Why you should avoid these Unhealthy Foods?

December 12, 2015

Pancakes

If you get your pancakes out of a box, you might not even suspect they might contain trans fat because it starts off in powder form. Bisquick for example has nearly 5g of trans fat in each cup. Makes you think twice about using pre-made mixes and just take the extra minute or so to come up with your own batch so you know everything that’s in it.

Doughnuts

OK, so we all know that donuts won’t show up on any lists of the healthiest foods, but what ends them up on this list is a combination of fat, sugar, and cholesterol, as well as MSG and trans fat in some cases. The cholesterol levels are also pretty high, and are concern enough to avoid eating doughnuts as a regular breakfast item, reserving them to perhaps a monthly treat.

Fast Food

We all know we shouldn't eat fast food because it’s bad for us, but part of the reason is because of all the trans fats and other additives they use to make the food taste good. The problem is not just that there is trans fat in the foods, but that the portion sizes quickly multiply those contents and before long you have a week’s worth of trans fat in one meal. A large french fry from McDonald’s supplies 4 day’s worth of trans fat by itself.

Colas and Sodas

These are the number one offender because they’re so ubiquitous. 7UP once tried to claim that their soda was made with all-natural ingredients, saying that because it comes from corn HFCS is all-natural. They no longer phrase it this way, and other colas blatantly have it listed as the most abundant sweetener. In ordinary Coca-Cola it’s the only sweetener used.

Pasta Dishes

A plain bowl of pasta won’t ruin your day, calorically speaking, but pasta often serves as the foundation for more calorie-laden dishes. A nice slab of Lasagna Classico from Olive Garden for example can tip the charts at 850 calories, more than half of the calories allotted to some dieters. That doesn’t leave much for the rest of the day. Also consider a small serving of Spaghetti with Meatballs from Buca di Beppo that tips the tables at 916 calories.

Ranch Dressing

It’s America’s favorite dressing and dipping sauce, but ever wonder why you can’t get enough of it, and why it makes so many things taste better? One of the most popular nationwide brands, Hidden Valley Ranch, has it in its ingredients, as well as Maltodextrin, Modified Food Starch, and other artificial flavors and sweeteners.

Lunch Meats

Because of the processing they go through most lunch meats are packed with extra sodium as well as nitrates. There are plenty of reasons to take a pass on lunch meats, or at least to read the labels before you buy in order to make sure that you are getting meat that isn’t loaded with fillers and additives. Some other top concerns are the bacteria listeria which can pose a problem for pregnant women, sodium nitrate which could potentially be cancer-causing, and added oils and sweeteners which add to the fat and carb count.

Packaged Chips

The more flavoring a chip has, the more MSG and other artificial ingredients you can expect it to have. It’s hard to come up with exact numbers of how much MSG they contain, because it’s not required to list it on the Nutrition Facts. You can get an idea of how prevalent it is by how far down the ingredients list it is. The further down, the less it has, but just remember that they’ll sneak it in using different names, so while Monosodium Glutamate might be near the bottom, a different substance may be closer to the top.

Light Foods and Beverages

If you’re calorie conscious you might be attracted to foods that are advertised as Lite or Light, since they’ll have fewer calories than their regular counterparts. But what you’re trading the calories for is typically artificial sweeteners that might be calorie-free but have their own side effects and health hazards.

Coffee Drinks

A cup of regular Joe won’t damage your carb levels for the day, but when you get all fancy you’re ultimately created a carb-infused cocktail. A medium cappuccino from Mc Cafe at McDonald’s will cost you 12g of carbs, and a medium sized latte, even with sugar-free syrup, still puts you at 44g of carbohydrates, almost insuring you’re going to go over your daily budget.

Microwave Popcorn

Most of the popular brands of microwave popcorn have trans fat of some sort in them. One of the biggest offenders is Pop Secret, which supplies 5 grams of trans fat per serving. Sounds like a lot since it more than doubles your daily allowance. The big thing to remember is that few of us stop at one serving of popcorn as we snuggle up to watch a movie at home.

Fried Foods

Set aside the high amounts of trans fat, saturated fat, calories, and cholesterol that comes with frying foods, since that’s been covered many times before and most of us already know about those dangers. Another reason to avoid eating fried foods is that most of them will contain MSG. One of the easiest ways to get fried food with MSG in it is to stop into KFC and order anything fried from their menu. They’re not the only culprit, not by a long shot. MSG is prevalent in so many packaged foods that it’s almost a given that if it comes from a major food supplier, is fried and comes in a package, it will contain some amount of MSG.