You have been exercising and going to the gym regularly since January. It is November; you are yet to see the results in your health. You have also been taking the daily recommended intake of water, fruits and vegetable, but your blood sugar and cholesterol is still high.
In fact, your family members and colleagues know that you have decided to leave the old ways and adopt a healthy lifestyle.
You begin to wonder what you are doing wrong that is not making you reap the reward of your hard work in the past months, since you have been following what you think the doctor recommended or what you have been reading about on the Internet on the wonders of healthy living.
Don’t get frustrated, it may just be that you are not doing the right thing. Though you have been engaging in a lot of exercises lately, little enemies -like unhealthy foods, may be the culprit.
Nutritionists say that we are what we eat and it will determine the outcome of any lifestyle we adopt.
Head of Nutrition Department, Montana University, United States, Dr. James Morrison, says the fundamental key to success with any lifestyle modification is removal, elimination, and avoidance of the agents of opposition to your desired lifestyle and a healthy balanced diet.
You may now ask: What is a balanced diet? Though its definitions is pretty simple – Eating foods rich in protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, fats and oil in addition to daily fruit intake – experts at Harvard Medical School in Boston, US say science has now revealed that some foods in these categories may be the setback to your desired results.
They note that healthy eating doesn’t mean eliminating certain foods altogether. However, there are some things that are best eaten only rarely.
“Are there foods you should not eat? Not really. If you crave an ice cream occasionally, have a small one. But don’t make it a daily event. Offset the plantain chips you ate at office with healthier foods at home,” Morrison notes.
Now, the next question that comes to mind is: How do we do it? And what are the foods we are eliminating and why are we getting rid of them?
Harvard nutrition scientists compiled the following list of foods you should keep to a minimum for a better health.
Research, they say, suggests that eating these foods regularly even in addition to healthier ones can set the stage for life-threatening illnesses such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and even some cancers.
Added sugar: Whether it’s white granulated sugar, brown sugar, high- fructose corn syrup, corn sugar, or honey, sugar contains almost no nutrients and is pure carbohydrate. When you eat a lot of sugar, you are filling up on empty calories, causing your blood sugar to rise and fall like a roller coaster, and it keeps one from eating foods that have important nutrients and fibre.
Research cites soft drinks and other sugar-sweetened beverages as the primary source of added sugar in the diet and a major contributor to weight gain and obesity. In fact, just one extra 12-ounce can of a typical sweetened beverage a day can add on 15 pounds in a year.
That’s not only because the drinks themselves add calories, but also because those liquid calories are not as satisfying as solid food.
Milk and other dairy fats: Ice cream, whole milk, and cheese are full of saturated fat and some naturally occurring trans fat and therefore can increase the risk of the health problems, notably heart disease.
The healthiest milk and milk products are low-fat versions, such as skim milk, milk with one per cent fat, and reduced-fat cheeses.
Sweets: Cookies, snack cakes, doughnuts, pastries, and many other treats are hard to pass up, but these commercially prepared versions are packed with processed carbohydrates, added sugar, unhealthy fats, and often salt.
Sweets which are basically sugar can impair insulin sensitivity and worsen blood lipids which can lead to diabetes.
White-flour carbohydrates: Bread, pasta, potatoes, rice, cookies or cake – if you enjoy these foods, opt for whole-grain versions. Whole-wheat contains good fibre and nutrients while white flour in bread and rice is full of refined sugar which have heavy calories that is not easy for the body to digest.
Processed and high-fat meats: Processed meats and meat products are sweetened with preservatives such as nitrates and salts which are not nearly as beneficial as fresh animal flesh, bones, and offal.
Nitrates can form potentially unhealthy, carcinogenic compounds called nitrosamines when subjected to heat.
Fresh meats should comprise the bulk of your meat intake. Factory farmed meat intake should also be limited, as access and finances allow, while grass-fed/pastured animal products should be strongly favoured for their beneficial nutrient content.
Salt: Most condiments contain salts and sugars which is simply another way to make bad food taste good by heaping sugar and/or bad fat all over it. If you get a low-fat dressing or condiment, it’s undoubtedly loaded with sugar to make up for the missing fat. You can’t win, so it’s best to just get rid of the stuff altogether.
Current dietary guidelines and the American Heart Association recommend reducing salt intake to 1,500 mg per day but most of us get 1 ½ teaspoons (or 8,500 mg) of salt daily. That translates to about 3,400 excess. Your body needs a certain amount of sodium or salt but too much can increase blood pressure and the risk of heart disease and stroke.
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