THE REAL REASONS PROCESSED FOODS CAN KILL YOU
Let's be real with ourselves. “Junk in” means “junk out.” Have you ever eaten McDonald's or another type of fast food every day for a week or two? If you're anything like me, you found that your hair became greasy. Your skin got pimply and discoloured. You started to feel bloated and sluggish. You just didn’t feel good. Your body was letting you know that your food had bad things in it. Don’t believe me? Try eating fast food for a week, then assess your skin, eyes, hair, and stomach bloat.
Want to know why you don't feel good? You feel ill because you are eating an unbalanced and unhealthy diet. McDonald's and other fast food falls under a category called “processed” foods. If you continue to eat processed foods, you continue to feel ill, crave junk food, and have trouble maintaining an exercise routine. You’ll also probably end up with some type of chronic condition, like thyroid disease, diabetes, heart disease, or cancer. These diseases require maintenance, trips to the doctor, and needle pokes. They also damage your organs and, if not treated properly, can cause death.
The first problem with processed foods is that they contain high amounts of salt and sugar. Too much salt can cause thyroid problems, heart disease, strokes, and kidney disease. You may be wondering, ‘How can salt do all that?’ Well, salt causes your kidneys to retain water, which leads to high blood pressure. Water retention and high blood pressure strain your body's organs and are unhealthy for you.
Take a Big Mac. It has almost half your daily recommended salt intake! Add that to some french fries and another side, and you've probably reached your salt requirement for the day—in one meal. Any additional salt you take in is excessive and damages your body!
An overload of sodium, and, subsequently, iodine, causes thyroid dysfunction in adults. According to www.thyroid.org, “An estimated 20 million Americans have some form of thyroid disease...60 percent [of whom are] unaware of their condition.” Since your thyroid regulates most of your body’s systems, it can cause problems with your sleeping pattern, appetite, digestion, mood, temperature, and a myriad of other body functions.
Are you a salt fiend? Do you put salt on most of your food? Many Americans do. But too much salt is bad for you, whether you sprinkle it on yourself or a manufacturer adds it to your food before you buy it. Want an alternative? Great salt substitutes, such as Mrs. Dash, are available; instead of overloading you with iodized salt, they contain healthy spices that are good for you and that taste great. Choosing non-iodized salt is another alternative, as the iodine in salt is what works with your thyroid.
The other problem with processed food is its high sugar content. Sugar is extremely bad for us. Too much of it can case diabetes, weight gain, dental cavities, and gingivitis. Cavities become even worse when sugar combines with the citric acid in soda. Some teens who consume soda daily have gone, in as little as six months, from having no cavities at all to needing root canals in half their teeth. Yuck!
Still not convinced that sugar is bad for you? Another problem with sugar is that it feeds bad bacteria and yeast within your body. Too much sugar can cause your body to grow an excessive amount of Candida, or yeast. Are you plagued with chronic sinus infections that won't go away, even when you take antibiotics or make 100 trips to your physician? These infections might stem from viruses, bacteria, or fungi! Are you blaming your issues on allergens? Many other people do, too. Eat whole foods and learn to regulate your sugar intake, and you, my friend, might have fewer sinus problems!
Ladies, do you have problems with your pH balance or with chronic yeast in your body’s intimate areas? Sugar and processed junk food feeds those nasty little critters. You are spending a boatload of money on drug store cures for yeast infections that are being fed by sugar. Many pH and yeast problems will go away naturally if you switch to a healthy diet or increase your intake of yogurt and cultured foods or probiotics.
But wait…doesn’t fruit contain sugar? The short answer is yes, but the sugar in fruit is a natural sugar. Fruit is good for you. Processed foods and the sugar they contain are not. Artificial sweeteners, like the ones in diet soda, are also unhealthy, as sugar substitutes are no different than sugar. Unhealthy sugars in processed foods don't even satisfy your body. Wondering why you ate that Snickers bar and still craved more food afterward? It’s because those sugars didn't tell your brain that you were satisfied. Your body still thought it was hungry even after taking in 250 calories.
In addition, any excess sugar that your body cannot burn turns into fat. Yes, FAT. Isn't that what you DON'T want? Plus, sugar overload is literally toxic to your body. The simple and undeniable fact is that you must cut down your sugar intake. Do you want to make your food taste better? Reach for something other than sugar, like honey, and sweeten your foods naturally. Stay away from foods containing high fructose corn syrup.
Many people don't realize that alcohol contains unhealthy sugars. Consequently, when changing your lifestyle, consider and alter your alcohol intake. Do you know anyone older than you who has diabetes? Was that person big into alcohol? The fact that diabetes and alcoholism often coexist in the same person is not a coincidence. Among heavy drinkers, a causal relationship exists between alcohol intake and diabetes. That’s not to say that you can't enjoy a drink now and again, but everything in moderation.
If you start looking at the sugar and salt content in your foods, you’ll find a few surprises. Many sweet foods contain salt, and many salty foods contain sugar. Many manufacturers add both salt and sugar to their products because salt makes something sweet taste even sweeter, while sugar makes something salty taste even saltier. It’s a trick that manufacturers play on your tastebuds, and it contributes to over-consumption! Pretty sneaky, right?
Do you think that excess sugars and salts are the only bad things inside processed foods? Think again. Processed foods almost always contain other junk your body doesn't need, like preservatives, artificial colors and flavors, and ingredients that give the food a texture that appeals to your taste buds. Many of these additives can cause food intolerances and allergic reactions, or are simply, in large quantities, toxic to your body. When you change the way you buy groceries and cook, be sure to read labels. If you can’t pronounce most of the ingredients that a label lists, chances are that the product will add junk to your system—junk that is better left on the store shelf!