80/20 Health Nut: Nine Reasons to Avoid Processed Foods

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Nine Reasons to Avoid Processed Foods

1. They ruin your taste buds. Processed foods contain refined sugar, excess salt, and other flavor enhancers. These foods are not only unhealthy, they also dull our taste buds to natural flavors. So then you need to eat more processed foods to get the taste you want because you can no longer appreciate the flavor of natural foods.

2. Deadly additives. Harmful chemical additives are added to many foods to give them a longer shelf life and to enhance flavor & color. Our bodies are unable to process these additives into nutrients. Therefore the additives hang out indefinitely in our systems, delaying digestion and adding extra toxins to our blood, tissues and organs...and extra pounds to our weight.

3. Hide & seek. Processed foods contain hidden sugars, salt, and harmful fats. All three of these contribute to health problems.

4. Mystery ingredients. Many processed foods are filled with strange parts and pieces. For example, "edible offal" in hot dogs means they contain animal skin, snouts, ears, esophagi, etc.

5. No nutritional value. Processing takes most of the nutrients out of nutrient-rich foods. You'll get almost nothing of what your body needs.

6. Fortified with synthetics. To make up for the loss of the nutrients mentioned above, synthetic vitamins and minerals are added. These may appear healthy, but our bodies aren't built to process synthetic nutrients. A perfect example is "enriched flour" found in many breads and other products. Wheat is stripped of all its natural nutrients and then synthetic vitamins are added. That's considered "enriched."

7. Wrong market. When you spend money on processed foods, you encourage growth in this market. Spending money on organic and local fruits and veggies instead promotes growth in that market, thereby potentially bringing prices down for those items.

8. Money. Although fruits and vegetables often appear to be expensive, they are quite often less expensive than processed foods.

9. They are dead! Most of the goodness is cooked or processed out of those foods. Therefore, we cannot benefit from the enzymes and nutrients the foods normally contain.

(from the Dietary Guidelines of GCNM textbook module 1)

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healthy tips

1. Instead of buying expensive vitamin waters, make your own. Fill your favorite 32 oz. cup with ice, an inch or so of pure 100% cranberry juice, a handful of the frozen fruit of your choice, and top with water. Delish and nutrish!

2. Never skip breakfast! Your body has been fasting all night. Skipping breakfast will destroy your metabolism. Best thing to eat for digestive purposes: fresh, in season fruit.

3. If you are trying to change a habit, say you'd like to stop drinking soda, post a memo on your fridge and update it every day. It could say "Days since I have had soda...7" or some such statement. Updating it daily, in full view of others, and seeing your progress is very motivational!

4. When baking, instead of using the called-for amount of oil, replace with applesauce in the same amount. I've also successfully replaced oil with sweet potato puree, canned pumpkin, and butternut squash puree. It doesn't affect the baking, but adds a bit of nutrition.

5. Chew thoroughly! The more you chew, the slower you will eat, the more digestive enzymes your body will secrete, the less stress on your digestive organs, the more nutrients you will absorb from your food, the more easily you eliminate.

6. "Before you walk into a restaurant, a grocery store, or even your own kitchen, PAUSE, take a deep breath, and connect with the intention to select only foods that serve you." Terry Walters, author of Clean Food.