Prevention is better than cure.

Lately, I've been reading loads of websites related to health in particular, & I've discovered some really helpful tips: 7 MOST UNHEALTHY PROCESSED FOODS THAT YOU SHOULD AVOID.


So, if you're sort of a 50-50 health freak like me: doesn't really eat all things healthily but would at least take note of the very few unhealthy food that you should try to avoid, then yeap, I think you would find this blog post kind of useful ;) hehe.

Alright then, I shall start off with the main topic of my blog post for today then.

1. Avoid Chicken Nuggets: namely the oh-so-famous deep fried chicken McNuggets that you often see in McDonald's. However good that it feels when you take a bite of these, you are actually ingesting more than 50% of fats than what you think you're usually taking in, say, protein. Not only that, these nuggets can also easily be the bomb to all the hard work that you paid off in the gym by burning your calories... & to emphasize on this, their carb portion is made of very unhealthy carbs found in the fillers & breading. 


2. Say no to Soda Pop. There is nothing nutritional about sodas; they are empty calories. To add on to that, they also contain substances that can hurt you. As if sugar wasn't bad enough, almost all sodas today contain high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) as a sweetener and this is a lot times worse than sugar! This substance has been shown to bring damage to the liver as well as causing blood glucose spikes.


3. Try to reduce your intake on Hotdogs & Other Processed Meats. These hot dogs & other highly processed meats on the market contain loads of salt, MSG, sodium nitrate and other preservatives, artificial flavours, cheap unhealthy fillers as well as mechanically separated meat and poultry. Most of us don't realise that mechanically separated meat has been so highly processed under extreme heat & pressure that whatever nutritional value it had initially just begin to lost during processing. Usually, the proteins that the meat contain initially becomes denatured under these extreme industrial conditions. Thus, if you definitely have a craving for a hot dog, try to look for nitrate-free organic hot dogs with no preservations, artificial flavours or meat by-products.


4. Cut down on buying Store Bought Cookies, Cakes, Muffins & Crackers. Beyond the obvious high levels of sugar & salt, most of these products fall under the same category as they contain trans fat. These trans fat is much cheaper than usual healthy fats, thus this make them more profitable as well. & this type of fats is usually known to be harmful to our health as it will bring terrible side effects in a long run. To know whether the products that you buy contain these type of trans fat, take note at the label of the products before you purchase them. Usually the ingredient list contains the word "Hydrogenated" or "Partially Hydrogenated" if the product actually consists of trans fat. Hence, look out for these words when you do your grocery shopping!


5. Reduce your intake on Breakfast Cereals. Most of the popular breakfast cereals like Koko Krunch, Milo, Honey Stars & so on, are actually fortified with vitamins & minerals. What does it means to be fortified? Well, fortified means that the vitamins are artificially added during the processing of the food. For example, these fortified cereals often add a form of Vitamin D that is not easily used by the human body. Therefore, it's usually pointless to feed on these breakfast cereals when they don't really give your body the nutritions that it needs. In addition, most breakfast cereals are loaded with sugar, or even worse, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). As previously discussed in no. 2, the immense amount of side effects that this HFCS can potentially bring to our health is undeniably a nightmare. Thus, I think people like me who used to take breakfast cereals on a daily basis should start finding other healthier alternatives as a substitute to my usual breakfast meal before heading for classes. 


6. Avoid taking Granola Bars. You may be surprised to see that granola bars is actually on the list of the 7 most unhealthy processed foods. But yes, the granola bars that you often see on the market are exceptionally deceptive. The marketing has been feeding people with the wrong information & impression about granola bars being exceptionally healthy food when in truth, they are just as bad as the 5 listed food above. Regardless of what you see on the front of the packaging or hear in the commercials about how healthy it is, almost every brand of granola bars contain high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Again, the same as the processed food listen on no. 2 & 5. If you don't believe this fact, try hopping into any supermarket and finding a box of granola bars that don't contain this harmful ingredient! Even if they say they are made of honey or maple syrup, try reading the ingredient label. Some will put only a tiny bit of honey or maple syrup for flavour, but most of the sweetness is still derived from HFCS. 


7. Avoid taking Pre-Made Condiments and Salad Dressings. Most condiments & salad dressings contain HFCS as this is a really cheap way food manufacturers can add bulk to their product and improve the flavour with very little cost. Not only that, many also contain trans fats & food additives like MSG. Thus, under this factor, even a healthy fresh vegetable salad can immediately become an unhealthy meal if an unhealthy dressing is added to it. Therefore, one of the ways is to simply make your own condiments and salad dressings where you can control the ingredients however you like. 

All in all, one of the healthiest steps that we all can take in improving our health is by eliminating, or AT LEAST, significantly reducing the processed foods that we eat.

Want to lead a healthy & long life? Well, the choice is entirely in your hands! Now that you've already know what sort of processed foods are harmful to you, you can choose to avoid it or eliminate them out of your diet completely once & for all. ;) So, I think that's all for today! I hope this blog post didn't bore you and I hope it's been helpful for some of you.


XX KRYSTALH