Does
anyone eat popcorn because they are actually hungry? Either way,
microwave popcorn doesn’t have much going for it in the nutrition
department. All of its trans fats pretty much outdo any benefits its
fiber holds. Meanwhile, some brands contain diacetyl-containing butter
flavorings, which when breathed in, can cause life-threatening lung
disease such as bronchiolitis obliterans, according to research
from Brown University. And, in many popcorn manufacturing plant
workers, it has. While some manufacturers have subbed out diacetyl with
other chemicals, study researchers believe many of them may be just as
harmful. If you have a hankering for popcorn, pop it yourself on the
stove or in an air popper.
7. Toaster Pastries
“My
local food bank has stopped taking these,” White says. “If your food
bank doesn’t want them, they have to be bad. I honestly think they are
one of the worst foods you could possibly eat.” These are typically high
in sugar, trans fats, and low in protein and fiber. Plus, they have
minimal vitamins and minerals. And just look at the ingredients list.
It’s staggering that food manufacturers could even manage to fit all of
those ridiculously long chemical names on the package.
8. Blended Coffee Drinks
By
itself, coffee can be great for you. But your blended beverage probably
contains more sugar and fat than actual coffee. “Guys can easily
consume a quarter of their daily recommended calories in a single
drink,” White says. And that’s in a drink—it won’t even fill you up.
Plus, by spiking your blood sugar and insulin levels, it guarantees a
sugar and energy crash that will leave you raiding the snack drawer 30
minutes later.
9. Bagels
As
far as we’re concerned, any refined carb can suck it. But, if we had to
pick the worst offender, we’d have to go with bagels. Not only are
their carbs refined, leaving you with little more than sugar in bagel
form, they can weigh in at 400 calories each, White says. And that’s
before you slather them in cream cheese or cut them in half and fill
them with bacon (see #1!).
10. Soda
Right
now, soda is arguably public enemy number-one—and for good reason. The
list of reasons you shouldn’t drink the stuff are staggering. Among
them, you’ve got weight gain, diabetes, and heart disease, White says.
But if it hasn’t stopped you from drinking soda, let us ask you one
thing: do you smoke? Of course not, right? Well, according to 2014 study
in the American Journal of Public Health, drinking soda can age you by as much as smoking. It’s something to think about.
Source: https://www.yahoo.com/health/get-it-together-10-foods-to-stop-eating-today-117773255238.html