Top 7 most unhealthy processed foods that should be completely eliminated from your diet
In this article we are revealing the 7 most unhealthy processed foods that should be completely eliminated from your – and your loved ones – diet.
Processed foods, especially for those of us who live in the city and don’t have the ability to maintain our own personal piece of land to grow our own food or the time and inclination to cook, are an unavoidable evil. The most common excuses are that there is no time to cook and prepare a healthy meal.
Despite all the excuses, however, some foods that the trade provides us with in their worst processed version are best avoided, even in times of great hunger, as they offer absolutely nothing to the body. Even if you think they satisfy your hunger, you are wrong!
So here are 7 of the most unhealthy processed foods to avoid completely eliminate from your diet.
Most unhealthy processed foods
Chicken nuggets
The truth is that chicken nuggets have… little in common with chicken. You might think that the majority of chicken thighs are protein, but the truth is that more than 50% is fat, and they contain more carbohydrates than protein.
The carbohydrates are “bad”, since they come from the crust additions to the bites. Also, most chicken nuggets are pre-fried in unsaturated fat oil, which causes deformations in the body’s cell membranes, leading to the development of diseases such as diabetes.
It’s not enough that chickens are poisoned, they are further processed, so imagine what ends up on our plates and in our stomachs.
You might want to watch this video from popular chef Jamie Oliver who shows school kids how chicken nuggets are made..
Soft drinks
Soft drinks offer nothing more than calories and points to your waistline. Plus they do more harm, since in addition to sugar, they contain sweeteners such as high fructose corn syrup, which is even more harmful than sugar.
Not only does it damage the liver but it also disrupts blood glucose levels. Its overconsumption destroys the liver, just like alcohol
In addition, soft drinks are one of the key substances that produce acids within the body, making the body’s naturally alkaline pH more acidic.
In such an acidic environment, cancer cells thrive, and the same environment is more susceptible to viral and bacterial attacks, since overall immune system defenses are lowered.
Hot dogs and other processed meats
Processed meats on the market, such as hot dogs, are very high in salt, preservatives, artificial flavors and highly unhealthy additives.
Worst of all, the process involves the artificial separation of poultry from other meats, since it involves very high temperatures and high pressure, so that whatever nutritional value the meat may have had in the first place is dissolved during processing.
Also, the WHO considers red meat and other processed meats as highly carcinogenic since 2015.
According to their website:
“Processed meat refers to meat that has been transformed through salting, curing, fermentation, smoking, or other processes to enhance flavour or improve preservation. Most processed meats contain pork or beef, but processed meats may also contain other red meats, poultry, offal, or meat by-products such as blood.
Examples of processed meat include hot dogs (frankfurters), ham, sausages, corned beef, and biltong or beef jerky as well as canned meat and meat-based preparations and sauces.“
Commercial cookies, cakes and crackers
Cookies and most baked goods that you buy are full of sugar, salt and unsaturated fat.
Unsaturated fats are preferred by businesses since they are cheaper and plummet production costs, but also because they extend the shelf life of the food and give it the texture that makes it so delicious.
There are even laboratories that work exclusively to maximize the use of unsaturated fats for the best possible texture of such foods.
Breakfast cereals
Many of the cereals that many people prefer for breakfast are artificially infused with vitamins and minerals, because otherwise they would have absolutely nothing to offer.
But even in this case, when vitamins are added to them afterwards, artificially, their nutritional value is not particularly increased, since, for example, the type of vitamin D added is not easily metabolized by the body.
Still, like most processed foods, they are loaded with sugar and corn syrup. If they even contain corn in their composition, which is most likely, then they are probably genetically modified, as they are much cheaper.
Genetically modified maize has been shown through scientific research to be seriously damaging to health.
Cereal bars
You might not expect it, but cereal bars are not the healthy snack we all think they are. The marketing of these companies and the hype, is highly misleading since, almost all of them, include high fructose corn syrup in their ingredients, which as mentioned above is not one of the good foods.
Even those that claim to use honey owe their sweetness to the corn syrup they add, not the honey. Besides, granola bars are also high in unsaturated fat.
Ready-made sauces
Also in the case of ready-made sauces, the main protagonist is the corn syrup. Corn syrup is not only cheap but has the advantage, for manufacturers, of adding “points” to the taste of the final product. Many, moreover, contain unsaturated fat and other additives.
Worst of all, we don’t take into account the harm caused by ready-to-eat as well as dressings when we finally consume them, forgetting that a healthy salad can lose its overall nutritional value if we “drench” it with commercial dressing.
It is therefore better to make our own sauces, checking the ingredients, since they can be kept in the fridge for about a week. By the way, the same goes for vegetable and meat stick cubes that you buy from supermarkets. Check this article of ours to learn more.
Final Take
Foods that destroy our health and moods are “disguised” as healthy and communicated through marketing as the perfect choice. Their fast, healthy and easy. What else does the average city citizen wants.
The truth of course, is that these foods are the worst. These foods are harmful and you should eliminate them from your diets.
I urge you to share this list with the 7 most unhealthy processed foods with your friends and family and help them open their eyes.
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