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There are no “bad” foods, right? Only food you should eat in
moderation? Well, not really. The following foods are so bad for
your body that I really can’t see any reason to eat them. Not only
do they have zero nutritional value, but they also give your body a
healthy dose of toxins, which should make the idea of eating them
really hard to swallow.
Doughnuts are fried, full of sugar and white flour
and most all varieties contain trans fat. Store-bought doughnuts are
made up of about 35 percent to 40 percent trans fat.
An
average doughnut will give you about 200 to 300 calories, mostly from
sugar, and few other nutrients.
It’s too bad that Americans
view doughnuts as a breakfast food as, nutritionally speaking, eating a
doughnut is one of the worst ways to start off your day. It will through
off your blood sugar and won’t stay with you so you’ll be hungry again
soon. You are better off eating no breakfast at all, or better yet
grabbing a quick glass of Living Fuel.
One can of soda has about 10 teaspoons of sugar,
150 calories, 30 to 55 mg of caffeine, and is loaded with artificial
food colors and sulphites. I can't think of any good reason to ever have
it. The diet varieties are also problematic as they are filled with
harmful artificial sweeteners like aspartame.
Studies have
linked soda to osteoporosis,
obesity,
tooth decay and heart disease, yet the average American drinks an
estimated 56 gallons of soft drinks each year. Plus, drinking all
that sugar will likely suppress your appetite for healthy foods, which
pave the way for nutrient deficiencies.
Soft drink consumption
among children has almost doubled in the United States over the last
decade, which is not surprising considering that most school hallways
are lined with soda-filled vending machines.
Schools often make marketing deals with leading soft drink
companies such as Coca-Cola from which they receive commissions--based
on a percentage of sales at each school--and sometimes a lump-sum
payment, in exchange for their students’ health. School vending machines
can increase the consumption of sweetened beverages by up to 50 or more
cans of soda per student per year.
If you routinely drink
soda--regular or diet--eliminating it from your diet is one of the
simplest and most profound health improvements you can make.
French Fries
(and Nearly All Commercially Fried Foods)
Potatoes are bad enough when consumed in their raw
state, as their simple sugars are rapidly converted to glucose that
raises insulin levels and can devastate your health. But when they are
cooked in trans fat at high temperatures, all sorts of interesting and
very unpleasant things occur.
Anything that is fried, even
vegetables, has the issue of trans fat and the potent
cancer-causing substance acrylamide.
Foods that are fried in vegetable oils like canola, soybean,
safflower, corn, and other seed and nut oils are particularly
problematic. These polyunsaturated fats easily become rancid when
exposed to oxygen and produce large amounts of damaging free radicals in
the body. They are also very susceptible to heat-induced damage from
cooking. What is not commonly known is that these oils can actually
cause aging, clotting, inflammation, cancer and
weight gain.
You can read the article “Secrets of the Edible Oil Industry” for more
information.
It is theoretically possible to create a more
“healthy” French fry if you cook it in a healthy fat like virgin coconut
oil. Due to its high saturated fat content, coconut oil is extremely
stable and is not damaged by the high temperatures of cooking. This is
why
coconut oil
should be the only oil you use to cook with.
I am fond of
telling patients that
one French fry is worse for your health than one cigarette,
so you may want to consider this before you order your next ‘Biggie’
order.
Most commercial chips, and this includes corn chips,
potato chips, tortilla chips, you name it, are high in trans fat.
Fortunately, some companies have caught on to the recent media blitz
about the dangers of trans fat and have started to produce chips without
trans fat.
However, the high temperatures used to cook them will
potentially cause the formation of carcinogenic substances like
acrylamide, and this risk remains even if the trans fat is removed.
This category represents the culmination of
non-healthy aspects of food. Fried shrimp, clams, oysters, lobsters, and
so on have all the issues of trans fat and acrylamide mentioned above,
plus an added risk of mercury.
Seafood is loaded with toxic mercury and shellfish like
shrimp and lobsters can be contaminated with
parasites and
resistant viruses that may not even be killed with high heat. These
creatures, considered scavenger animals, consume foods that may be
harmful for you.
Eating these foods gives you a quadruple dose of
toxins--trans
fat, acrylamide, mercury and possibly parasites or viruses--with every
bite.
If you have a taste for seafood, there’s an easy
solution. It’s best to avoid your local fish fry and try the only fish I
now eat--the delicious wild red Alaskan salmon that was proven through
independent lab testing to be free of harmful levels of mercury and
other contaminants.
By Dr. Joseph Mercola with Rachael Droege |
