| |
|
|
|
The Five Absolute Worst Foods You Can Eat
By Dr. Joseph Mercola with Rachael Droege
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
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.
Soda
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.
Chips
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.
Fried Non-Fish Seafood
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.
©Copyright 2003
Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved. This content may be copied in
full, with copyright, contact, creation and information intact, without
specific permission, when used only in a not-for-profit format. If any
other use is desired, permission in writing from Dr. Mercola is
required.
|
|
|
|
