The white foods

5 white poisons that secretly ruin your health

White represents purity and innocence. Some of the positive meanings that white can convey include cleanliness and freshness. On the adverse side, white can seem raw, cold, and isolated. So is the fact with White foods!!

White foods generally refer to foods that are white in color and that have been processed and refined, like flour, rice, pasta, bread, crackers, cereal, and simple sugars like table sugar and high-fructose corn syrup.

Dr. David Kessler in his book “The End of Overeating” describes the white foods as robbed of its nutrients, very easy to eat in great quantities, and not satisfying. It is easy to overeat foods like cookies or white-flour pasta – and it’s even easier to drink sweetened beverages.

Sugar? No Thanks. I’m sweet enough!

Sugar packs plenty of calories. Sugar is the sociopath of foods. It acts sweet…yet it’s a real poison. Eating natural sugar i.e. sweet fruits, etc can satisfy our sweet cravings.

Excess sugar or sugarcoated products do not provide the satiety and often with zero nutrition value. People often tend to eat more calories when they eat foods with more sugar in it.

Added sugars put you at a higher risk for a;

  • Higher triglycerides (fat levels in the blood)
  • Lower HDL (the good cholesterol)
  • Higher LDL levels (the bad cholesterol) in the blood.

The increased fat in the blood is extremely unsafe to cause;

  • Blood pressure
  • Inflammation.
  • Obesity and weight gain (Sweeteners replace foods that would be nutrient-dense with empty calories) which further leads to heart diseases, diabetes, and certain types of cancer.
  • Tooth Decay (More often you consume sugar, it invites a number of bacteria to work on sugar)

Must read – Why much sugar is bad for you?

People don’t enjoy salt. They enjoy what is salted.

Salt is already present in almost every food that we eat every day.  It is naturally available in all foods yet at low levels. For instance, salty chips, biscuits, and almost all the packaged items have a high amount of salt content.

Must Read – Is salt actually bad for you?

A healthy body requires 1500 mg to 3400 mg of salt every day. More or less is dangerous. If you eat too much salt, the extra water stored in your body raises your blood pressure. So, the more salt you eat, the higher your blood pressure. The higher your blood pressure, the greater the strain on your heart, arteries, kidneys, and brain.

Soda is the tobacco of the 21st century

Drinking soda can be part of a balanced lifestyle, however, consuming too much soda can lead to weight gain or obesity. This can increase health risks as it contains too many calories.

Diet and regular sodas have both been linked to obesity, kidney damage, and certain cancers. Regular soft drinks have been linked to elevated blood pressure.

According to research that appeared in WebMD, a 48% increase in heart attack and stroke risk among daily diet soda drinkers, compared to people who did not drink diet sodas at all or did not drink them every day (1).

Soda is made up of Sugar, Sodium, and Caffeine. The caffeine can increase heart rate and blood pressure, and too much sodium over the course of the day can increase food retention. This combination of caffeine and sodium has a dehydrating effect. It may lead to raised blood pressure, raised glucose, elevated triglycerides, and low HDL cholesterol.

Must read – What happens when there is a low level of Sodium?

The dark side of Wheat Flour

Maida is wheat flour from the Indian subcontinent. Finely milled without any bran, refined, and bleached, it closely resembles cake flour.

A grain is made up of three parts: the bran, germ, and endosperm. The bran, or the outer coating, is rich in fiber, antioxidants, and B vitamins. The germ, the innermost layer, is high in B vitamins and also contains minerals, protein, and fat. The endosperm, found in the middle, is the starchy part of the grain and it is mostly carbohydrates.

Dr. Renuka Mainde, a well-known weight Loss expert, Lifestyle modification coach, and a Diabetes Educator explained that refined white flour is completely stripped of its nutrient value, with virtually no vitamins, minerals, or fats.

“When refined white flour is made, companies remove the bran and the germ, leaving only that starchy endosperm. This makes it more shelf-stable but results in a big nutrient loss and a subsequent ‘food’ that is harmful to our health.”, she added.

Some of the popular foods made up of wheat flour are Doughnuts, Muffins, Bread, Pasta, Cookies, Cakes, Chips, Pizza crust, and cereals.

The refined white floor may impact our health significantly;

  • Obesity and weight gain. It may increase visceral and subcutaneous body fat.
  • Diabetes due to the high glycemic index
  • Inflammation. Hence, the risk of heart diseases.
  • Wheat flour contains Gluten in large amounts. It is very hard to digest leading to leaky gut, inflammation, and certain other allergies.
  • No wonder, refined wheat flour is eliminated from the recommended anti-cancer diet.

Too much of me ain’t good: Ajinomoto

After having Chinese food, did you ever feel a headache or asthma-like symptoms? If yes, it may be due to Ajinomoto. It is nothing but a Monosodium glutamate (MSG) commonly added to Chinese food, canned vegetables, soups, and processed meat.

MSG is a non-essential amino acid that is naturally found in tomatoes, grapes, cheese, mushrooms, and some other foods. It is not salty, sweet, sour, or bitter, but it still provides a savory flavor. Moreover, it is of a special flavor category called Umami.

It may have below symptoms if you consume it;

  • A headache.
  • Flushing.
  • Sweating.
  • Facial pressure or tightness.
  • Numbness, tingling, or burning in the face, neck, and other areas.
  • Rapid, fluttering heartbeats (heart palpitations)
  • Chest pain.
  • Nausea.

It refers to a group of symptoms some people experience after eating food from a Chinese restaurant. Today, it’s known as the MSG symptom complex.

Just to say…

Most of us understand that in order to stay healthy and avoid weight gain, it is important to eat a rainbow of foods and avoid white, refined foods. White, refined foods can be part of a healthy diet, but moderation is the key.

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