20 things you should never eat!

20 things you should never eat!

Eating in the modern world can be difficult, what with all the genetically modified, chemically treated, and inhumanely raised food floating around out there. Sometimes compromising is necessary when it comes to food choices, if only to make the best of the current food crisis.

That said, there are certain foods that my philosophy will simply not allow me to eat. Here are 15 foods that will never touch my lips:

1. Artificial sweeteners and Sugar


Our bodies don't recognize these substances as food, and they tend not to aid weight loss in any meaningful way.

Alternatives: Stevia, rice malt syrup, maple syrup, dates, raw honey (in small amounts).

2. Caged eggs

These come from egg-laying hens confined to cages, meaning they don't have space to move or stretch, and they show more fearful behavior and become prone to skeletal problems.

Alternative: Go for pasture-fed and certified organic instead.

3. Breakfast cereals

Highly processed, having a high glucose index because of the high and hidden sugar content (which causes your blood sugars to drop very quickly after eating them), high in sodium, high in preservatives. Just don't eat them.

4. Farmed salmon

Farmed salmon has a high mercury content and is usually higher in contaminants, including carcinogens, PCBs, brominated flame retardants, and pesticides.

Alternatives: Wild Sockeye salmon.

5. Processed peanut butter

The second ingredient listed is often sugar, which means a large proportion of the peanut butter is sugar!

Alternatives: 10% nut butters found from in health food stores or a health foods section of grocery stores. My favorite is 100% almond butter or ABC (almond, brazil nut and cashew) nut butter. There is also powdered peanut butter.

6. Canned tomatoes

There's tons of hidden salt and sugar! The resin linings of tin cans contain bisphenol-A, a synthetic estrogen that has been linked to ailments ranging from reproductive problems to heart disease, diabetes and obesity. Acidity — a prominent characteristic of tomatoes — causes BPA to leach into your food.

Alternative: Use fresh tomatoes and sauté to make them into tomato sauce.

7. Salted nuts

When nuts come pre-salted, the sodium content is sky high.

Alternatives: Raw and activated nuts and seeds.

8. Pre-packaged or frozen meals

Frozen or pre-packaged meals usually contain hidden sugar, high fructose corn syrup, salt and preservatives.

Alternatives: Home-cooked meals

9. Table salt

Table salt is highly refined, which leaves it with little nutritional value. In high amounts it can be responsible for hypertension.

Alternative: Himalayan pink crystal salt

10. Non-organic dairy

Milk producers treat their dairy cattle with recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH or rBST, as it is also known) to boost milk production. But rBGH also increases udder infections and even pus in the milk. It also leads to higher levels of a hormone called insulin-like growth factor in milk.

Alternatives: Organic milk, almond milk, rice milk, coconut milk

11. Vegetable oil

Most commercial vegetable oils are highly processed and high in trans fats. Saturated fats usually get the blame, but TRANS fats are the ones responsible for the increase in LDL — the bad type of cholesterol that may lead to bad heart health.

Alternatives: Coconut oil, olive oil

12. Packaged, processed bread

Bread you find packaged in supermarkets is typically refined and processed. These loaves are packed with (processed) wheat and gluten that the human digestive system finds very hard to break down. This kind of bread is also high in sodium, and is sometimes even high in sugar!

Alternatives: Ezeekial bread, rye or spelt, sourdough, make your own.

13. Processed meats

The animals that make these products are given growth hormones, antibiotics and other veterinary drugs, and are raised in deplorable conditions that promote disease. These meats are also filled with sodium nitrite (a commonly used preservative and antimicrobial agent that also adds color and flavor) and other chemical flavorings and dyes.

Alternatives: Grass-fed and organic meat

14. Margarine

Margarine is high in trans fats, the fats formed during the process of hydrogenation, which turns liquid vegetable oils into a solid substance.

Alternatives: Organic grass fed butter, grass fed ghee and coconut butter

15. Unfermented soy products

Unfermented soy products, including tofu and soy milk, can mess with your hormones.

Alternatives: Fermented soy such as tempeh, miso and natto.

16. Swordfish

Swordfish is notoriously high in the heavy metal mercury, a potent neurotoxin that can damage developing children and even trigger heart attacks in adults. Aside from obvious health concerns, swordfish is often over fished and some of the gear commonly used to wrangle in swordfish often kills turtles, seabirds, and sharks. Just don’t eat it.

Alternative: Atlantic mackerel

17. Sprouts

Sprouts have been the source of so many major food recalls that they're not worth the risk. Whether bean or broccoli, alfalfa or pea, sprouts have been at the center of at least 40 significant outbreaks of food borne illness over the past 20 years. They're often found to be contaminated with salmonella, E. coli, and listeria; they're vulnerable to contamination because the seeds require moist, warm conditions in order to sprout—conditions that are ideal for bacteria to multiply.

Alternative: Shredded cabbage or carrot

18. Bread

Modern wheat is nothing like the grain your mother or grandmother consumed. Today, wheat barely resembles its original form, thanks to extensive genetic manipulations of the 1960s and '70s to increase yields. "You cannot change the basic characteristics of a plant without changing its genetics, biochemistry, and its effects on humans who consume it. I mean all bread: white, whole wheat, whole grain, sprouted, organic, French, Italian, fresh, day-old…all of it."

Alternative: Quinoa, buckwheat, millet, and wild rice, but in smaller quantities (less than a half cup) because these can also trigger high blood sugar,

19.Corn

Today's corn plants are more like little pesticide factories with roots. Most of the nation's corn supply is genetically engineered.

Alternative: To avoid genetically engineered corn, which has never been tested for long-term impacts on human health, choose organic or Non-GMO Verified foods.

20.White Chocolate

White chocolate's health profile is blank. "The data on the health benefits of cacao is pretty awesome. Much of this is due to a set of amazing phytonutrients that can increase blood flow to the brain, protect blood vessels, and boost mood and focus. White chocolate is missing all this goodness.

Alternative: Dark chocolate. Look for organic versions

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