My Healthy Habits

When you make a decision to take control over your diet habits to shed pounds and body fat, it is crucial to avoid 2 ingredients : high-fructose corn syrup and trans-fats. These 2 health-robbing chemicals are present in a wide-variety of prepared foods, including baked goods, soft-drinks and salad dressings.

High-fructose corn syrup ( HFCS ) is a standard replacement for more costly cane sugar in a multitude of products. The fact that high-fructose corn syrup is a diet-killer is that it causes havoc on blood-sugar levels. High blood-sugar levels are linked to lots of the conditions that plague modern life : pre-diabetes ( diminished fasting blood-sugar levels ) type II diabetes,and coronary heart-disease. One of the first sources of HFCS in our diets is colas. Did you know that one 48-oz.”super-size” soda can contain as many as 550 calories, not to mention equivalent to over 13 big spoons of sugar? If you drink one of these every day for a week without reducing your caloric intake or burning off an equivalent quantity of calories through exercise, you can gain a pound a week–a whopping 52 pounds a year! Replace any drinks containing HFCS with cold, refreshing water or unsweetened ice tea as a initial step to lose healthy weight. If you’re a regular consumer of soda, youwill shed weight by following this straightforward step alone.

Trans-fats are usually found in baked products such as pies, cookies, crackers and also as oil for frying products such as french-fries or potato chips. Trans-fats were developed to ensure a long shelflife for these types of products, but their detrimental health effects were not known at the time of their development. Trans-fats are made by taking a mono-unsaturated ( liquid ) fat and reacting it with hydrogen gas. The ensuing fat from the reaction is solid at 70 degrees. When we consume trans-fats, they build up in our arteries just as grease clogs a drain. Eventually, this increase of fat in our arteries can cause coronary heart problems and stroke, and is also believed to contribute to dementia in the old.

So how can we avoid all of these fatal ingredients in our foods? Our first and best defensive zone is simply by reading the labels on food products. Both high-fructose corn-syrup and trans-fats are required to be listed on labels. Also, be wary of fast-foods like fried chicken, fish sandwiches and fried pies. Ask if these foods have been prepared with trans-fat free oils or not. If the restaurant staff can’t tell you if the food is fried in oil containing trans-fat or not, it’s best to avoid it altogether. So educate yourself as a customer and harvest the health benefits of your due diligence.

To learn more about what is nutrition, visit Fit4LifeClub.com