Foods We Need to Stop Eating Now
If you want to live longer and healthier, it could be as simple as changing your diet. And in this case, it's not so much what you eat as what you don't eat that is most important.
Columbia University cardiologist Dr. Mehmet Oz, co-author of "You: The Owner's Manual," told Oprah Winfrey on a recent show that learning to read food labels is like looking at a prescription for your health and your life.
These are the red-flag ingredients. If you see any of these listed on food packaging, STOP! Do not eat it.
1. Sugar
Sugar--be it in food or drinks--gives you a sudden boost of energy that is quickly followed by an insulin surge that causes your blood sugar level to plummet. The result? Two hours after eating, you feel famished and even tired. Replace simple carbohydrates, such as white bread or cookies, with complex carbohydrates, such as whole grains or fruit. "Sugar is supposed to be eaten, of course," Oz told Oprah, "but it should come together with fat or some element like fiber--as you would find in fruit--so you can absorb it a bit more slowly."
2. High fructose corn syrup
This additive makes food tastes sweet, but it doesn't work like natural cane or beet sugar. It actually affects your body's normal ability to control your appetite. "It blocks the ability of a chemical called leptin, which is the way your fat tells your brain it's there," Oz explained to Oprah. "It's not so much the 150 calories in the soda pop--it's the fact at that same meal you will normally consume an extra hundred calories of food than you would have."
3. White flour (also called enriched wheat flour)
Even though white flour is "enriched," don't be fooled. It's enriched because most of its healthy nutrients were destroyed when it was refined. The enrichment process puts some of those nutrients back in. "The reason they enrich it is because they already stripped out anything that was worth a darn in it, and they add a little bit back so it doesn't look so bad," says Oz. Instead, look for products made with whole grains and whole grain flours.
4. Saturated fat
When saturated fats, which are found primarily in animal products, are placed at room temperature, they become solid--like lard. While it's great to use as furniture polish and even lotion for your skin, you don't want to eat it. Think what it will do to your arteries!
5. Hydrogenated oil
When oil is hydrogenated it turns into a solid at room temperature, allowing for a longer shelf life. Basically, it won't go bad. But that makes the oil unhealthy to eat. Products that contain hydrogenated oil are labeled as "trans fats."
What can you eat?
Dr. Oz encourages you to cook with healthy oils, such as olive, sesame seed, flaxseed, grape seed and canola. The best foods you can eat are garlic, tomato sauce, spinach, raw nuts and pomegranates.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------