Top 5 Harmful Ingredients You Need To Avoid
Most harmful ingredients
What are some ingredients you would want to avoid in your food? Here are my top 5 harmful ingredients list:
1. High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)
HFCS is much cheaper to produce than sugar which is why you will find it in your soft drinks, processed foods and “junk food” type products. Consuming too mush of HFCS can lead to health problems such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease and more. Therefore limit products that contain HFCS or avoid it completely.
2. Partially hydrogenated oils (Trans fat)
Trans fat is more harmful to your arteries than saturated fat. Food can call themself trans fat free even if they contain up to 0.5 g of trans fat per serving. Therefore read the food labels! If you see hydrogenated on the ingredients list, try to avoid the product.
Most importantly is to find a balance. It doesn’t help your health if you were to choose products with high saturated fat just to avoid a tiny amount of trans fat. Therefore find the balance and consume these products in absolute minimal.
3. Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)
The third on my harmful ingredients list is the monosodium glutamate, also known as MSG. MSG is an excitotoxin, which means it overexcites your cells and may cause brain damage to varying degrees. It can also worsen learning disabilities, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and much more:
- headaches;
- fatigue;
- migraines;
- depression;
- obesity;
- heart irregularities;
- eye damage;
- seizures etc.
MSG makes the food taste much better by very slightly cutting your tongue so that you can taste the robust salty flavor more densely. So MSG is a slow poison that hides behind dozens of names listed here:
- autolyzest yeast;
- calcium caseinate;
- glutamic acid;
- glutamate;
- monopotassium glutamate;
- gelatin;
- yeast extract;
- textured protein;
- yeast nutrient;
- monosodium glutamate;
- natural flavoring;
- sodium caseinate;
- yeast food;
- hydrolyzed protein and more.
Currently labeling standard do not require MSG to be listed on the ingredients list so do pay close attention to the other “names” on the harmful ingredients list.
4. Artificial sweetener
This item on my top 5 harmful ingredients list is 180 times sweeter than sugar. It is also an excitotoxin that accelerates aging and other health problems. Some of the common reported symptoms include:
- brain cancer;
- fatigue;
- memory loss;
- sleep problems;
- headaches;
- accelerate aging;
- dizziness;
- cramps;
- rash;
- diarrhea and more.
Artificial sweeteners are mostly found in products marketed as “sugar free” or “diet”, such as:
- diet sodas;
- chewing gums;
- jellies;
- baked goods;
- ice creams;
- fruit juices.
Artificial sweeteners are attractive alternatives to sugar because they contain no calories (which means no nutritional value), but this does not mean it will not lead to weight gain. This is because artificial sweeteners can increase your appetite which will lead you to eat more.
So if you’re someone who drinks a lot of diet sodas thinking that this will not lead to weight gain, you’re wrong and there are many other health problems that may come with it.
Your best bad is to choose natural sweeteners such as honey, maple syrup and agave nectar. They will help you with your weight loss progress and you will add a lot more nutritional values to your diet.
5. Artificial colourings
The last from my top 5 harmful ingredients to avoid is artificial colourings. They are mostly found in cereals, candies, snack foods, soda drinks and especially in products marketed to children. They will be listed on the ingredients as Blue1, Blue2, Red3, Yellow5, Yellow6 and more.
These colourings do not add any nutritional values and may pose health issues.
My favourite advice:
If you can’t pronounce the ingredients on a product, DON’T EAT IT!
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