Everyone loves food and prefers to eat the most tasty foods out there. In this love for food, people forget about its quality and end up eating more unhealthy foods than healthy ones.

While ordering from a restaurant, we have experienced that we put taste over nutritional values. If you’re neglecting these nutritional values, you’re greeting health risks towards you. Though such foods are undoubtedly delicious, they contain saturated fats, less protein, fibers, carbohydrates and less minerals that can affect your diet in the long run.

What exactly are these unhealthy foods?

Now the real question is: What exactly are these foods that everyone keeps on talking about? To describe it, unhealthy foods are foods that contain fewer nutrients, vitamins and proteins and higher amounts of sugars, calories, carbohydrates and fats.

And here are some of those highly dangerous, unhealthy foods:

What are Highly Processed Foods?

No doubt, processed foods are convenient and an easy go when you’re busy or lazy. However, this convenience comes with a huge risk.

Basically, highly processed foods are those which include excessive sodium, saturated fats, sugar or artificial colours. They may also contain hidden amounts of extra oil and calories, which can have a harmful effect on your body.

Frozen, canned, pasteurized or dried foods all come in this category. Most of these are used in our daily lives without knowing the consequences. They include sugary drinks, chocolates and candies, fast foods, frozen items, cheese, microwave meals, tinned vegetables and so on.

Processed, high fat meats

Although they are delicious and cheaper, they can lead to unhealthy and bad lifestyle habits. The words; artificial, chemical, salting, freezing, drying, canning literally shout very unhealthy.

From the cold cuts to pigs in a blanket, all processed meats are bad. Cured bacon, hotdogs, sausages, salami, dried meat and even beef jerky are evidently worse than the protein from fresh meat, chicken and fish.

They are loaded with preservatives and saturated fats and don’t help in maintaining a balanced diet. So, it is better to avoid them.

Refined white carbs

There have been a lot of heated debates on the consumption of carbohydrates. But the end result is always that our bodies need carbs to function properly.

While refined carbohydrates are processed and stripped of all their fiber, vitamins and minerals. They leave you feeling empty and craving for more. For this reason, they are considered as ‘empty’ carbs or calories and are known as unhealthy foods.

The main sources of refined carbs are white anything and everything. There are others but white bread, white flour and white rice are the villains in this experience. They don’t offer much in the way of nutrition and are very low in fibers and nutrients.

Rather than this, opt for unprocessed carbs or whole grain versions of each food. You can also enjoy a happy, fun time by making your own homemade versions.

Flavoured nuts

Flavoured nuts have been advertised commercially as health combined with taste. They have a shelf of their own in the markets where they claim that they can’t be bad for you no matter what. Even our own parents have made us eat them thinking they are good in nutrition.

The experience of indulging in flavoured nuts is such a fun one. But it is better to change those habits. Adding any kind of flavour to them reduces their protein. Whether they’re toffee coated, soy sauce or wasabi dusted, chocolate-dipped or savory spiced ones, they are loaded with extra sugar and salt. Most people will just lick the seasoning off and throw away the actual nuts.

Roasting nuts destroys its healthy fat. The extra sugar and salt can lead to dietary problems such as weight gain, high blood pressure and stroke, making them fall under the category of unhealthy foods.

White sugar

Of course, everyone loves sugar and why wouldn’t they? But we all know that it lies in the list of dangerous and unhealthy foods. Another disadvantage is that it digests very quickly and leaves your stomach feeling empty.

Although some other sugars such as brown sugar and corn sugar are present as alternatives, they are still not the healthiest option out there. It is pure carbohydrate and has no nutrients, just empty calories.

Excess of sugar and other unhealthy foods also causes weight gain. Your blood sugar is on a roller coaster ride and adds up to your body’s fat. Sugar is happiness and happiness is hard to replace, but you can do it by using honey, jaggery and stevia.

Margarine

Contrary to popular belief, butter is actually way better than margarine is. The more solid the margarine is, the more trans fat it has. So solid stick margarine is better off being avoided.

Trans fat is more dangerous than other fats as it leads to bad cholesterol and various heart diseases. As compared to butter, it includes a greater percentage of artificial and chemical ingredients. Besides butter, you can always use olive oil or vegetable oil as substitutes.

Everyone needs a healthy, balanced diet with all the food groups in it. Excess of a certain element or missing of another is always bad.

An easy solution is to opt for healthier foods anywhere and everywhere. By choosing or making your own healthy homemade foods, you can bring joy and, quite literally, warmth to your home and life. You can experience lots of good changes in your life by avoiding unhealthy foods and choosing healthy food instead.

Let Hedoniac help you with this little adventure of yours. Join our community and stay in touch with others. Let us give you a chance to experience positive changes in your soul and mind; be it letting go of unhealthy foods or finding your soul’s mission.