There are many reasons why you should avoid certain unhealthy foods.
Although they can influence your health, it isn’t all about calorie count and weight loss.
Some foods can greatly impact your overall health and contribute to fatigue, inflammation, and chronic illness.
Plus, they can increase your risk of developing certain serious diseases.
As a naturopath, I often provide nutritional counseling services to my patients to advise them on the some of the most important foods to avoid like the plague, for the sake of their health.
Let’s take a look at some of the worst ones.
1. Soft Drinks
Soft drinks may slide under the radar because they aren’t technically a food, which is what makes them all the more insidious.
Although sodas are extremely popular, they’re also very bad for your health.
Why It’s Bad For You
Most of the calories in soda come from high fructose corn syrup, a high-calorie sugary sweetener linked to kidney damage and fatty liver disease.
Fructose bypasses your body’s natural sugar regulation, meaning it gets converted to fat more quickly than other sugars.
Your brain actually doesn’t register soda as food, just liquid calories.
This ends up increasing your body’s caloric intake.
It’s been proven that high sugary soft drink consumption is linked to obesity and weight gain.
Additionally, the added sugar in soft drinks can increase insulin resistance, a state in which your body doesn’t properly respond to the hormone insulin. This increases your risk of developing diabetes.
What To Drink Instead
There are many delicious alternatives to soft drinks that don’t include added sugar or artificial sweeteners.
Soda water, tea, or unsweetened iced teas are great options to satisfy your sweet beverage craving.
Of course, water is always the best option — try drinking a full glass of H2O before reaching for a soda.
If it’s the bubbles you like, consider a club soda.
2. Fruit Juices
This may come as a surprise but drinking a glass of fruit juice isn’t the same as eating a piece of fruit.
Although there are some beneficial ingredients in most fruit juices, such as vitamin C and antioxidants, the benefits are outweighed by the amount of sugar.
Why It’s Bad For You
When you choose juice over actual fruit, you’re bypassing all the important fibre from the skin and pulp, but still consuming all the sugar.
Many fruit juices contain the same amount of sugar as, if not more than, soda.
What To Drink Instead
Adding sliced citrus fruits like lemon, lime, or orange to water is a tasty drink with a boost of vitamin C.
Brewing a cup or pot of tea and storing it in the fridge will ensure you have a cool, flavourful drink whenever you want — and there are many delicious fruity teas that pack the same punch as juice.
3. Movie Theatre Popcorn Butter
Despite the name, movie theatre popcorn butter isn’t actually butter.
This misleading salty treat is typically comprised of a combination of hydrogenated soybean oil, colouring, preservatives, and buttery flavouring.
Movie theatres tend to use this butter substitute because it doesn’t make popcorn soggy (and it’s cheaper than butter), but it has the unfortunate side effect of being extremely unhealthy.
Why It’s Bad For You
Movie theatre popcorn butter has more calories than real butter and the average popcorn bucket contains 3 tablespoons, which is an extremely high caloric content for a small amount of food.
Not only is it high in calories but it’s also high in chemicals and preservatives.
If it sounds like this butter substitute is nothing more than a mixture of various chemicals and trans fats, that’s because it is.
What To Eat Instead
Popping your own popcorn at home is a more cost-efficient and healthy option; plus, you can pick and choose different healthy toppings.
Coconut oil and nutritional yeast (a delicious vegan dietary supplement high in vitamins and minerals) are some delicious options.
You can also use all sorts of spices to add some flavour – cumin, cinnamon, and nutmeg are all tasty options, along with some Himalayan salt.
Just don’t use turmeric – healthy though it may be, your fingers will be completely yellow by the time you finish the movie.
You can pop your kernels in a brown paper bag or throw them on the stove.
You might have to smuggle them into the theatre, but your body will thank you.
4. Gluten-Free Foods
Avoiding glutinous foods may seem like a good idea, but many gluten-free replacement foods are surprisingly bad for you.
Nowadays, there are numerous kinds of gluten-free products with marketing that suggests they’re healthy choices.
Let’s look at why that may not be true.
Why It’s Bad For You
The gluten-free foods formulated to replace products like bread and pasta are often very high in refined grains and sugar.
These grains, such as tapioca starch and corn starch, can cause your blood sugar to spike.
Gluten-free foods also tend to lack essential vitamins and minerals found in other foods.
What To Eat Instead
If you’re intolerant or allergic to gluten, choose foods that are naturally without gluten.
Skipping the processed products can be difficult, but it’s worth it considering their impact on your health.
5. Low-Fat Yoghurt
Just because a yoghurt has a “low-fat” label doesn’t mean it’s good for your health.
In fact, it’s most likely worse than a full-fat yoghurt.
Why It’s Bad For You
These yoghurt products may be low in fat but they’re typically high in sugar.
This trade-off happens because sugar is used to counteract the loss of flavour that results from removing fat.
Also, the healthy fats found in yoghurt are not something you should avoid.
On the contrary, you should be looking to consume nutritious, natural fats like those found in full-fat yoghurt.
What To Eat Instead
Regular yoghurt without any fats removed is your best bet, especially one containing live cultures.
Some yoghurts are pasteurized, meaning they don’t contain active probiotics and may lack any benefits for your digestive system.
Some yoghurts have active bacterial cultures added back in after pasteurization.
As with all dairy, you should keep an eye out for products from grass-fed cows — and always shop local whenever possible.
6. Processed Meats
Meat itself is not inherently bad for you, but it all depends on whether or not it’s been processed.
Meat products can be processed and modified in different ways to improve flavour or shelf life.
However, there are consequences to these kinds of modifications.
Why It’s Bad For You
The World Health Organization has classified processed meats as Group 1, a list of substances carcinogenic to humans.
Consuming modified meat products increases your risk of developing many serious diseases, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and colon cancer.
Cured pork products like hot dogs and some types of bacon are incredibly popular and also very unhealthy, specifically because of added nitrates and nitrites.
These preservatives are used to fast-track the curing process and they’re responsible for the unnatural pink colour of these products.
When you cook cured meats at high temperatures, these preservatives turn into carcinogenic compounds called nitrosamines.
The relationship between nitrosamines and colorectal cancer in particular cannot be understated.
What To Eat Instead
Choosing unprocessed meat products is your best way to circumvent the health issues associated with their processed alternatives.
Again, you should always try to buy local and organic — visit your neighbourhood butcher shop and ask for their recommendations.
If you’re hungering for cured meat, look for nitrate- and nitrite-free products.
7. White Bread
There’s a reason why white bread is white, and yes, it’s bleach.
The light hue is also due to the milling process, which reduces the natural oils in the wheat flour and lengthens shelf life.
However, chemicals are then used to further lighten the bread.
Let’s look at the ways white bread can potentially impact your health.
Why It’s Bad For You
White flour is chemically bleached using chemicals such as azodicarbonamine, chlorine dioxide gas, or potassium bromate.
Azodicarbonamine is noted to be a carcinogenic substance, one of many flour agents banned in the European Union.
White bread is also lacking in essential vitamins, minerals, and fibre due to the milling process.
It contains half of the magnesium typically found in whole wheat bread.
What To Eat Instead
Whole grain and whole wheat bread are just as delicious as white bread, without the refined wheat and chemical processes.
Nut and seed breads are also great alternatives.
In general, a healthy diet should only include minimal amounts of bread products.
8. Coffee-Like Sugary Beverages
Coffee is an extremely popular beverage with some health benefits, when consumed in moderation.
It’s high in antioxidants, boosts your body’s metabolic rate, and lowers your risk of developing diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and type 2 diabetes.
However, coffee-like sugary drinks do not offer the same benefits.
In fact, they’re often worse for you than not drinking anything at all.
Why It’s Bad For You
From sweetened blended beverages to the bottled versions you can find in stores, these coffee-adjacent drinks are extremely high in sugar and additives.
In fact, some of the drinks you can find at specialty coffee shops have more sugar in them than a can of soda.
Coffee whiteners or creamers are also unhealthy choices.
Coffee creamer is predominantly sugar and canola oil, which has little nutritional value and contains artificial trans fats.
What To Drink Instead
If you aren’t a fan of black coffee, try using a small amount of full-fat milk or heavy cream.
There are also many plant-based milk alternatives that are delicious in coffee, such as oat milk.
9. Most Packaged Breakfast Cereals
Many people reach for a box of breakfast cereal first thing in the morning, but this may not be the healthiest way to start your day.
Why It’s Bad For You
Most packaged breakfast cereals are highly processed, containing high levels of added sugar.
Some cereals have sugar amounts comparable to that of candy.
Additionally, the whole grains in these cereals are typically modified to increase flavour.
These modifications include roasting, shredding, rolling, and/or pulping, which strips the natural grain of its fibre and nutrients.
What To Eat Instead
Check the ingredient lists to know exactly what’s in your breakfast cereal.
There are many varieties that include whole grains and no added sugar.
Oatmeal, homemade granola, and overnight oats are even better breakfast options, and you can add your own fixings like frozen fruit, chia seeds, or other healthy ingredients.
10. Margarine
Dairy-free alternatives aren’t necessarily healthier than their dairy counterparts; in fact, sometimes they aren’t considered healthy at all.
Although margarine is a vegetarian alternative to butter, it is highly processed and should be avoided.
Why It’s Bad For You
Margarine is high in different kinds of fat, which can raise your cholesterol levels as well as increase the risk of heart disease and stroke.
There used to be high levels of trans fats in most margarine products, and many brands have eliminated these harmful fats — however, some have not.
Ultimately, there is no evidence that margarine is any healthier than butter.
What To Eat Instead
Grass-fed butter contains many healthy fats and is a good choice, unless you’re trying to avoid lactose or dairy products.
There are many nutritious vegetarian alternatives to both margarine and butter, such as olive oil, coconut oil, and avocado oil.
Book An Appointment With Nardini Naturopathic
Your diet can have a great impact on your health, which is why it’s important to make mindful, healthy choices.
Breaking bad eating habits can be difficult but it’s both attainable and worth it in the long run.
Ensuring your body has the vitamins, minerals, and nutrients it needs is the best way to prevent disease, help manage chronic illness, and improve your quality of life.
For more information on naturopathic solutions for your nutrition, contact me, Dr. Pat Nardini, ND, to book an appointment at my naturopathic clinic in Toronto.
If you’re experiencing symptoms you can’t explain, it may be linked to a nutritional deficiency.
I can work with you to get to the bottom of your symptoms and develop a nutritional plan that works for you and your lifestyle.
Book an appointment with Nardini Naturopathic today.
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