Written by Kimberley Stakal
We can talk all day about "eating in moderation," but if what we're eating in moderation consists of various foods that are nothing more than processed, bleached, preserved and sugared ingredients, we might as well just call it what it is: Gradual toxic food poisoning. If your diet consists of little more than fast food, fried chicken, candy and boxed snacks, you could be on the path to become the one in three Americans obese today, or the one in five suffering from heart disease. Based on recurring scientific studies showing their toxicity to our health, here are five foods you should stop consuming today.
Soda
There can't be enough to say about soda. It's a recipe for disease disguised in a delicious, bubbly brew. We'll just breeze on down the line with the ingredients found in a traditional, mainstream soda. Sodium benzoate is a preservative found in soft drinks, and it's been linked to the phantom triad of allergies, asthma and eczema. Phosphoric acid, the chemical that gives soda its wonderfully sharp, brassy flavor, has been shown to cause osteoporosis and tooth decay (causing more damage to the bones than battery acid, some experts claim). This acid -- yes, acid -- depletes calcium and other minerals from the body as it's excreted in urine, taking with it the very stuff our bones and teeth are made of. Because of the high amount of minerals it takes with it out of the body, phosphoric acid also does a number on the kidneys, and it's linked to kidney and renal problems in drinkers. Most mainstream sodas are still sweetened with high fructose corn syrup, a sweetener that's come under much scrutiny in recent years, with links to metabolic syndrome, obesity, diabetes and heart disease. For soda manufacturers going back to "natural cane sugar," consumers should note that the sugars are still in such high quantities in sodas that they still lead to cavities, tooth decay and obesity. In fact, it's estimated that regular soda drinkers are a whopping 80% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than non-drinkers. Pass the water, please.
Fried Foods
There's been a great deal of hard research (and backlashing controversy from the food industry) over the health effects of fried foods. Various studies around the world have found correlations between fried foods -- particularly meats -- and the prevalence of cancers developing in the body. While many studies have been deemed "inconclusive," a very interesting and recent study in 2010 concluded that well-done meats, especially fried meats, doubled a person's risks for developing bladder cancer compared to those eating meat rare or underdone. The lead author of the study, Professor Xifeng Wu, was reported to state, "These results strongly support what we suspected -- people who eat a lot of red meat, particularly well-done red meat, such as fried or barbecued, seem to have a higher likelihood of bladder cancer." Interestingly enough, fried foods have also been shown in scientific studies to increase the prevalence of asthma in patients.
Fast Food
Fast food contains so little actual food that it may as well be called "fast edibles." Yes, it's edible, alright; we can push it through our gullets and eventually pop it out in the end, but does that qualify it as food? Funny thing about food; it should feed the body (i.e. nourish it in some way). Fast food does anything but nourish; more appropriately, it merely shuts the body up until the next feeding time. For starters, fast food is ridiculously high in fat, calories and sodium. In one study, the average meal purchased by fast food customers surveyed was 827 calories. For those needing a reminder, the average adult needs only 1,800 to 2,000 calories in a full day. That 827-calorie meal is about half the calories most adults need in a day all at once; leaving little room for breakfast, dinner, snacks, dessert and any other foods that actually provide essential nutrients (whole grains, vegetables, fruits and lean protein).
But if you're not a calorie counter, perhaps you care that fast food is laden with artificial ingredients (what's fried chicken made of? Hint: It's not chicken) and preservatives. Take McDonald's scrambled eggs, for example. They're just eggs, right? Sure, if by "just eggs" you're also including sodium acid pyrophosphate, citric acid, monosodium phosphate and nisin (all preservatives), as well as liquid margarine (which is made from liquid soybean oil, water, partially hydrogenated cottonseed and soybean oils [trans fats], salt, hydrogenated cottonseed oil [trans fats], soy lecithin, mono- and diglycerides, sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate [preservatives], artificial flavor, citric acid, vitamin A palmitate and beta carotene [color]). In addition to the copious amounts of preservatives and trans fats in fast food, most chains still rely heavily on monosodium glutamate for the primary seasoning ingredient. While the food industry still tries to rebuff claims that MSG causes migraines, tremors and neurological disorders, organizations like the Mayo Clinic are finally stepping up to verify some of the very legitimate medical warnings for consumers.
White Flour Products
You know to eat your whole grains. But are you still buying Wonderbread for ham sandwiches, dining out for pasta twice a week and indulging in the ever-comforting macaroni and cheese at home? White flour is one of our generation's most dangerous processed foods. We've taken something wholesome and nourishing (the whole grain) and refined it into something nearly unidentifiable to the body, then treated it with chemicals, deodorizers and bleaching agents.
When flour begins its processing journey, it's a whole grain consisting of germ, bran and endosperm. To refine the grain, the germ and bran are stripped off, and most of the fiber, minerals and essential nutrients come off in the process. This refined grain leads to rapid release of insulin from the body when consumed, which leads to an overworked pancreas and an increased storage of fat (leading to both diabetes and obesity). But there are also the bleaching and deodorizing processes that most flour will go through before becoming "white flour." If the idea of your food being treated with chlorine bleach freaks you out, don't worry; it freaks us out, too. And a by-product of this process is a chemical called alloxan that forms in the flour, which has been linked to failure of the pancreas, a failure to produce insulin and the development of type 2 diabetes.
Baked Goods
I'll take a beating for this one, but I'm going there anyways. Most commercially-prepared baked goods are just as bad for you as the aforementioned four "foods," as they contain a number of the same toxins but in the guise of sweet muffins, flaky croissants and buttery muffins. Fast food chains and grocery chain bakeries use roughly the same heap of ingredients for baked treats: Margarines and processed vegetable oils; white flours; refined sugars; and heavy amounts of preservatives and additives. Sound like the same recipe for disaster as with soda, fast food and white bread? It is.
To give commercial baked goods their "buttery, flaky" texture, most are prepared with margarine or processed vegetable oils, which translate into trans fats, those fats we now understand to lead to heart disease and compromised cholesterol levels. Virtually all baked goods are made with white flours (see above for reasons to avoid this food). Those that are labeled as "made with whole grains" must be scrutinized very carefully to see if only 100% whole grains are used or (as in most cases) there are whole grains somewhere in the general long list of ingredients, but while flour still reigns conductor of that muffin train. Furthermore, baked goods are invariably loaded with sugars -- usually bleached, refined white sugar. There's a great read in the New York Times in which the author explores the idea that all sugar is toxic, in any amount, to the body -- highly recommended food for thought. And while some fast food and coffee chains have introduced lines of "mini" baked goods for the health-conscious consumer, these foods are still produced with a grocery list of ingredients most of us can't pronounce. Here's one ingredients listing from a popular coffee chain's piece of pound cake: Sugar, wheat flour, bleached, enriched (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin and folic acid), egg, unsalted butter (pasteurized cream [from milk]), powdered sugar (sugar, cornstarch), water, lemon juice (lemon juice from concentrate [water, concentrated lemon juice], sodium benzoate, sodium metabisulfate and sodium sulfite [preservatives], lemon oil), vegetable shortening (palm and canola oil), emulsifier (propylene esters, mono- and diglycerides, sodium stearoyl lactylate, tricalcium phosphate), nonfat milk, baking powder (sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium bicarbonate, corn starch, monocalcium phosphate), food starch - modified, natural flavor, salt, icing base (dextrose, stearic acid, agar agar, salt, pectin, guar gum, sodium hexametaphosphate), corn syrup, natural butter flavor (maltodextrin, natural butter flavor, annatto and turmeric [for color]), vital wheat gluten, guar gum, xanthan gum, natural lemon oil, beta carotene wsp (maltodextrin, glucose syrup, gum arabic, vegetable oil, tocopherol, vitamin c, beta carotene pure, silicon dioxide), titanium dioxide. may contain pan spray (canola oil, soy lecithin, may contain mineral oil, and/or natural flavor). Hello! Have you made it to this point in the paragraph? Congratulations, you've just reached the end of the ingredients. You've earned your slice of cake. Right.
Folks, the choice is yours. We can eat whatever we want in moderation with the hopes that we're eating just less than enough poison to make our body terminally diseased, and tell ourselves that a bit of spinach with dinner will make all the bad stuff go away. Or we can at least acknowledge that certain foods, in any amount, are slowly doing a disservice to our bodies, and rather than fitting into a "balanced" diet, they're merely small imbalances that, bit by bit, cause our internal structures to become fully imbalanced. My personal conclusion is simple: Eat well, live well.
Follow Kimberley on Twitter @GreenGourmetKim
Image: Frank Morales R
Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff: Food Issues: Corn vs. Sugar Smackdown
lol, just kidding, the one thing all 5 of these ingredients have in common is they are high in calories/gram. overall, the fewer calories you can eat in a nutritionally balanced diet is the best way to go, I would think. As long as I can get enough protein, some fats, and carbs that aren't easily processed by my body, and essential vitamins and minerals without breaking the caloric bank I would call that a healthy diet.
From the literature I’ve read, the big picture to be seen from science is that the path to a healthy life and an appropriate weight includes a variety of foods and beverages and daily physical activity. When exercise is coupled with eating plenty of vegetables, fruits and whole grains, there is no need to ax a soda or a slice of cake from your diet. I counsel my clients, which include individual patients and food and beverage companies like Coca-Cola, that all foods can be enjoyed as a part of a healthy diet in sensible portions.
Surely you know lots of folks are dining on pasta twice a week, and it's whole grain pasta. And many folks do give their kids some version of mac & cheese, made with with whole grain macaroni.
I expected some acknowledgement from you of the great difference between the two types of pasta, and you gave none.
They may well pose threats to the environment, or be objected to on other grounds, but there is no evidence they create health problems.
The thrust of THIS particular article is human health...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/12/monsantos-gmo-corn-linked_n_420365.html
http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/2010/01/01/three-approved-gmos-linked-to-organ-damage/
http://www.grist.org/article/2009-12-16-monsanto-GMO-safety-health
We are forced, in a way, I believe.
Time constraints in the workaday lifestyle force us to consider the most convenient foods possible.
The most convenient foods are almost ALWAYS highly processed.
I think you have to take a 'whole life' approach.
For one thing, carefully choose the way you will be making a living!
Get all the education and training you can.
Consider going into business for yourself.
Make sure you and your life partner are on point.
Train your children.
LEARN HOW to prepare food - especially men (stereotypically) who often just leave it all up to women to feed the fam.
Things like that.
I think most of us know better choices but just can't sometimes.
MOST times!
Nowadays, with what we are exposed to, and the poor choices we are liable to be 'forced' into making, we simply have to 'step up' and take more responsibility for what we eat. How we feed our families.
The rare times I fry, I fry at home in olive oil.
I bake my own breads, cakes, pies and cookies. Bread once a week. The rest a few times a year.
No more soda. No more fast food.
When I buy flour it's Bob's Red Mill stone ground. He has great unbleached bread flour and whole wheat plus a variety of other grains made into flour. If I can't get Red Mill, I'll buy King Arthur.
There should be a sixth and high on the list right after soda: Preprocessed foods such as frozen dinners and canned soups.
When I have to, I'll use lard.
I will on occasion use some butter for flavor. Depends on what I'm frying.
But I don't fry that often so I feel what I use is pretty moot. A few times a year, what does it matter what I use?
Don't you just cringe when folx step up to the counter and order FRIED CHICKEN with PORK FRIED RICE?!!
Not a green vegetable to be seen.
Washed down with soda of course.
OH YES - please fry those wings EXTRA HARD!!
The night out drinking sure works up an appetite!
I'd like to think it's an occasional indulgence, which would be understandable but I doubt it..
They step outside to smoke a cig. while waiting for this meal of death of course - those who are considerate enough to NOT walk in with their cancer stick still burning...
I am talking about REAL issues and what REALLY goes on.
People eat like this and wonder why they are obese.
Cigarettes and alcohol are NUMBER ONE issues and cause people to eat the way they do.
You are just being disrespectful, which is why your comments should be flagged.
"Tune in again" when you get a clue...
I have watched friends and family, some quite conscientious about their diets, die from things "healthy eating" would not shield them from, like cancer and car wrecks. There is more to life than following a prescription diet. There is joy and brief respite from stress, fatigue and plain old hard work. There is the pleasure of savoring a great home cooked southern meal that would probably make you recoil in horror...including the most delicious made-from-scratch coconut cream pie ever touched by mortal hands. There is the exquisite warmth of the first sip of coffee in the morning, sometimes accompanied by a fresh bearclaw.
Sorry, but extending my life a couple of years into Alzheimer's country doesn't compensate for the banal regime you outline, checking my caloric intake each mealtime, or studying the chemical composition the occasional snack I pick up to take off hunger's edge. I don't drink or smoke, I'm fairly fit, and my personal view is that maintaining one's equilibrium, sense of humor, awareness of beauty and joy in those around us are far more important than obsessing over the numerical analysis of our daily bread. Just my two cents.
Tell me why people are now getting cancer and having heart attacks IN THEIR 30's!!
Eat the way you describe and you will NOT live long enough to worry about Alzheimer's for sure.
Just becuz you are not in a hospital bed, does NOT mean you are FIT!
Nowhere did stormsun provide you any conclusive proof that he wasn't fit, or do you assume that he is unfit because he occasionally enjoys Southern food and the occasional doughnut?
You are really smoking something if you think that everyone, or nearly everyone, that eats any amount of the things listed in this article are dropping dead of cancer and heart attacks in their 30s.
Get your hand off the panic button, and think a little objectively.
Good, healthy, natural food does not KILL YOU!!!
Fruit does NOT kill you!
Vegetables do NOT kill you!
The "restricted intake diets" studies used LOW CALORIE (hence "restricted") HIGH NUTRIENT foods.
Natural foods WITH fiber - not the virtually NO fiber foods indicated here.
NOT the impossible to control HIGH FAT LOW FIBER foods mentioned above.
Do the research:
Fat has TWICE the calories per gram than (complex) carbohydrates.
We don't have 50% PLUS obesity in the USA from people eating "too many" fruits and vegetables!
Get REAL!
Get EDUCATED!!
"ALL food is killing you"?
That's just plain ignorant...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11113597
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16011467
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14500985
Regardless of species, given the SAME diet with the ONLY difference being the experimental group given less food than usual, animals lived longer. So yes, ALL food is killing you.