9 Reasons Why You Should Avoid Processed Food

Ice-cream, cookies, potato chips, sugary breakfast cereals, French fries, chicken nuggets, muffins, donuts, burgers, white bread, bacon and cheese. These foods may seem very tempting, but they happen to be processed foods. And processed food is something that is not good for our health.  

First, we must understand what processed food is.

Basically, anything that has been dried, frozen, canned, pasteurized or baked can be classified as processed food. And though some are relatively safe to eat, consumption of most of these processed foods lead to numerous health complications.

For an in-depth understanding, we present to you 9 reasons why you should avoid processed food.

1. Processed food is designed to be addictive.

Some processed foods are chemically altered with the intention of making them more addictive. Potato chips contain a lot of salt. Studies have shown that consuming salt triggers the release of dopamine— a reward-related neurotransmitter.

When these foods are consumed, the chemical reactions that take place in your body evokes feelings of happiness. That is why it is so hard to stop eating processed foods. That is also why so many people end up having food addiction.

2. Processed food can cause mood swings.

You might have noticed that some people get angry when they’re hungry. In fact, they often remain ‘hangry’ until they get food. Many of these people just grab a bag of chips or an energy bar when a proper meal is not within reach.

Though it might satisfy the hunger temporarily, it actually worsens the mood. Certain studies have proven that the trans fats in processed foods increased irritability and even aggression in people.

3. Processed food contains excessive sugar.

Cold drinks, cookies, macaroons and other types of processed food are filled with sugar. Breakfast cereals, canned fruits, etc. contain high fructose corn syrup. This is a big reason why you should avoid processed food.

Added sugars are nothing but empty calories. While they provide a little energy, they don’t have any nutritional value. Plus, consuming these added sugars causes a number of health complications. You can steer clear of these health threats by avoiding processed food.

4. Processed food has too many chemicals.

One of the most important reasons why you should not eat processed food is that it is full of chemicals. When you check the ingredient label on the package of any processed food, you would find a number of artificial ingredients.

Most of those artificial ingredients are chemicals that are used to improve texture, enhance taste or extend the shelf-life of the processed food product. Needless to say, ingesting these chemicals on a daily basis affects your health in a negative way.

5. Processed food has no fibre.

A reason why you should avoid processed food is because the fibre in processed food gets stripped off. It happens when the processed food is being chemically altered. When you eat such foods, the digestion process speeds up. And it gets harder for you to fill your hunger.

Fibre, especially the ones that are easily soluble, has many advantages. One of those advantages is that fibre slows down the absorption of carbohydrates. It also makes us feel more satisfied with fewer calories.

6. Processed food contains too much salt.

A little bit of salt is necessary for the human body to function properly. But including too many salted items (such as chips, salted nuts, butter, etc.) in your daily-diet would increase the sodium levels in your body.

Having higher sodium levels means a higher risk for high blood pressure and cardiovascular diseases. Eating too much salt leads to numerous other health conditions as well. So, it is best to avoid processed food as much as you can.

7. Processed food can affect sleep patterns.

When a person consumes processed food, it causes sudden spikes and crashes in the blood sugar levels. High levels of refined carbohydrates present in processed food causes these harmful sugar spikes.

If you eat processed food before bed, your body would struggle to normalize the blood sugar levels. And you would find it harder to fall asleep. It is one of the main reasons why you should avoid processed food. Especially before bedtime.

8. Processed food has a low nutritional value.

If you have been wondering whether you should avoid processed food, then this particular reason should be enough for you to do so. Processed food has very low nutritional value compared to unprocessed food and whole foods.

Which means that the processed food you consume is not doing the most basic thing that food is supposed to do— provide you with nutrients. In some processed food, synthetic vitamins and minerals are added. However, it can never reach the quality of the natural vitamins and minerals found in unprocessed food.

9. Processed food contains trans fat.

Processed food needs to have a longer shelf-life. The cost of making them also needs to be cheap. For these two reasons, food manufacturing companies often use refined seed and vegetable oils as ingredients in processed food.

These oils are hydrogenated and hence, they turn into trans fats. Trans fats are very harmful for the body. Trans fats lead to numerous health risks. Most of which are hard to recover from. Hence, it is best to avoid processed food.

Now that you know the reasons to avoid processed food, you must be asking yourself should I stop eating processed food? The simple answer is, yes. You should stop eating processed food.

However, avoiding processed food completely is not really an option for many people. If you want to learn how to eat less processed food, click here.