What Are The Health Risks Of Processed Foods?

The health risks of processed foods are often hidden in likes of fast food burgers, baked goods and delivery pizza. When you take a bite out of an apple or eat banana, you are enjoying a food that is free of processing, as long as the apple is not dipped in caramel, and the banana is not found in banana cream pie.

To maintain a healthy weight and lifestyle, it’s important to be aware of the health risks of processed foods and limit the amount that you eat on a regular basis.

​What Are The Health Risks Of Processed Foods?

In most cases processed food means any food other than a raw agricultural commodity and includes any raw agricultural commodity that has been subject to processing, such as canning, cooking, freezing, dehydration, or milling. The more processes your food goes through before it gets into your body, the less nutrition it provides.

The foods you eat at restaurants, baked goods, sodas and many of the “ready-to-eat” meals you purchase at the store are heavily processed. Food manufacturers use refined sugar, salt, monosodium glutamate, preservatives, steroids, trans fats and other unhealthy additives to extend the shelf life of the products they sell. Unfortunately, most the heavily processed foods deliver little nutritional value.

Negative Effects of Processed Foods

The more things you do to a natural ingredient like a fruit or vegetable, the further you strip it of its nutrients, minerals and vitamins. When all the nutritionally poor ingredients mentioned above are added to that product, it becomes even unhealthier still.

This leads to what are called ’empty calories’. That’s why you can overeat on processed foods, and your brain will still send a hunger signal. It notices you have received little or no nutrition, so it tells you to eat more. Since processed food, in many cases, is extremely addictive, you reach out for the nutrient-poor food you just ate, and create an unhealthy eating cycle.

Being overweight and eating the wrong foods all contribute to the risk of developing diabetes. Diabetes increases your chance of having heart disease and suffering from a stroke. Many people are unaware that diabetes is the leading cause of blindness and it is also a major cause of kidney disease. Also high blood cholesterol and high blood pressure are prevalent with people who are overweight.

Health Effects of Processed Foods

Chemicals like sugar and salt, found in extremely high quantities in processed foods, lead to heart conditions, overweight and obesity, diabetes and other health problems. This is the danger of addictive processed foods. They deliver next to no nutrition, and trade naturally healthy ingredients with unhealthy chemicals and compounds.

To avoid the health risks of processed foods, eat more raw foods, whole grains, and fruits and vegetables with as little processing as possible. Try to eat fresh fruits and vegetables if at all possible and always avoid canned versions. Frozen varieties are really good choices too as they are not packed in salted water or syrup.  Grapes, cherries, berries, apples, mangoes and bananas are delicious alternatives for processed desserts and cakes.

How To Avoid The Health Risks Of Processed Foods

Do you wish you could actually feel good about the food and drinks you see in your refrigerator and cupboard so that you could avoid the dangers of processed foods. It’s surprising how many so called ‘health’ foods are actually silently harming the health of you and your family.  But eating for permanent fat loss and prevention of diseases like diabetes or heart disease doesn’t have to be complicated. To learn more on how to avoid the health risks of processed foods go to this page to see exactly what you need to understand to eat in a way that boosts your metabolism, balances hormones and helps you to lose weight.