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

New information is available on other websites. I make no claims that this information is the most up to date. Please do further research for yourself.

10 Healthiest Paleo Foods

10 Healthiest Paleo Foods

Broccoli - Broccoli is one of the healthiest foods you can eat on any diet plan, including the Paleo diet. It will provide you with fiber, vitamins, minerals, and even some protein. Always choose organic.

Chicken Breast - Boneless, skinless chicken breast is loaded with protein, and is low in fat, not that we’re counting fat grams on Paleo. Free range or pasture raised is always the best.

Salmon - You’ll get a big boost in omega-3s from one serving of salmon, as well as tons of protein. Most health experts recommend eating it a few times a week, which is totally in line with the Paleo plan. Try it baked with fresh herbs and lemon.  When buying any fish look for wild caught.

Kale - This may be one of the trendier vegetables these days, but that shouldn’t deter you from eating it, as it contains plenty of vitamins and minerals, as well as fiber and some protein Kale chips are arguably the tastiest way to eat kale. Always organic whenever possible.

Apples - Nothing forbidden about this fruit. Apples are one of the healthier foods you can eat, and there are a recommended fruit on the Paleo diet. Try them every which way you can think of.

Almonds - Almonds provide a satisfying crunch, plenty of healthy fats, and fiber to help your digestion. Raw almonds or nuts are the best.

Grass-fed Beef - Keep your beef lean and you’ll be getting a high-quality protein and plenty of minerals without as much fat and cholesterol. 90% lean is a good place to be if you go the ground beef route.

Spinach - This should be your leafy green of choice, and can be used in a number of ways. The easiest way to consume? Add it to a smoothie to make it green and boost your intake of fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Organic and non GMO.

Olive Oil - You’ll get plenty of healthy fats when you use olive oil. It will likely end up being your go-to oil for Paleo cooking.  When buying olive oil try and get virgin olive oil. You can also use coconut oil as well.

Beets - There’s a specific antioxidant in beets called betalains, and these are pretty much exclusive to beets, making them an important part of your Paleo meal plan. Think organic or fresh from a farm stand when purchasing your vegetables.

New information is available on other websites. I make no claims that this information is the most up to date. Please do further research for yourself.

7 Myths of the Paleo Lifestyle

7 Paleo Myths

Myth 1: Paleo is All About the Meat –Perhaps it’s the medias love to portray the Paleo diet as a cartoon version of itself, complete with cavemen in loincloths eating huge hunks of meat.  But hunters and gatherers most likely relied on the gathering more than the hunting, as there’s no way to guarantee you’d be able to successfully find and bring down an animal to eat. If you look at the plate of a typical Paleo meal, you’ll see mostly plants: a large serving of non-starchy vegetables and a serving of a starchy tuber like sweet potato, some fruit or nut seeds and then a serving of meat fish or poultry

Myth 2: Paleo is a Short-Term Solution - Some think that you just go on Paleo for a few weeks, or maybe a few months, and then you’re done. But the Paleo diet is meant to be followed for as long as you want to have extra energy and a slim waistline. There is nothing short term about living a healthy lifestyle.

Myth 3: Paleo is a Fad –This one cracks me up frankly, It’s so easy in our modern times to write off diet plans as a fad, because there are several more introduced to the market each week. But thinking of something that dates back over 10,000 years as a fad is a bit silly.

Myth 4: Paleo is Bad for Your Heart Because of All the Fat and Cholesterol - Paleo isn’t about choosing the fattiest meats you can find and eating unlimited quantities of them. You’ll be choosing lean grass fed meat and eating healthy portions of it, combined with plenty of vegetables as well as fruit. Due to the animals eating out in the pasture and nothing possessed or by product based the meat is actually the best you can consume.

Myth 5: Paleo Is Hard to Stick With - Because of all that excludes, dairy, grains, legumes, refined sugars, Paleo has been labeled as a hard diet to stick with. But when you consider that there are Paleo recipes that show you how to make snacks, appetizers, soups, salads, and main dishes that rival what you’ll find in restaurants, it’s actually an easy diet to stick with because you’re eating real food. A general rule of thumb, the sicker you are the stricter the food selection.

Myth 6: Paleo Shopping is Expensive - With all of the specialty items like grass-fed beef and organic meats, fruits, and vegetables, Paleo is sometimes referred to as being prohibitively expensive. But when you factor in the money you’ll be saving from not buying fast food, junk food, and other packaged and processed foods, it comes out about even, and Paleo might just be a more economical way to live. Bottom line, in the long run you pay for quality food or pay the doctor, medications and nursing homes later because of poor food selection.

Myth 7: You Can Have All-You-Can-Eat Bacon on Paleo - You’ll see bacon used in many Paleo recipes for no other reason than this is a diet plan that allows you to have bacon. But you’ll still want to take it easy with bacon, and make sure you’re getting a big serving of vegetables whenever you eat it. You can buy organic bacon and use that as well.