FOOD

20 Foods That Are Bad For Your Health (Avoid Them!)

Added sugar is the single worst ingredient in the modern diet.

However, some sources of sugar are worse than others, and sugary drinks are the absolute worst.

When people drink sugar calories, the brain doesn't "register" them as food.

For this reason, people don't automatically compensate by eating less of other foods instead, and end up drastically increasing their total calorie intake (1, 2, 3).

Sugar, when consumed in large amounts, can drive insulin resistance in the body and is strongly linked to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. It is also associated with various serious diseases, including type 2 diabetes and heart disease (4, 5, 6).

Sugary drinks are also THE most fattening aspect of the modern diet, and drinking them in large amounts can drive fat gain and obesity (7, 8, 9).

Alternatives: Drink water, soda water, coffee or tea instead. Adding a slice of lemon to water or soda water can add some taste if you don't like it plain.

1. Sugary Drinks

2. Most Pizzas

Pizza is one of the world's most popular junk foods.

This is not surprising, given that it tastes awesome and is incredibly convenient to eat.

The problem is that most commercially prepared pizzas are made with seriously unhealthy ingredients.

The dough is made from highly refined wheat flour, and the meats on them are usually processed. Pizza is also extremely high in calories.

Alternatives: Some pizza places use healthier ingredients. Homemade pizzas can also be very healthy, as long as you choose wholesome ingredients.

3. White Bread

Bread is generally made from wheat, which contains the protein gluten.

For this reason, all wheat-based breads are a bad idea for people who have celiac disease or gluten sensitivity.

However, most commercial breads are unhealthy, even for people who do tolerate gluten.

This is because the great majority of them are made from refined wheat, which is low in essential nutrients (empty calories) and leads to rapid spikes in blood sugar (10).

Alternatives: For people who can tolerate gluten, ezekiel bread is an excellent choice. Whole grain bread is also definitely better (or "less bad") than white bread.

4. Most Fruit Juices

Fruit juice is often assumed to be healthy, but this is a mistake.

Many fruit juices are actually little more than fruit-flavored sugar water.

It is true that the juice contains some antioxidants and vitamin C, but this must be weighed against the large amount of liquid sugar.

In fact, fruit juice contains just as much sugar as a sugary drink like Coke or Pepsi, and sometimes even more (11).

Alternatives: There are some fruit juices that have been shown to have health benefits despite the sugar content, such as pomegrenate juice and blueberry juice.

However, these should be considered as supplements, not something you drink every day to quench thirst. Drink water instead.

5. Industrial Vegetable Oils

In the last 100 years or so, people have increased their consumption of added fats.

However, this is entirely explained by a drastic increase in the consumption of refined vegetable oils, such as soybean oil, corn oil, cottonseed oil and canola oil.

These oils are very high in omega-6 fatty acids, which humans never consumed in such large amounts before.

There are many serious concerns with these oils. They are highly sensitive to oxidation and cause increased oxidative stress in the body. They have also been linked to increased risk of cancer (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19).

Alternatives: Use healthier fats like coconut oil, butter, extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil instead.

6. Margarine

Margarine used to be considered a healthy alternative to butter.

Fortunately, most people have now realized that this is far from being true.

Margarine is a highly processed pseudo-food that has been engineered to look and taste like butter.

It is loaded with artificial ingredients, and is usually made with industrial vegetable oils that have been hydrogenated to make them more solid. This increases their trans fat content significantly.

Keep in mind that manufacturers are allowed to label their products with "no trans fat" as long as it contains less than 0.5 grams per serving, which is still a significant amount.

Alternatives: Use real butter instead, preferably from grass-fed cows.

7. Pastries, Cookies and Cakes

Most pastries, cookies and cakes are extremely unhealthy.

They are generally made with refined sugar, refined wheat flour and added fats, which are often disturbingly unhealthy fats like shortening (high in trans fats).

These tasty treats are literally some of the worst things that you can put into your body. Almost no essential nutrients, but tons of calories and unhealthy ingredients.

8. French Fries and Potato Chips

Whole, white potatoes are very healthy.

However, the same can NOT be said of the products that are made from them, such as french fries and potato chips.

These foods are very high in calories, and it is easy to eat excessive amounts. Several studies link consumption of french fries and potato chips with weight gain (20, 21).

These foods may also contain large amounts of acrylamides, carcinogenic substances that form when potatoes are fried, baked or roasted (22, 23).

Alternatives: Potatoes are best consumed boiled, not fried. If you need something crunchy to replace potato chips, try baby carrots or nuts.

9. Gluten-Free Junk Foods

Gluten-free is all the rage these days.

About a third of people in the US are actively trying to avoid gluten, according to a 2013 survey (24).

The problem with many gluten-free diets, is that people replace the gluten-containing foods with processed junk foods that happen to be gluten-free.

These gluten-free replacement products are often high in sugar, unhealthy oils and refined grains like corn starch or tapioca starch. These refined starches lead to rapid spikes in blood sugar, and are extremely low in essential nutrients.

Alternatives: Choose foods that are naturally gluten-free, like unprocessed plants and animal foods. Gluten-free junk food is still junk food.

10. Agave Nectar

Agave nectar is a sweetener that is often marketed as healthy.

However, agave nectar is not as healthy as some people think. It is a highly refined sweetener that is extremely high in fructose.

High amounts of fructose from added sweeteners (not whole fruit) can be absolutely disastrous for health (25).

The truth is, agave is even higher in fructose than other sugars.

Whereas table sugar contains 50% fructose, and high fructose corn syrup around 55%, agave nectar is 85% fructose (26).

Alternatives: Stevia and erythritol are healthy, natural and calorie free. There is a list of several several healthy and natural sweeteners in this article.

11. Low-Fat Yogurt

Yogurt can be incredibly healthy.

Unfortunately, most yogurts found in the grocery store are extremely bad for you.

They are frequently low in fat, but loaded with sugar to make up for the lack of taste that the fats provided.

Put simply, the yogurt has had the healthy, natural dairy fats removed, only to be replaced with something much, much worse.

Additionally, many yogurts don't actually contain probiotic bacteria, as generally believed. They have often been pasteurized after fermentation, which kills all the bacteria.

Alternatives: Choose regular, full-fat yogurt that contains live or active cultures (probiotics). If you can get your hands on it, choose yogurt from grass-fed cows.

12. Low-Carb Junk Foods

Low-carb diets are very popular these days, and have been for several decades.

There are plenty of real foods that you can eat on a low-carb diet, most of which are very healthy.

However, this is not true of processed low-carb replacement products, such as low-carb candy bars and meal replacements.

These are generally highly processed foods that contain very little actual nutrition, just a bunch of artificial ingredients mixed together and then sold as food.

Alternatives: If you're on a low-carb diet, eat foods that are naturally low in carbs. Low-carb junk food is still junk food.

13. Ice Cream

Ice cream is one of the most delicious foods on the planet.

Unfortunately, it is also one of the unhealthiest. Most commercial ice cream is loaded with sugar.

Ice cream is also high in calories, and it is very easy to eat excessive amounts. Eating it for dessert is even worse, because then you're adding it all on top of your total calorie intake.

Alternatives: It is possible to make your own ice cream using healthier ingredients and significantly less (or no) sugar.