subject: 7 Foods That Will Keep You From Losing Weight [print this page] Packaged and processed foodstuff are not exactly the healthiest to consume. A closer look at the ingredients of these commonly bought food items will show you that quite a number of them contain substances that are harmful to the health. Trans fat is one such substance. It is also known as partially hydrogenated oil. It is used in food manufacturing to increase the shelf life of food products as well as to improve their taste and texture. Unfortunately, trans fats raise the bad (LDL) cholesterol levels and lower the good (HDL) cholesterol levels. These oils increase your risk of developing heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes.
Below is a list of nine foods to eliminate from your diet and shopping list. They are laden with calories, unhealthy fats and sodium or salt substances that will not only destroy your health but will also put you on the path to obesity.
1. Cola products - Cola based products are loaded with sugar, corn syrup and other sweeteners which make them very fattening. A twelve ounce can usually contains about 150 calories. What makes it worse is the fact that high calories in liquid form, (such as cola products), also leads to overeating. As if all that wasn't enough, the sugar in these drinks also promote the development of cavities.
2. Doughnuts - Doughnuts are low in nutrients and very high in calories. They are made of sugar and white flour and fried in trans fat. This favorite breakfast choice has 300 calories and contains 19 grams of fat, very fattening and very unhealthy indeed.
3. Fried Chicken - Fast food restaurants fry their chicken in trans fat because this oil can be used over and over. Aside from the fact that trans fats have been known to cause cancer and other serious diseases, frying allows the oil to seep into the chicken saturating it with calories. A ten-piece chicken nugget from any popular fast food restaurant has about 500 calories, 300 grams of fat and over 1000 milligrams of sodium. Obviously, eating fried chicken regularly is the fastest way to obesity.
4. Sugary Cereals - Sugar is probably the main saboteur of weight loss diets. Avoid any cereal with sugar or a sugar substitute as the main ingredient. Look out for words like "sweetened" or "dyed", they are a sign to you that a cereal is no good. Unfortunately, most children's cereals are so highly processed that they practically have no nutritional value. A better choice is oatmeal with honey or agave syrup. When buying pre-package oatmeal however, examine the label and find out how much sugar it contains. Do not buy any cereal if sugar is listed as its first ingredient. A healthy alternative is real grain cereal which you can sweeten with fresh fruit such as blueberries or strawberries.
5. Processed Meats - Hotdogs, ham, bacon are all processed meats and we love them. Unfortunately, most of them contain sodium nitrite which is used as a preservative. Findings from a recent study show a 67% increase in pancreatic cancer among people who frequently consume moderate amounts of processed meat(Pulse; 4/23/2005, Vol. 65 Issue 16, p10). Saturated fats were once thought to be the culprits but more and more research point not to saturated fats themselves but to what is actually in those fats that as being toxic and harmful to the health.
A recent study done at the University of Hawaii found that sodium nitrite often acts as a precursor to potent chemicals that speed up the production of cancer cells. Always check the labels of the meat products that you buy. Avoid those which lists sodium nitrite as a main ingredient.
6. Cafe Mocha from Starbucks - This popular drink is made with whole milk and whipped cream, both of which are heavily laden with calories. It is not surprising then that a glass of this coffee concoction contains 450 calories and 13 grams of bad fat. To make matters worse, it also has a lot of sugar and caffeine, two other substances notorious for wreaking havoc on the health.
7. Monosodium glutomate (MSG) - Although this ingredient is positioned as a preservative, it does something else which most people are not aware of. MSG actually stimulates the appetite thereby causing you to eat more than you should. Aside from this there are many studies which show that MSG is addictive. There are many diets that tell dieters to simply avoid foods that contain MSG. However, this advice is very misleading because MSG goes by many aliases which include: monopotassium glutamate, glutamic acid, anything that says hydrolyzed (such as hydrolyzed vegetable protein), anything that says Autolized, Calcium caseinate, Sodium caseinate, Yeast extract, Soy protein, wheat protein, whey protein, anything with fortified protein, Textured protein, Gelatin, Soy sauce, Barley malt, malt extract, maltodextrin, Corn syrup, corn starch, dextrose and Citric acid.
The Food and Drug Administration has ordered food manufacturers who make food products that contain MSG to use the same name on the product label. However, if a product contains an ingredient that has MSG like hydrolyzed vegetable protein for example, the common name has to be listed and not MSG. It would be wise to be familiar with MSG's other names so you would be able to identify it immediately when you see it on a product label. If a product lists MSG or its other forms as an ingredient, put it back on the shelf.
If you have been dieting and still not losing weight, or have been gaining weight but could not understand why, perhaps you should be a little bit more wary about the hidden calories and ingredients in the food products that you buy.
by: Charles Volcolatte
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