It takes more than just exercise to be your healthiest. We understand that at Rising Fitness in Houston, TX and include both nutrition and exercise in our program. What you eat makes a huge difference in your health. If you’re constantly consuming junk food and highly processed foods, you won’t have the building blocks to become your fittest and may even be sabotaging your goals to be healthier. It’s more than just empty calories you’re consuming, there are other reasons highly processed food should not be part of your diet.
Sugar is one reason processed foods are so bad.
Whether it’s high fructose corn syrup—HFC, sucrose, or one of the other 56 names for sugar, it’s not good for your body, even if it’s natural. Sugar can cause blood pressure to rise, lead to obesity, diabetes, cancer, heart disease and dental carriers. The vast majority of highly processed foods contain sugar, even ones you wouldn’t suspect. Food you might think of as healthy, since it’s labeled low fat, may have the fat removed, but it’s replaced with sugar to make it taste better. All take a toll on your health.
Highly processed foods contain man-made additives that affect your body.
If you read the labels of many processed foods, you’ll notice that it’s like reading a chemistry book. Many of the additives are made in the lab. For instance, HFC isn’t natural, no matter what the commercial says. It’s created by adding an enzyme produced by bacteria to the glucose from potatoes or corn to increase fructose, then added to pure corn syrup. The new sugar is between 43 and 55% fructose and the rest glucose. Other types of sugar are unhealthy, but this Frankenstein sugar affects your body even worse because it’s put in a high percentage of processed foods.
It’s also about what processed foods don’t contain.
Processing takes out a lot of nutrients and removes the benefits from the whole food. For instance, refined flour has had bran and germ, leaving only the endosperm. While all the parts of wheat have some nutrients, the part that’s left, the endosperm, is mostly starchy carbohydrates to provide energy. The bran that’s removed is high in fiber, antioxidants and B vitamins, while the germ has healthy fat, protein, B vitamins and minerals. Food with processed flour not only has fewer nutrients, but it has also less fiber to keep you feeling full longer. Since many highly processed foods are high in additives, sugar and refined flour, they pose a triple threat.
- The use of enzymes from bacteria has been increased dramatically in the last 30 years, and so has the problem of obesity. Much of that has come from HFCS. Is the connection to the enzymes or the HFCS?
- Processed meats, like hot dogs and luncheon meat have preservatives that increase shelf life. The nitrates used can increase blood pressure and cause health issues, like increased risk of diabetes and obesity.
- Much of the fiber and healthy fat has been removed from processed foods. Both fiber and fat help you feel fuller longer. Fiber helps prevent blood sugar spikes and healthy fat is necessary to burn body fat.
- It’s not just processed food, but also processed drinks that can affect your health. Even if you opt for diet drinks, studies show it can increase visceral fat, the fat around the midsection that’s most dangerous to your health.
For more information, contact us today at Rising Fitness Gym