There is no magic formula or a pill for losing body fat. It takes hard work, dedication, consistency, and commitment. Losing weight is not a one time process – its a total change of the lifestyle. There are some foods you need to avoid, or even better – completely exclude from your diet if you want to get good results.
Processed Foods
Processed foods are very cheap and easy to prepare. This is the main reason so many people choose refined over the more healthy options. But processed foods are bad for you. Not one producer will really tell you what is their effect on your figure or even more important – your health.
Processed foods are packed with a ton of chemicals in them to help extend their shelf life, but at the same time they are very hazardous to human health. Another thing they usually contain large amounts of sodium, sugar, trans fats, and saturated fat, which can put you at risk for cardiovascular disease.
Not to mention the chemicals they usually contain, such as preservatives like BHA/BHT and sodium benzoate, plastic-related compounds like phthalates and bisphenols (BPA). Other harmful substances can include artificial colors, pesticides, and chemicals formed during cooking, such as acrylamide that can cause neurological damage as well as cancers in the long term.
Related:
8 Foods High In Trans Fats You Should Avoid
10 of the Worst Foods You Could Ever Put Into Your Body
Sugar
The problem with sugar is not that much the sugar itself, but the quantities of sugar we consume every day. Sugar is in just about everything we eat, so this makes it very difficult to calculate and realize how much sugar we are eating on a daily basis.
Sugar has absolutely no nutritional value – it contains only empty calories. Eating sugar destabilizes your insulin and blood sugar levels, making the excess amount of sugar to be stored as fat.
This is How Sugar Ruins Your Health
Sugar can also cause gut inflammation and immune system depression, put you at risk for a heart disease and osteoporosis among other things. Here are 8 warning signs you are eating too much sugar.
Artificial Sweeteners
Do you think that drinking diet soda will help you lose weight? Think again.The difference between regular and diet beverages is the way they are sweetened.
While regular sodas are sweetened by using large quantities of sugar, diet sodas contain artificial sweeteners, (like aspartame) which are related to all kinds of health issues like: headaches, depression, increased hunger etc. This means you should avoid artificial sweeteners at all costs.
Good basic info but a lot of the hearsay surrounding sweeteners is debated. Would be good to see some scientific studies cited.
There are many, just not included in the article.
No there are not. The only places you find such “studies” are at alternative health mumbo jumbo web pages.
I wouldn’t say that. Just try replacing the calories from sugar and junk with protein calories and see what happens. It’s easier to drink a 34 ounces of coke (~108g of sugar) than eat 500g of meat (~100g of protein + some fats)
Overall, good info. However, I believe there is no such thing as an empty calorie. Sugar, especially with specific timing, can be quite good for your insulin levels and your metabolic rate. More research and a broader point of view would be better.
You are right Christopher. But for the majority of people that want to lose weight it’s just empty calories in terms of not giving them enough nutritional value to increase muscle mass and not helping them to lose fat. Fast carbs can be useful for those that know how to use them (small quantities and right timing to restore glycogen) but for majority of people they are just harmful.