Sunday, July 09, 2006

7 foods to never eat!

i don't really eat the stuff on this list anymore. every once in awhile, i'll have a doughnut. but eating this way most of the time was never a part of my life. besides, i think it's easy to eat well in nyc because a healthy option is almost always within reach: fresh fruit stands are everywhere and strangely, so is wheatgrass.

the problem with this list is that these are the things most people in this country like to eat. it's a fast food nation out there. healthy eating is inconvenient, expensive and usually it's not as tasty as the alternative. but the alternative to my way of thinking is heart disease and an untimely death. and how inconvienient would that be?
  1. doughnuts -- Doughnuts are fried, chock-full of sugar and white flour and loads of trans fat.
  2. cheeseburger with fries -- The saturated fat found in cheese burgers has been linked to heart attacks, strokes and some types of cancer.
  3. fried chicken and chicken nuggets -- Foods cooked in highly heated oils (most notably partially hydrogenated oil) have been known to cause cancer, weight gain and other serious health risks if ingested regularly. So it' s not about giving up fried chicken, it's about giving up fried everything.
  4. Oscar Meyer's Lunchables -- Lunchables get two-thirds of their calories from fat and sugar. And they provide lopsided nutrition since they contain no fruits or vegetables.
  5. Sugary cereal -- not surprisingly, there is no fruit in Fruit Loops.
  6. Processed meats -- you know what these are: hot dogs, sausages, bacon, lunchmeat, jerky. Enough said.
  7. canned soup -- Just one serving (which is roughly one cup) can have almost 1,000 milligrams of salt.
if i had a chef to make my every meal, i'd do a diet of strictly raw foods, like demi moore. or i'd go macrobiotic, like gwyneth paltrow. but for the moment in my world, opting for a shot of wheatgrass everyday and fresh fruits and vegetables instead of fast food and the junk on this list is as good as it gets.

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