Rice Cakes
Although considered diet foods, most of their healthy claims may mislead people who want to lose weight. Rice cakes have a glycemic index of 91 [1] while pure glucose has an index of 100. This means they will skyrocket your blood sugar level quickly. This is dangerous for your health and bad for weight loss.
Store-Bought Salad Dressing
Most salad dressings contain sugar and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), as well as other artificial food chemicals created to make them seem more natural. (It’s advisable to make your own salad dressing, here we share our healthy recipe)
Refined and Fortified Grains
Processed and fortified cereals like certain breakfast cereals, pastas, breads, and rice products have been highly processed and have a reduced amount of their naturally occurring fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Companies then replace those nutrients with synthetic versions of minerals and vitamins that were initially removed [2]. (Suggestion: It’s better to opt for a whole grain alternative)
Sugary Beverages
Their unhealthy calories will pad your waist without making you feel full. [3]. Plus, those sugars will reduce your good cholesterol level and increase your triglycerides. They also disrupt the inflammatory balance of your body, increasing your risk of several chronic diseases.
Grits
Grits are hyper refined carbohydrates coming from the leftover pieces from corn processing. Grits lack significant amounts of vitamins or minerals and has not any nutritional value.
References:
[1] Miller, J. Brand, Edna Pang, and Lindsay Bramall. “Rice: a high or low glycemic index food?.” The American journal of clinical nutrition 56.6 (1992): 1034-1036.
[2] Jacobs, David R., et al. “Fiber from whole grains, but not refined grains, is inversely associated with all-cause mortality in older women: the Iowa women’s health study.” Journal of the American College of Nutrition 19.suppl 3 (2000): 326S-330S.
[3] Vartanian, Lenny R., Marlene B. Schwartz, and Kelly D. Brownell. “Effects of soft drink consumption on nutrition and health: a systematic review and meta-analysis.” Journal Information 97.4 (2007).
