Some of the "healthy" foods you eat are actually triggering chronic inflammation in your body, which is the root cause of countless chronic diseases.
The food industry has always being producing foods which claim its benefits for your health, simply because they know that being good for your health is a strong motivation for you to buy or not a product.
Sugar is bad? No problem, no added sugar foods and drinks on the shelves!
Concerned about fats? Fine, low fat products everywhere!
Now science is showing that low fat, no added sugar products which started to be popular in the 80s and 90s are also unhealthy and should be avoided.
When fat is removed from a food, it usually tastes like cardboard, and many nutrients are removed through the skimming process. So they usually have to replace the taste with additives, highly processed ingredients, and artificial sweeteners, triggering inflammation in your body because they are too new for our genetics, and our immune system consider them a potential threat.
Today, other foods have been demonized by either contradictory science research or ethical reasons.
Earlier was sugar and fats. Now it is meat, dairy, and carbs. And the industry is doing it again, presenting their substitution products as the healthy solution to get free from these evil ingredients.
These modern "healthy" foods are simply full of ingredients which are too new for our genetics to be adapted to them. So our body sees them like a threat and start attacking our own tissues and organs to protect us.
"We have changed the foods we eat in the last seconds of the human evolution, and it will take thousands of years until we start to getting adapted to them"
This chronic and subtle inflammation is the root cause of countless chronic ailments and conditions, which have dramatically raised between population in recent years. Conditions like allergies, food intolerances, digestive discomfort, bloating, skin issues, chronic pain just to name a few. Do they sound familiar to your loved ones?
But most importantly, the most deadly ailments today have been also linked to chronic inflammation. Ailments as:
Cancer
Heart disease
Diabetes
Asthma
Alzheimer’s disease
Arthritis
So, be mindful when consuming the following 5 trending foods commonly accepted as healthy in recent days and find out how they are triggering inflammation in your body.
Plant based meat and dairy
Scientific research showed risks of consuming regularly some kind of meats and its derived products, while dairy consumption research showed less clear evidence on its potential risks. This was enough to be demonized as unhealthy foods, no matter the quality and level of processing of the raw ingredients.
The industry saw the trend and bombarded us with their propaganda that their plant -based substitution products were the healthy choice.
The problem is the plant based products promoted by the food industry are not the solution. Why?
"because these products are usually full of highly processed vegetal ingredients and refined seed oils with poor nutritional value, which drives inflammation to our body"
Vegan or High in protein snacks and products
"Many vegans actually eat plenty of sweets and processed snacks, low in nutrients and full of highly inflammatory ingredients"
Cereal bars, chips, snacks, cookies, nachos, lasagna and an endless list of products doesn't become healthy choices just because they are free from animal ingredients or high in protein. Actually, it is the most unhealthy food anyone can eat.
They are full of highly processed ingredients, refined seeds oils, salt, sugar or sweeteners, and artificial additives, and they are usually low in nutrients, making them highly inflammatory choices for your system.
"Protein is important but totally overrated by the industry. They promoted the partial truth that you need huge amounts of protein in your diet. This way just by adding extra protein in their unhealthy products and make it visible in the packaging everyone will consume them like a maniac"
If macronutrients are what rules your diet, carbs (the right ones) and not proteins should be the main macronutrient in your diet. Because vegetables and fruits should be included in the carbohydrates group if we had to include them in one of the 3 macronutrients groups.
Science has shown its anti-inflammatory properties and health benefits, and latest advice is that they should be at least 50% of anyone's daily intake, vegans or not. You can check Harvard´s healthy eating plate here.
Science has proved vegetables and fruits are the most nutritious foods anyone can eat, vegans included.
"Fit" versions of junk food
There is a strong association in our society between consuming junk foods and having a good time. Not eating the unhealthy yet devoted junk food is not an option for many people, specially when it is time for celebrating and mingling with friends and family.
We should rethink this unhealthy association, prioritizing on the celebration and people, leaving more space for healthier foods.
However, as the healthy eating trend keeps growing it has become popular to create healthier versions of some of the most popular junk foods like pizzas, burgers, or cakes.
Replacing some of the most unhealthy ingredients by healthier ones, so the consumer thinks that the food is now healthy. This way they can keep eating the "make me feel good" foods without the guilty feeling.
"Adding words like "fit" to the name strengthen the healthy, guilt-free feeling of their favorite meals"
What is the problem, then?
Well, it is true that replacing the most unhealthy ingredients makes it healthier. But that doesn't mean it turns into a healthy food at all, but most importantly,
"it makes people used to eating junk food more regularly, relegating healthier traditional dishes and increasing the average consumption of other unhealthy products usually consumed combined with the main junk meal, like ice creams, soft drinks and other ultra processed snacks"
People in average eat a poorer diet, as they relegate traditional vegetables-based meals to a very circumstantial intake. The fit version of junk foods become their healthy choice. Their diets are less nutritious, in compare to people who eat junk food occasionally, but keep traditional unprocessed meals as the center of their diet.
Smoothies and juices
Fruits and vegetables are the king of healthy eating. Nobody question it today. And it's great that the message came through and everybody got it.
But, still many people are not very keen on eating fruits and vegetables, as they prefer more tasteful food choices.
This was a great opportunity for the food industry to promote tasteful smoothies and juices made from a blend of fruits and vegetables. This way, people could easily get the great health benefits of eating fruits and vegetables with a better taste. As It's also easy to be consumed on the go, it has become one of the healthy choices of street food and cafés. However, the industry tells just a partial truth here.
"They silenced that smoothies and juices are high on sugar, similar to the amounts we find in a soft drink, turning them into choices to be consumed occasionally"
If they are made from fruits and vegetables, how it is possible? Simple, when we drink instead of chewing veggies and fruits our body absorbs the nutrients on them faster than usual, including the sugars, raising the sugar levels in our blood too high.
When we eat them in their original solid form, we chew them and absorb the sugars they contain much slower. Also, as they contain much more fiber in solid form, this also helps to digest it slower, and the sugar level in blood is much lower and last longer.
Coffee and tea with fancy names
In the same way that smoothies and juices claim to be healthy just because they are made from vegetables and fruits, new trendy but sugary beverages with fancy names are considered healthy and consumed compulsively and guilty free only because they contain coffee or tea.
"it´s becoming a trend lately than coffee and tea come together with other high in sugar ingredients, making them not a healthy choice"
Vanilla, caramel, chocolate or fruity flavor syrups together with cookie crumbs or cream usually top-up these beverages that already contain big amounts of milk and cream and actually not much plain coffee or tea.
The fancy names (chai latte, bubble, macchiato..) make them even more appealing and desirable, and once the people get used to them, they find it hard not to drink them, due to the highly addictive and inflammatory sugar on them. Their predominant sweet taste keeps people used to sweet foods, and they are usually consumed in coffee shops full of sweet treats that people consume by the side.
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