How Processed Foods Can Affect Your Health

More grocery stores in Pittsburg, CA, have increased the whole food products they carry because the public demands it. People are waking up to the fact that highly processed food can be detrimental to health. Before it’s in a grocery store, all food has some processing. They wash fruits and vegetables. They can be canned or frozen and still be healthy. Highly processed food is different. It often bears little resemblance to the original product. Processing may remove all the nutrition leaving empty calories. They may contain preservatives, sugar, and other toxic ingredients.

Highly processed foods pack on the pounds.

It’s not just the extra calories you consume when you eat processed food that makes you gain weight. It’s the increased appetite that does. Salt, sugar, and fat all stimulate the taste buds. Studies show that salty foods make you hungrier, so you eat more. Foods high in sugar spike your blood glucose levels, which drop just as dramatically. You’re even more ravenous when that occurs. Sugar is also addictive. The more you eat, the more you need to get the sweet taste and sugar high. It affects the brain the same way opioids do, creating a hunger void that’s never filled.

Sugar and highly processed foods cause inflammation.

Inflammation is necessary for survival. Acute inflammation helps fight microbes that invade the body and aids in healing wounds. However, chronic inflammation kills. It causes much of the pain from rheumatoid arthritis and can lead to cancer, heart disease, diabetes, asthma, and Alzheimer’s. Sugar and highly processed food increase inflammation. Many whole foods contain phytonutrients that help reduce chronic inflammation.

Some types of additives are worse than others.

Are all types of sugar equal? Some are worse. HFCS—high fructose corn syrup—is artificially created. While it comes from corn, it bears no resemblance to the sugar found in corn after it’s processed. Fructose metabolizes differently than glucose. Every cell metabolizes glucose, but fructose only metabolizes in the liver. Studies show that lab animals given high amounts of fructose developed cirrhosis and fatty liver disease. It increases the potential for hypertension, brain damage, and weight gain.

• Highly processed food may have nutrients added, but many of those nutrients aren’t as bioavailable as they are in whole food. Whole foods also contain phytonutrients that work in synergy with vitamins to enhance the benefits.
• Bread made from highly processed grain has few natural nutrients. When the grain is processed, they remove the germ and bran. The germ contains most of the nutrients. The bran has fiber. They bleach the endosperm to create white flour.
• Highly processed meat is high in nitrates, salt, and other chemicals. It is linked to high blood pressure, colon and stomach cancer, COPD, and heart disease.
• Artificial sweeteners used in highly processed food and drink may add to the obesity epidemic. Studies show that high consumption is linked to diabetes, metabolic disease, obesity, and belly fat.

For more information, contact us today at Thrive Fitness!