Why Processed Foods Don’t Contain the Real Nutrition You Need

Processed foods are convenient, cheap and filling, but that’s their only real value when it comes to your nutrition. Processed foods are those supermarket shelf-fillers that have been refined or contain artificial ingredients like additives and preservatives. Artificial ingredients are often cheaper than the real thing but are a detriment to good nutrition. The end result of too many processed foods is a population of overweight, diabetic Americans.

Processed foods often contain harmful levels of bad fats that increase your risk for heart disease. Just as dangerous are cured meats and canned foods that contain excessive levels of salt, which causes your blood pressure to rise. The manufacturers of processed foods literally zap the nutrition right out of food. Be certain to read nutrition labels to get an idea of the level of trans fats and salt you’re ingesting before it’s too late.

Processed breads and cereal lack nutrition and are linked to the increase in adult-onset diabetes. The good grains are pulverized right out of white bread for zero nutrition. Worse, some manufacturers add high fructose corn syrup, which sweetens the product without the expense of real sugar, but has been shown to cause a diabetes-like effect on blood sugar.

With so much fat, sugar, and salt in processed foods, it’s no wonder that so many people are unhealthy on the inside and the outside. Ideally, every consumer would grow their own organic veggies in their garden for better health and nutrition, but with the majority of the world population living in the concrete jungle of urban high-rises apartments, that idyllic lifestyle is not always possible.

You don’t need to drastically change your lifestyle for nutrition, though. All you have to do is start replacing foods high in bad ingredients with foods rich in natural ingredients. The very best way to do this is to rid your kitchen of processed foods – give them to your local food bank or homeless shelter – and to buy all the ‘real’ fresh ingredients you can afford from a farmer’s market or grocery store. If you can’t grow your own foods from scratch, preparing meals from scratch is the next best thing.