8 Foods to Eliminate from Your Diet Today
January 12, 2012
•Le Cordon Bleu
•Portland
• 0 Comments
8 Foods to Eliminate from Your Diet Today
Barely into 2012, New Year’s resolutions are still in the forefront of many of our minds. Eating healthier, whether for our overall health or as part of a weight loss program, is one of the most common promises we make collectively as Americans as each year fades into the next. It’s sometimes hard to know what a healthy food is with so many conflicting reports in the food service industry and the health world in general these days. We are going to help clear up the confusion. Here are eight foods that you should never let cross your lips. While some may seem obvious, others have hidden health hazards you may have never considered.
1. Olestra: Sadly, many things that seem too good to be true are. Such is the case with olestra, the no-fat, fat alternative. Unfortunately, this compound became famous not for offering a great health alternative, but actually quite the opposite. In effect, it is a fat but one that cannot be broken down by the body and therefore passes right through without absorption. Unfortunately, in the process it wrecks havoc on the digestive system and sends nearly everything else out along with it. While it is still used in some products today, it should be avoided at all costs.
2. Chips: Chips are not healthy to begin with and often lead to mindless snacking. There are no real nutritional benefits offered and some are even frequently misleading. Those labeled at “light” or “healthier” sometimes lure us to eat even more than we normally would simply because they are supposed to be “better” for us. Others have a reduced serving size listed, skewing the nutritional information. It’s best to avoid these altogether. Put down the chips and pick up the veggie slices instead, your body and waistline will thank you.
3. Liquid Meals: One of the worst mistakes dieters make is getting on the liquid meal kick. It’s hard to pack all the essentials of a full meal into a can to begin with and what’s worse is these are packed with a similar caloric amounts and fat level as a typical meal while not feeling like a meal at all. To satiate the desire to actually eat, rather than drink a meal, you may end up inadvertently doubling your daily intake by snacking or eating another meal.
4. Movie Theater Popcorn: This one may be painful for many movie lovers to give up. With theaters offering incentives to buy the next larger size or come back for free refills on extra large popcorn, sometimes it’s hard to say no…and what about the luring aroma? Perhaps once you hear a little nutrition information, you will be tempted to avoid eating this treat altogether. Most movie theater popcorn servings offer at least one day’s worth of saturated fat and many large sizes have caloric contents that come close to a two or three meal equivalent in one sitting!
5. Processed Cheese: While this is often one of the least expensive cheese options, there is really little else that is redeeming. Many choose these slices to make grilled cheese sandwiches or to place on a burger, but they are so full of chemicals that the price difference is not worth sacrificing your health. Natural cheese products contain more of the good parts of cheese, like calcium and protein, and less of the unwanted things like sodium.
6. Farmed Salmon: If you keep up with food services industry news or health news in general, you have probably seen the farmed salmon vs. wild salmon debate. Basically, farmed salmon loses one of the most beneficial parts of its nutritional worth, omega 3-fatty acids. This comes from wild fish easting smaller wild fish and even smaller ones still which feed on algae. These natural food chain processes is lost along the way and consequently so are the many rich health benefits.
7. Corn-fed beef: Cows are meant to graze on grass, not grains or garbage which are often the food products offered to many cows today. Cattle which are fed grains and corn often get sick from this unnatural diet and as a result are pumped full of antibiotics to help improve their health. These are then ingested by those who eat the beef from these cows.
8. Non-organic Potatoes: This one seems a bit puzzling at first, but when you take a closer look, it simply makes sense to avoid potatoes that are not organically grown. Root vegetables like potatoes absorb what is in the soil around them as they grow. When potatoes are eaten from a farm treated with chemicals, the chemicals then leach into the potato and can pose health risks for those who consume them.
If you enjoy cooking and learning about the culinary arts, perhaps a cooking class in Oregon would be the right match for you. Whether you wish to work in the food services industry, hospitality or culinary arts fields, cooking classes like those offered at Le Cordon Bleu are a great way to get you on the right path!
This article is presented by Le Cordon Bleu Institute of Culinary Arts in Portland. Le Cordon Bleu Institute of Culinary Arts in Portland offers culinary arts and pâtisserie and baking training programs in Portland, Oregon. To learn more about the class offerings, please visit Chefs.edu/Portland for more information.
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