Cut down on processed foods, 2017 will be way more healthy for you
Processed foods have taken over our life. They symbolise convenience and comfort. But just rely on common sense a bit, and see what it tells you. Doesn’t it scream out loud that eating out of packets, cans and tins, all the time is a bad idea, a “really” bad idea.
According to the World Health Organization too, processed foods are to blame for the spike in obesity levels and chronic diseases around the world.
Let me just spell out some of the common pitfalls of relying too much on them, to help you decide to trim them off your diet come New Year.
Too many chemicals
It’s not the mechanical processing (grinding and packing a food for example) that’s the problem, but it is the chemical processing, where artificial chemicals are added for reasons like improving taste, boosting shelf life, deodorising, masking lack of another ingredient (like sugar in fat-free foods), bleaching, and cutting costs, that is the problem. It is these additives - preservative, colourants, flavour adders, texturants - that cause trouble.
Red Flag: For example perfluoroalkyls are just one class of chemicals found in microwave popcorn bags that are linked to kidney damage. There are harmful metal chemicals in the drinks stored in PET bottles which are carcinogenic.
Cancerous and thyroid-affecting additives (potassium bromate and potassium iodate) have been found in multiple bread brands. Tartrazine, a synthetic lemon yellow azo dye, is found commonly in everything from sweets and orange drinks to cereals, chips, marmalades and more.
Too much salt
Our body needs just 500 milligrams of sodium everyday, but intake till about 2,400 milligrams per day for an adult is also acceptable. Yet, most of us easily consume around 3,000-4,000 milligrams of sodium a day, often much-much more. And most of this comes hidden in the processed foods we eat. Just read the labels and you’d know what I mean.
 |
| Beware of salt. (Photo: India Today) |
Red flag: Excess sodium is responsible for strokes, calcium deficiencies, weight gain, fluid retention and even stomach ulcers. Not to mention the fact that it is a leading cause of high blood pressure and thus contributes to the risk of heart and kidney diseases.
Too much sugar
Sugar is a hidden toxin that we are unwittingly consuming at an astoundingly high and unhealthy level. The processed foods are loaded with sugar… the packaged juices, flavoured yoghurts, canned fruits, cereal bars, chocolates, cookies, aerated drinks (a regular can of cola of about 350 ml has about 40 gram - or ten teaspoons - of sugar), granola, sports drinks, even ketchup and salad dressings… for example look up the label of any of the biscuits; sugar often makes up to about 1/3rd of the ingredients’ weight. And that’s a lot of sugar.
So read the labels carefully. Added sugars include all kinds of sugars and syrups that are put in a product during processing to make it taste better. Look out for raw sugar, glucose, honey, lactose, maltose, molasses, high fructose corn syrup, sorbitol, brown sugar, fructose, fruit juice concentrate or sucrose.
Red flag: Every 5 gm of sugar adds an extra 20 calories, and slowly these calories add up and lead to weight gain, which is a direct risk factor for diabetes, heart disease and even liver problems. Too much sugar also downs the immunity and by upsetting the body's mineral balance also makes the bones weak, as well as leading to more acid formation in the mouth which means dental troubles.
Finally...
Processed foods are addictive, because they are made such - to attack the reward centre of the brain (and not really to provide nutrition). So be careful, take a good look at what you are eating, and begin pruning them from your diet.
A blanket ban is not possible, and not even needed, but just a bit of pruning will help. So watch closely both the portions and frequency of the processed foods that you consume. Maybe make a rule like - one/two processed foods a day. No more! That’ll be a good start.
This habits series concludes here.