Harmful Foods
And Foods To Avoid
Value your health, know what
foods to avoid, and understand why.
Just think, each time you consume any of these
harmful foods, you slash a few hours off your life.
What Are We Eating? Today's modern diet is so desperately lacking in nutrient compared to those of our ancestors' days. How so? With the advancement of technology, most of our foods are manufactured, genetically re-engineered, and processed. Being busy people, we start to rely heavily on instant meals. We spend lesser time preparing fresh foods. Even the foods that we do prepare in our kitchen with all the sophisticated equipments, kill and destroy the nutrients and enzymes that our bodies so crave. Just what are we doing to our bodies? As I did my own research, I was shocked with the many findings about the foods that I have been consuming in my first thirty years of life. By knowing the damages these foods are doing to my body, I started making conscious efforts to change my eating habits. I may not be able to cover everything here but I want to share with you, some of the basic common foods we all take without thinking of the damaging impact they have on our health. Some of which we have even regarded as "healthy". Read the truth: To top
Pasteurized Milk Pasteurized milk (UHT - ultra-heat temperature) is the heating of milk to temperatures of 160 degrees or higher. This changes the milk protein (casein) content to an inorganic form, which cannot be assimilated by the body. When this protein cannot be broken down, it weakens the immune system, causing allergies and many other problems, like asthma, nasal congestion, skin rash, chest infections, higher blood cholesterol, increased risk of heart disease and stroke. Crib deaths have even been attributed to cow's milk allergy. You are better off pouring the milk down the drain than feed it to your baby. Do you realize that when you consume cow's milk, it causes excessive mucus to be formed in your lungs, sinuses and intestines. The mucus also hardens to form a coating on the inner wall of the intestines that leads to poor absorption of nutrients. It causes constipation and can lead to many ill problems. Imagine then, what havoc cow's milk does to an infant. No wonder asthma and bronchitis are so rampant in our young children! Oh, the mucus that form in the little lungs! Sally Fallon of the Weston Price Foundation in the States said it like this: "Pasteurization destroys enzymes, diminishes vitamin content, denatures fragile milk proteins, destroys vitamin B12 and vitamin B6, kills beneficial bacteria, promotes pathogens and is associated with allergies, increased tooth decay, colic in infants, growth problems in children, osteoporosis, arthritis, heart disease and cancer." God has designed mothers to feed babies with breast milk. But in these modern days, mothers are too busy that we have resorted to cow's milk, bringing up a generation of sickly children who have weak immune systems. If we are going to cow's milk for calcium, we are mistaken. Cow's milk is not a good source of this mineral. The ideal calcium to magnesium ratio should be 2:1. Milk's ratio is 10:1. By relying on cow's milk for calcium, you will have magnesium deficiency and imbalance. For alternative sources of calcium and magnesium in almost correct ratio, choose seeds, nuts, and crunchy vegetables like broccoli, cabbage, carrots and cauliflower. For infants, if breast milk is not available, substitute with goat's milk instead, or rice milk, or almond milk. Learn to make your own delicious and nutritious almond milk. To top
Soda/Carbonated Drinks
If you drink soda/carbonated drinks regularly, you would do yourself a great favor to eliminate them from your diet—the sooner the better. A can of soda/carbonated drink contains up to 15 teaspoons of sugar, 150 empty calories, 30 to 55 mg of caffeine and is loaded with harmful artificial food colors, flavorings and preservatives. All these but with zero nutritional value. Some soda drinks are "disguised" as "diet soda" where dangerous sweeteners like aspartame are added. Numerous health side effects are associated with aspartame ingestion, including brain damage, diabetes, emotional disorders, decreased vision, ringing in the ears, memory loss, heart palpitations, shortness of breath and many more. This short list should be enough to show you the danger of this ingredient in diet sodas. Another way soda drinks are "disguised", is in so-called "energy drinks". Energy drinks may give you a boost of energy upon consumption, but it does not last. In fact, when the effect wears off you will feel your energy dwindle and you will start to crave another can. It becomes a vicious cycle and eventually gets you hooked. The sugar content level in sodas are way too high and will lead to many health problems. Moreover, when you consume too much sugar, your appetite will be suppressed for the nutritious foods. This results in nutritional deficiency. Must read: Soft drinks: What you don't know can kill you. To top
Sugar Human bodies are designed to run on carbohydrates, which is the source of our energy. We fulfill this need by consuming complex carbohydrates from whole foods like whole grains, vegetables, beans or lentils; or simpler carbohydrates such as from fruits. However, with technology, man has extracted sweetness but leaving behind the nutrients. Refined sugar is lethal for human consumption because it has been depleted of its life forces, vitamins and minerals, rendering it “empty”. Concentrated sugar—in the forms of white sugar, brown sugar, glucose, honey and syrup—releases sugar fast, causing a rapid increase in our blood sugar levels when consumed. If this sugar is not required by the body, it is deposited in "storage" as fats. These concentrated sugars are almost totally devoid of useful nutrients. When the blood sugar level rises, the pancreas releases insulin into the blood stream. Insulin is a hormone that helps regulate the level of blood sugar. When we consume food that releases sugar fast (high glycemic index), our body over-reacts to the increase in blood glucose by producing more insulin than necessary. As a result, blood glucose falls too much within a short time, causing you to feel hungry again. When you respond to that hunger by eating another high glycemic meal, it sets off another cycle of swing in the insulin level. Over time, these exaggerated increases and falls in the insulin level will lead to a reduction in the body's ability to respond to insulin, the development of a condition called insulin resistance. When this happens, the glucose level in the blood system remains constantly high. The pancreas respond by producing more and more insulin to try to maintain the sugar blood level, until it can no longer keep up anymore. This condition is directly damaging to the cells and can cause very severe long-term damage to the body. Some of the common health problems known that are related to this condition are insomnia, obesity, type-II diabetes, polycystic ovary disease, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, and hormone related cancers. Also read: What is carbohydrate? To top
Salt Salt creates untold physical problems and suffering. Yes, the body needs salt (sodium), but it must be in an organic form in order to be useful to the body. Table salt, sodium chloride, is an inorganic sodium compound that combines with chloride. It is extremely toxic to the body and causes the body to retain fluid. High intake of this substance thickens and stiffens arteries and increases the risks of strokes, and cardiac failure. It accelerates the rate of renal functional deterioration. Sodium chloride draws calcium from your bones, which is excreted in your urine. This leads to early and painful osteoporosis, or the thinning and fracturing of your bones. Must read: The Deadly Hidden Salt In Your Food and The Right Kind of Pure Salt Our Body Craves
White Flour All the good substances (bran and germ) is removed from flour during processing. Then it is bleached with a deadly chemical called "alloxan", a bleaching agent similar to Clorox. This compound destroys the beta-cells of the pancreas, leading to type 2 diabetes. Finally, some coal-tar-derived (carcinogenic – cancer causing) vitamins are added and sold to the unsuspecting public as “enriched”. White flour makes your blood sugar rise almost as much as refined sugar. Intestinal infections are a direct outcome of white flour consumption. It is hard to chew, puts pressure on the digestive system and is extremely low on fiber. Mixed with low-quality rice flour, it has no nutrient a growing child requires. Be wary of things made from flour, e.g. bread, cakes, pancakes, pasta, etc. If you must eat them, eat them sparingly. Things made of flour has no nutritional value at all, and cause more harm to your body than any good. Combine this with sugar and high heat baking, you have the perfect combination to all kinds of degenerative diseases. Wheat bread has recently been introduced as the "healthier option". Do not be deceived. Studies have shown that wheat is contaminated with a germ called mycotoxin. When consumed in high amount, this germ can be lethal and has been reported to cause rheumatoid arthritis, miscarriages, headaches, infertility, slow growth development in children and irritable bowel. Moreover, wheat converts to sugar rapidly and accelerates aging in people with low metabolic rate. To top
Meat We are taught that meat is high in protein and iron, and is good for us. However, most meat today, whether chicken, beef, pork or lamb, have received hormone treatments of one kind of another. Besides making the meat tender, these hormones are used to escalate the animals' growth and increase their milk or production yields. These hormones which are estrogen-dominant, have been found to be linked to breast cancer, fibroids, ovarian and cervical cancer, and endometriosis in women. In men, the common symptoms are prostate and testicular cancer, loss of libido, impotence and breast enlargement, just to name a few. Antibiotics are also used widely on these animals to prevent infection and to enhance growth—all in the name of higher profits in shorter time. Diseases of the digestive system have directly been linked to meat consumption. And more critically, the risk of heart disease and cancer of the stomach and colon. If you must take meat, try to avoid beef and pork, or consume no more than three times a week. A better choice for protein in substituting meat would be fish, beans, lentils, bean curd or whole grains. Try to eat organic whenever possible. But remember, most of us are in more danger of too much protein intake than too little. Excess protein is a contributor to osteoporosis, overadicity and many other common health problems. Studies on low-carb/high protein diet have shown a marked increase in acidicity overload to the kidney, increases the risk for stone formation, and decreases calcium, increasing risk for bone loss. Another reason why we should avoid meat is the stress that it puts upon our digestive system. Read about it here. To top
Vegetable Oils Polyunsaturated oils, which include vegetable oils like corn, soy, linola and canola are beneficial on their own. However, by making them into cooking oils, they are heavily refined and processed, rendering them rancid and toxic. For a long time now, these cooking oils have been mistakenly regarded as the "healthier" choice, but experts have now pointed out that this is a fatal mistake. After refining and processing, these beneficial oils become oxidized as they get exposed to heat from the processing, resulting in the formation of trans-fat and damaging free radicals (this is a process called hydrogenation). The truth is, coconut oil which have been regarded as unhealthy is the better choice for cooking. Unlike most unsaturated oils, coconut oil does not turn toxic when cooked. Other alternatives are virgin (or extra virgin) olive oil for light cooking or sauteing, or grapeseed oil for high heat cooking. Important read: Type of fats to avoid, and the essential fats our body needs.
Fast (Fried) Foods While many of us know that fast foods are bad, we don't know just "how bad" they are, to stop taking them. We spend our hard-earned money on the very things that are killing us. We think that the main danger of frying was that fats cooked at high temperatures produce oxidants that cause cancer. But I have news for you. Scientific research has found another cancer-causing substance called acrylamide, in foods cooked at high temperatures, whether with or without fats. While the safe limit set for acrylamide in food is ten parts per billion (ppb), French fries and potato chips are found to contain more than a hundred times this amount! Acrylamide is produced when foods are browned or burnt, or cooked or processed using high heat. These methods include frying, barbecuing, baking, and even by microwaving. If you must cook your foods, choose to steam-fry or boil your foods instead. This way, the foods would not contain oxidants as you do not burn your food.
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