14 So-Called “Foods” To Avoid For Better Health

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: food is literally the most powerful medicine you have available to control your health. When you choose to eat quality foods, you gain a whole host of benefits. Your body gets the nutrients it actually needs to function well. You get more energy, your mood improves, you avoid a whole host of adverse health effects, and you will overall just feel better.

This is common knowledge for most of us, but putting it into practice can still be difficult. It can be surprisingly hard to know what to eat and what to avoid, especially with all of the overly processed, chemical-laden “food” in our stores and restaurants today.

That’s why for this month's blog post, I want to walk you through what foods and food ingredients are most damaging to your health so you can know which ones to avoid the next time you are at the grocery store or pondering if you really want to order fast food from Uber Eats for dinner.

For some of you, this may be all-new information; for others, it will be more of a refresher. Regardless, it’s always good to circle back on important topics like this from time to time to ensure we are all keeping it fresh in our minds.

Local, seasonal, organic food is always best.

“Good” vs “Bad” Processed Foods

When we think about what not to eat, it’s easy to make blanket statements like “don’t eat any processed foods.” While that might make for a good rule of thumb, the truth is not quite as black and white.

People have been processing food virtually from day one. Until refrigeration, it was the only way we had of preserving perishables to eat later. Cooking is a form of processing; so are curing, drying, smoking, fermenting—the list goes on and on.

Therefore, it’s important to understand that whole foods processed using traditional methods and ingredients are not something we need to avoid. Some processing actually improves food by making its nutrients more available or potent.

In the list of foods to avoid below, I’m focusing on the bad kind of processing. By that I mean the food-like substances, chemicals, food additives, preservatives, food dyes, and artificial sweeteners that food companies add to their food. It’s these pseudo-foods that wreak havoc on our bodies and brains, leading to inflammation, toxic overload, disease, etc.

I also understand that completely eliminating everything on this list from your diet is a very difficult task indeed. Please hear me when I say this: perfection is not the goal. If you can cut out these troublesome foods from your diet entirely, then great! But even making reductions in a few of these categories over time will still provide significant health benefits. Any progress is still progress!

14 “Foods” to Avoid for Better Health

All that being said, here is a list of the “foods” and food-like substances that you would do much better reducing or eliminating from your diet.

1) Anything with ingredients that are difficult to pronounce. These products surely contain substances that belong in a chemistry set, not in your body. Try saying stearoyl lactylate or butylated hydroxytoluene without tripping up. A good rule of thumb is “If you can’t pronounce it, don’t eat it.”

2) Anything that didn’t exist in your grandmother’s day—and maybe even your great-grandmother’s day, depending on how old you are. I know this is kind of a trendy approach to eating right now, but it makes sense. A hundred years ago we didn’t need a label to tell us that our food was local, organic, and grass-fed; all food was whole, real, and unadulterated. Fortunately, there is a movement to get back to this way of eating.

3) Anything containing soybean oil. Americans now get almost 10 per cent of their calories from refined soybean oil, which is one of the most abundant sources of omega-6 fatty acids. Plus, it often contains high levels of glyphosate, or Roundup, the toxic herbicide used by Monsanto. Most people aren’t even aware they’re eating it, but it’s lurking everywhere. If you eat fast food, grains, desserts, packaged snacks, potato chips, muffins, or conventionally raised meat, or buy almost anything cooked in oil at a cafeteria, diner, or restaurant, then you’re almost certainly consuming lots of soybean oil. This stuff is toxic and inflammatory. Stay away.

4) Anything containing high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). HFCS is a major cause of heart disease, obesity, cancer, dementia, liver failure, tooth decay, and more. It is seriously nasty stuff!

5) Anything with the word “hydrogenated” in its name. Since most people don’t know that hydrogenated fat and trans fat are the same things, food makers have been able to hide the trans fat content in plain sight using this little trick. Don’t let them fool you!

6) Anything advertised on TV. Have you seen a commercial for broccoli or sardines during the Super Bowl? The worst foods get the most airtime on television.

7) Anything with a cute name. Froot Loops are not a good source of fruit.

8) Anything you can buy at a drive-through window. This one is a no-brainer.

9) Anything with monosodium glutamate (MSG), even though the FDA says it is safe. It’s an excitotoxin—a neurotransmitter that is known to kill brain cells. We associate it with Chinese cuisine, but food companies use it in many items without our knowledge. They even try to hide its presence, calling it “hydrolyzed vegetable protein,” “vegetable protein,” “natural flavourings,” and even simply “spices.” Spices? Seriously? And the worst news is it induces hunger and carb cravings, so you’ll eat more of it. If all that wasn’t enough, here’s the kicker—it’s what they give to lab rats in experiments to fatten them up.

10) Any “food” in an aerosol can.

11) Anything called “cheese food” (which is neither cheese nor food).

12) Anything with artificial sweeteners. The research has not been kind to artificial sweeteners, claiming among other problems they adversely affect gut health and glucose tolerance. I recommend avoiding aspartame, sucralose, sugar alcohols such as maltitol, and all of the other heavily used and marketed sweeteners—unless you want to slow down your metabolism, gain weight, and become an addict. Use a little stevia if you must, but skip the others.

13) Anything with any type of funky additives, preservatives, or dyes. The average American eats about 2.5 pounds of these chemicals per year. (This is one category where being below average is a good thing!)

14) Any food with more than five ingredients on the label, unless they are all things you recognize, such as tomatoes, water, basil, oregano, and salt.

I know this might seem like a long list, but you can go a long way by simply sticking with real, whole foods and brands that you trust. If you need more help, connect with me on social media under ChefJohnlawson.

Wishing you health and happiness,

John ❤️