The most unhealthy foods can also be the tastiest ones! However, if you have a diet which consists of more unhealthy foods than healthy foods, you can end up feeling sick and tired all the time. Everyone wants to lead a healthy and long life. In order to make this a reality, there are two golden rules to follow for healthy living, diet and exercise. Diet is important because it determines whether you build your body with healthy food or unhealthy junk food.
Victor Lindahl, a well-known nutritionist of the 1920’s says, “You are what you eat”. Isn’t this statement true even to this day? Many businesses have made processed food their selling commodity. They process food items to lengthen its shelf life and enhance its taste and appearance by removing essential naturally occurring nutrients and adding a few unwanted unhealthy substances. Consuming them might harm your health and affect your well-being.
List of Top Unhealthy Foods
In order to have a healthy life, we ought to avoid certain food items that are unhealthy and do not have essential nutrients in them. Here is a list of the most unhealthy foods that you must avoid. [1]
Pizzas
Everyone loves pizza. It is extremely tasty and is easily available. But have you ever thought about what it is made of before eating it? The dough is made of highly refined flour and most professional pizza vendors use processed cheese for toppings, both of which are not good for the health. Even the meat used in the toppings is processed. So, think again before eating pizzas.
French Fries & Potato Chips
French Fries & Potato ChipsPotato is a healthy vegetable. But fried potatoes are not healthy. So, if you want to stay fit and healthy, you should give them up. French fries and potato chips are directly linked to weight gain and we often tend to eat them excessively. Frying potatoes increases their calorie content. So, it is advisable to avoid them as far as possible.
Sugary Drinks
If you are on a diet plan, you should definitely avoid sugary drinks altogether. This is because they contain huge amounts of sugar (carbohydrates) and they are extremely tempting to consume. Intake of sugar in large amounts disrupts the insulin-sugar balance in the body and also is also responsible for the non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. This leads to obesity and other related health complications.
Cakes & Cookies
These foods are made of refined wheat, refined sugar and added fats (mostly trans-fats), which may result in obesity. No doubt they are very tasty to eat. But not all foods that taste good are good for the body. [2]
Margarine
Margarine is usually considered a healthy alternative to butter. Usually, industrial vegetable oils are hydrogenated in the factories to make it appear like butter. But remember, all that glitters is not gold, so margarine is definitely not a healthier alternative for butter. This increases the trans-fat content in it, making it highly unfit for a healthy lifestyle. The best way out of this complication is to use fresh dairy butter. [3]
Ice Creams
Ice creams come loaded with lots of sugar, artificial flavors and so on, which should not be consumed in large amounts or very frequently. Ice creams are high in sugar content which adds to the calorie intake and increase the fat content in the body. Try eating fresh fruits and home-made watermelon candies made of fresh watermelon juice instead. [4]
Everyone loves an ice-cream! Photo Credit: Shutterstock
Candy Bars
Candy bars are high in refined sugar and processed flour. Due to this, the essential healthy contents are absent from them. So, nothing much is left behind except for carbohydrates and other unwanted nutrients and artificial flavors which are added to them to enhance their taste.
Fast Food Meals
Food sold by fast-food chains is often unhealthy because of the fact that the food they offer is produced in large numbers made out of low-quality food items. This makes them very cheap. But beware of the money you may have to cough out for hospital expenses due to health complications that they might cause. Choose fresh and slow cooked food instead.
Processed Cheese
Regular cheese is definitely healthy, but not processed cheese because both differ in their constitutions. Regular cheese is made of many essential nutrients like carbohydrates, proteins, omega acids, etc. But in processed cheeses, some of these essential nutrients are removed and other artificial substances are added to make it appear like regular cheese. This makes it unhealthy.
Swiss cheese is known for its delicious mild, sweet and nutty taste. Photo Credit: Shutterstock
White Bread
Bread is made from wheat which naturally contains gluten. So, people who are allergic to gluten are barred from consuming it. Everyone should think twice before consuming white bread because most times, it is made of highly processed, refined sugar and wheat. This removes most essential nutrients from the bread. It is best advised to use a whole wheat bread or whole grain bread instead of white bread.
How To Make Healthy Food Choices
Before eating any food, you should ask yourself the following questions. If the answers are affirmative, then it is best to avoid it.
Healthy food is the fuel you need for a healthy body. Photo Credit: Shutterstock
Is it processed food?
Most processed foods are manufactured by taking out essential nutrients and adding artificial substances. So, avoid processed food as far as possible as it can affect your health. It can also cause inflammations and skin problems like cystic acne. [5]
Does it contain high sugar content? Or does it taste very sweet?
Food with high sugar content is usually loaded with carbohydrates, which increases the risk of obesity and associated health complications like pain in the liver area etc. [6]
Does it contain gluten and/or other allergy-inducing ingredients?
If you have a health history of allergy for substances like gluten, peanuts, etc., do read the label on the bottle and avoid it if it contains gluten or any other substance that are likely to induce allergy.
Final Thoughts
So, these were a few food items to avoid in daily life for a healthy living. It is essential to have healthy food like fruits, vegetables, and fresh dairy products which provide the body with essential nutrients. They also help in strengthening the immune system and maintain the overall health of the body. Do remember that a healthy mind resides in a healthy body.
