We all have to eat to live. Not much going around that. The problem is that food can kill you, too. A hard fact to accept, but it’s true.
We all know that not eating will eventually suck the life right out of you, but most folks forget that eating foods that are unhealthy will do the same thing. (it’ll just take longer). So, one more pleasant reminder that nutrition can be a little tricky at times. And I know what you’re thinking.
Thanks a lot, guy…
But don’t worry because here’s some good news: I’m not here to scare you into submitting to the hordes of spear wielding Paleo dieters, or to convert you to the strange religious cult called Veganism – or even to tell you to give up your favorite food.
Nope, not today.
Instead, I’m simply going to provide a list of Eight Foods that Will Eventually Kill You. Do with it what you will, and don’t worry if you’re not convinced to drastically cut your consumption of these items.
Because they won’t kill you.
(Yet).
It will take a while and, in the meantime, you’ll be able to get really good at Words with Friendsor Angry Birds.
Because getting off the couch and getting in shape is for chumps.
But you’re not a chump, are you.
Read on life seeker. Read on.
1. Fruit Juice
I squirm when I walk the juice section of the grocery store these days. I can’t look at fruit juice anymore. We had a falling out a while back.
And now I wonder how I ever fell for its charms in the first place…
That’s because this crap is gut-wrenchingly bad for you!!
And the reasons are pretty simple:
The majority of fruit juices are full of sugar. And I’m not talking about fructose. Nope, a ton of “fruit” juices are flavored with artificial sweeteners and contain very little of anything that could be traced back to an actual real piece of fruit. When these sugars pile up in your system, they like any other excess carbs in the body increase insulin resistance, cholesterol levels, body weight, etc. That would be almost semi-excusable for very active people who watched their carb intake throughout the rest of the day if “fruit” juices contained beneficial things like fiber and antioxidant levels equivalent to those found in real fruit. But of course, that’s not the case.
Fruit punch flavored “fruit” juices in particular can be pretty bad – and full of more high fructose corn syrup than should be legal – but even nicely packaged Orange juice options are mostly a no-go.
So ditch the Simply Orange and make things really simple on yourself: grab a REAL orange!
>>> Read this: 5 Super Fruits to Burn Fat – Start Eating Them!
2. Sausage
Ah, the simple pleasures in life…
Sunsets, drinks with friends, the beach, camping.
Waking up to a big, warm, lumberjack-worthy breakfast of pancakes, eggs, bacon, and – wait for it – Sausage.
Warm belly. Big smile. Maybe the hangover is even starting to fade…
Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you better bask in that glowing breakfast-induced warmth now young chap (or chapette) because you need to learn to live without it – ASAP.
Well, at least the sausage that is. You can spare the other faire, but the processed meat that people love to chow with a mind-blowingly satisfying breakfast or on a bun with onions at the summer ball game has to go.
As if sausage and other processed meats weren’t already bad enough for you, they’ve recently been discovered to increase your risk of colon cancer by a whopping 40 (FORTY) percent!
Based on the same research they likely increase your risk of developing other cancers as well. (just in case getting your butthole ravaged by a cell-eating, tissue-destroying disease wasn’t enough to convince you to ditch sausage for good).
Yea…
3. Anything from The Olive Garden
I like Italian food as much as the next guy but that doesn’t mean I have a giant walrus-esque belly like Tony Soprano. I also don’t wear those stupid poker shirts that only guys with said belly (or Charlie Sheen) don incessantly.
Moreover, I also want you to know that I never eat at The Olive Garden. And I feel strongly that you shouldn’t either. Not only because the food is bad for you (sky high sodium and fat levels, artificial preservatives, and absurdly high carb levels in everything on the menu), but also because of their blatantly dishonest marketing.
Their commercials show a warm young brunette flitting by a table to take the orders from a large group of smiling, healthy- looking, and just-slightly-wine-buzzed people, while a warm flag stone fireplace holds a small fire softly in the background. The advertisement ends with the phrase “When you’re here you’re family” uttered in a warm tone and layered across the screen in friendly green font.
Don’t fall for their tricks. They got it wrong. They lied.
When you’re here you’re fucked.
4. Diet Soda
If you’ve been under the impression that diet soda is better than regular soda, the new research out there won’t make you happy. For a while, people did get caught up in the notion that diet soda was a fairly safe way to go, and it made sense. After all, it was low (or no) calorie and that was the main problem with typical soda drinks, right?
Not quite. The problem with diet soda is that while it eliminates most of the calories that are found in traditional soda, it replaces them with more chemicals to provide that token sweet soda taste. These chemicals including one you’ve probably heard of called Aspartame in particular, are things that your body has trouble metabolizing. They have been found to be very toxic to the body’s cells and can cause many detrimental side effects, among them depletion of calcium and increased heart attack risk. There are many, many more toxic side effects to these chemicals but I’d be here all day (literally) if I decided to enumerate them.
The other major issue with diet soda and the reason that people who drink it are heavier than those who don’t is that the sweet (albeit calorie free) taste causes the body to release insulin, and react the same way that it would had you eaten a piece of chocolate cake. Turns out you can’t trick your body and snag a “get out of jail free card” for weight gain when it comes to artificially sweetened drinks.
5. White Sugar
Man, this one is a doozy…
But you knew that, right?
Depending on your age and your generation, you’ve always viewed white sugar as at least semi-bad. You probably knew that too much of it would make you feel sick, get a head rush, or both. And you knew your mom was looking out for you (as opposed to just trying to be obnoxious) when she told you to go easy on the cookies.
Fast forward to 2018 and we now realize that white sugar is truly toxic to our systems (ref). Sugar molecules literally bounce around inside your body like little rocks, damaging the insides of your veins, collagen, and organs. Researchers have now linked sugar to everything from skin wrinkles, to heart disease, to diabetes, cancer and more.
The problem with quitting this crap is that, well, it’s hard. The stuff is addicting and it’s designed to be that way. I recommend cutting down on it gradually, and if necessary, replacing white sugar (and also aspartame if you’re taking that stuff also) with “safer” sugar substitutes like Xylitol or Agave nectar. You can also use Alpha Lipoic Acid for it’s glucose clearing effects and other positive benefits on the body. See Alpha Lipoic Acid for Reducing Body Fat and Slowing Aging for more info.
6. White Bread
See white sugar.
Another food that (if you’re a little older) you may have eaten a fair bit of growing up. And, if you’re younger, maybe not so much. Be happy if you fall into the latter category and regardless of who you are, don’t eat this crap.
The main problem with white bread (and some other types of bread for that matter) is the “fortification” process. Basically, most of the vitamins and minerals are removed from the bread’s raw materials before they are put together to actually make the final product. Factories “refortify” the bread during the latter part of the bread making process, but there’s only one problem:
The vitamins and minerals that were “put back” into the bread don’t really “stick” and your body has a hard time extracting them from this crap when you digest it.
So you end of getting a high-glycemic stack of crap that is almost as bad for you as:
7. Donuts
Yep, Donuts.
What healthy breakfast would be complete without one of these bad boys? And of course if you’re a coffee drinker you know how well that Java pairs with these doughy treats.
But, of course, you also know how damn horrendous these things are for your health, your physique, and, well, every part of your soul. If there was a country called “Bad Food Nation” and it was run by an evil pudgy, dictator, then the donut would be in charge.
Massive amounts of fat, sugar, carbs, and very little beneficial nutrients.
Need I say more?
8. Java Chip Frappuccinos
I have trouble at times admitting to myself how bad these things are for you. Because like fruit juice, I used to partake in the occasional iced coffee drink. This was many years ago, and at the time I (not knowing what I know now) still had a hunch that they were unhealthy. I always just felt a little guilty drinking them and tried to justify it to myself by telling the old me that it was like having a milkshake. Not a lot of healthy ingredients in it. A milkshake every once in a while won’t kill you, and you gotta splurge once in a while, right?
While I still agree with the sentiment ‘ you DO need to have fun and eat whatever you want’ once in a blue moon . I wasn’t entirely accurate in my appraisal of said Frappuccino. In fact, I was way off.
The truth is that these things are probably WORSE for you than milkshakes…
Here are the sobering stats on this monster health-destroyer:
– 600 calories (200 calories from fat!)
– 23 gm fat
– 14 gm saturated fat
– 96 gm carbs
– 77 gmsugar!
Are you sh**ting me?!?!
Give these things up if you drink them and you want to live. It doesn’t get much simpler than that.
And if you really fee like eating crap, go chow a whopper and you’ll be getting something that’s not good for you but still about ten times healthier than a crappuccino
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