Poor eating habits include under or over-eating or it may also include not having enough of the healthy foods we need each day. It is also consuming too many types of food and drink, which are low in fiber or high in fat, salt, and sugar. Especially for our heart and for our health, the food we put in our bodies can have significant effects. It increased the risks of heart disease and various cancers by weight gain, physical inactivity, stress, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and obesity. The food that we eat gives our bodies the information and fuel it needs to properly function. Our metabolic processes can suffer and our health can decline if it does not get the right information. To enable you to stay healthy and live a longer life, it is essential to have good nutrition based on healthy eating habits.
The nutrition you put in your body can help you avoid certain diseases that can put your life at risk and cause your health to deteriorate. Giving our bodies the right nutrients can help us grow to a healthier version of ourselves. By thinking about food from this aspect goes beyond calories and you think about good food versus bad food. You need to focus on the foods you are putting in your body versus the foods you are excluding from your daily diet routine. When we eat food, it goes through a digestive process. Part of this process involves absorbing vitamins and minerals from that food and distributing it into the bloodstream, which leads to the blood vessels, coronary arteries, and heart muscle.
Sugary drinks or Soft Drinks
A sweetened beverage is any beverage with added sugar. They have also described it as “liquid candy”. They have linked consumption of any type of sweetened beverages to weight gain, obesity, and associated health risks. These types of beverages are high in kilojoules, leading to weight gain and obesity. Obesity is a leading risk factor for type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and some cancers, which include endometrial, oesophageal, renal, gallbladder, bowel, and postmenopausal breast cancers.
Sugary drinks are also categorized as sugar-sweetened beverages or “soft” drinks. It also refers to any beverage with added sugar or other sweeteners which are high fructose corn syrup, sucrose, fruit juice concentrates, and more. These types of drinks include soda, pop, cola, tonic, fruit punch, lemonade, sweetened powdered drinks, as well as sports and energy drinks.
When it comes to ranking beverages that are best for our health, sugary drinks fall at the bottom of the list. This is because they provide so many calories and virtually no other nutrients. People who drink sugary beverages do not feel as full as if they had eaten the same calories from solid food. Research shows they also don’t compensate for the high caloric content of these beverages by eating less food. The average can of sugar-sweetened soda or fruit punch provides about 150 calories, which are almost mainly from added sugar. If you drink just one of these sugary drinks every day, and if you do not cut back on calories elsewhere, you could gain up to 5 pounds in a year. Other than weight gain, routinely drinking these sugar-loaded beverages can increase the risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and other chronic diseases. Further studies have shown that higher consumption of sugary beverages has been linked with an increased risk of premature deaths.
Calories in Most pizzas
Pizza of any type is a favorite food for many of us. Is pizza healthy if you’re trying to lose weight or improve your eating habits? Also, do you know how many calories are in a slice of pizza? To keep your healthy eating program on track, a few simple tips can help you boost the nutrition in pizza.
Based on the toppings, the cooking method, the crust, and the size of the pizza slice, pizza calories and nutrition can vary substantially. A tiny slice that could be 1/8th of the whole pizza or 80 grams of cheese pizza is likely to provide only 200 calories. Other types of cheese pizza, which depends on the serving size and where you find them, might have 235 calories a serving or more.
Pizza will increase your intake of saturated fat if they loaded it with meat and will only add calories. This is a reason that if a pizza is loaded with processed meats, it is going to be some of the unhealthiest pizza you can eat. The styles of pizza which are thin or thick crust, deep dish, etc. also make a difference in the calorie count.
So if you want to cut calories, the easiest way to cut calories in a slice of pizza is by reducing the cheese by half will save calories, saturated fat, and sodium. After cutting it by half, you will probably be pleasantly surprised at how much cheese is still left on your pizza. If possible, request part-skim cheese instead of whole-fat cheese, if you don’t want to reduce the amount of cheese on your pizza. Pizza of any kind can be enjoyed as part of a healthy diet in moderation. But making healthier choices about toppings and watching portion sizes can help ensure that you can savor every bite of your pizza pie without consuming too many extra calories.
White bread
Bread of all types and tastes has been a staple food around the world for thousands of years. Because of its convenience, portability, nutrition, and taste, people continue to consume it in their daily life routine. There are many types of bread but some types of bread are more nutritious than others. But the thing is how do people make a healthful choice when buying bread?
While preparing the bread, the highly processed flour and additives in packaged white bread can make it unhealthful. Carbohydrates are the primary nutrient of almost all bread. This is because consuming too much white bread can contribute to obesity, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes.
However, if you are buying bread with the word “whole” as the first ingredient still does not guarantee a healthful product. It is only the first step to knowing if the bread is healthy. Because even whole-grain bread can contain 20 or more ingredients, which include preservatives and added salt and sugars. But as you know, not all of these ingredients contribute to good health.
Preservatives are also not good for health, but they may help bread stay fresh for longer. But people can also store fresh bread that contains fewer preservatives in the refrigerator or freezer to maintain freshness. So bread with fewer preservatives can be less harmful too.
There are many types of bread that contain added sugars or sugar substitutes. People should avoid those with corn syrup or which breads contain ingredients ending in “-ose” listed at the beginning of the ingredient list. This is because these are all types of sugar for example sucrose, glucose, and fructose.
There are also healthy bread options. for example, bread made with sprouted grains is a good option. This is because when the grain is sprouted, its nutrients become easier to digest and more available to the body for use. Sprouted grains can be a better source of protein, fiber, vitamin C, folate, and other nutrients.
Most fruit juices
Everyone enjoys a tall and cool glass of juice. With its beautiful, vibrant color, sweet taste, and it is good for you as well. But some dietitians do not agree with that. Where the best kinds of juice give you some healthy nutrients, there are some worst juices that are hardly better than liquid candy. You just need to know the difference between healthy and unhealthy juice.
Drinking vegetable juice is always convenient and good for you. For example, the lycopene in tomato juice may help lower the risk of prostate cancer. Beet juice may help curb blood pressure and may increase lower blood levels or anemia. Pulpy vegetable juice has some fiber but not as much as raw vegetables and fiber helps in cutting hunger. You also get far less sugar and fewer calories in vegetable juice than in the typical fruit juice.
Nowadays the terms juice cocktail, juice-flavored beverage, and juice drink are not good for your health. Where most of these products have only small amounts of real juice in them. Their major ingredients usually include water, small amounts of juice, and some type of sweetener, such as high-fructose corn syrup. The nutritional value of these drinks is similar to most soft drinks which are rich in sugar and calories, but low in nutrients.
If It’s 100% fruit juice, it is an excellent source of nutrients like vitamin C and potassium. But still, there is a problem that too much juice can be an extra source of sugar and calories. Fruit juices also don’t contain the same fiber and phytonutrients that raw fruits have. This is the reason many experts recommend sticking to one juice serving per day.
If you are going to drink only one glass of juice per day, you want to make it a good one. So you should get to know which juices offer the biggest nutritional value per sip. In providing the best nutritional value, pomegranate juice tops the list. It is high in sugar and calories but gives you a lot of valuable nutrients called antioxidants. In fact, the antioxidant power in a pomegranate juice is greater than red wine or green tea.
Cranberry juice is another good nutritional value-packed with vitamin C, which your immune system needs. While drinking unsweetened cranberry juice may also help prevent the buildup of bacteria that cause urinary tract infections. Another one is an acai juice which is made from a berry’s found in South America. Acai pulp is very good because it has a higher concentration of antioxidants than cranberries, blackberries, strawberries, or blueberries. Orange juice is a good source of vitamin C. Orange juice is fortified with calcium and vitamin D, which are good for your bones. Drinking unsweetened orange juice has fewer calories than some berry juices or grape juice. It also has fewer antioxidants than darker juices like grape, blueberry, and pomegranate.
Children love to drink juices, but don’t give them too much. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends children should not be given over 4 to 6 ounces of 100% fruit juice per day for kids younger than 6, and 8-12 ounces for the ages of 7 to 18. If you or your kids crave more than a single cup of juice per day, add some water to the juice. By mixing sparkling water with juice, you also slash the calories in every serving. Instead of drinking one glass of pure juice and still craving for more, you can enjoy 2 or 3 cups of the water-juice mixture throughout the day.
Sweetened breakfast cereals
Breakfast cereals are made up of processed grains and are often fortified with vitamins and minerals. These cereals are commonly eaten with milk, yogurt, fruit, or nuts. These cereals may be puffed, flaked, or shredded, or even coated in chocolate or frosting before it is dried. Breakfast cereals are made by refined grains and often by a process called extrusion. Breakfast cereals are highly processed, with many ingredients added.
In the modern diet, added sugar may very well be the single worst ingredient which is bad for our health. Added sugar contributes to several chronic diseases, and most people are eating more than they should be eating. If you notice, most of this sugar comes from processed foods. Breakfast cereals are among the most popular processed foods that are high in added sugars. In fact, most cereals list sugar as their second or third ingredient on the ingredients list.
If you are starting your day with a high sugar breakfast cereal, it will spike your blood sugar and insulin levels. After a few hours, your blood sugar level crashes, and your body will start craving for another high-carb meal or snack which might create a vicious cycle of overeating. Excessive consumption of sugar may also increase your risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Breakfast cereals are always marketed as healthy for your health. The boxes are featuring health claims like “low-fat” and “whole-grain.” On the other hand, their first listed ingredients are often refined grains and sugar. Where small amounts of whole grains do not make these products healthy. However, studies show that these false health claims are an effective way to mislead people into believing that these products are healthier and further result in more sales of their products.
These food manufacturers are specifically targeting children. These companies are using bright colors, cartoon characters, and action figures to attract children’s attention. Unsurprisingly, this type of marketing causes children to associate their breakfast cereals with entertainment and fun. They are making these products according to the taste preferences of children. There are studies conducted that show that some children prefer the taste of foods that have popular cartoon characters on the packaging. This exposure to food marketing is even considered a risk factor for childhood obesity and other diet-related issues. These types of breakfast cereals may often have misleading health claims as well. While the colors and cartoons of these breakfast cereals make the products more appealing to children, the health claim makes the parents feel good about buying such products for their kids.
If you really want to eat breakfast cereals, you should make sure it’s low in sugar and high in fiber. Always pay attention to portion sizes, and read the ingredients list in the box. While making these cereals for your breakfast, you can also enrich your cereal by adding some proteins to it. It is always best to choose whole foods like eggs for breakfast, as they are very nutritious and filling. If you will eat high-protein breakfasts, it may help reduce cravings and promote weight loss.
Fried, grilled, or broiled food
A new study suggests that changing the way you cook could help reduce the risk of getting type 2 diabetes. To avoid such harmful foods, boiling, steaming and poaching look like the safest way to go, which many researchers suggest. When you fry, grill, or bake foods which are also called dry-heat cooking, the foods produce substances called advanced glycation end products (AGEs). When there are higher levels of AGEs that have been linked to insulin resistance, stress on the body’s cells, and inflammation.
The connection between eating fried foods is well known for obesity and heart disease. There is a study conducted recently which is the first to link eating fried potatoes to death risk. This study shows that people who ate fried potatoes, which includes french fries, fried potatoes, and hash browns more than twice a week, are more likely to die early than those who ate fried potatoes less often.
Many fried foods are high in fat, calories, and often salt. A few studies have linked fried foods to serious health problems like type 2 diabetes and heart disease. The fried food that is served in fast-food restaurants is often cooked in hydrogenated oils, which are high in trans fats and very dangerous for human health. Many of the restaurants are using these oils because they give their food a satisfying taste and crunch. Trans fats that are present in these oils can raise bad (LDL) cholesterol levels, lower good (HDL) cholesterol levels, and can raise your chance of having heart disease. Hydrogenated oil is especially very unhealthy when it’s reused and many restaurants often reuse it for a daily purpose. Continuous use of oils breaks down with each frying, which changes their composition, and this causes more oil to be absorbed into the food. These changes in oil further boost the chances of having high cholesterol and high blood pressure to the consumers. If you want to eat healthy at restaurants you should choose grilled foods over fried choices. That’s because grilled food is generally a healthier choice.
Grilling makes food look and taste fantastic and gives it a smoky flavor. You can enjoy the fun flavors of marinades, the grill lines that form on the food, or the fresh taste that comes from cooking something over high heat for a short amount of time. While grilling looks safer to eat, there are two nutritional downsides of grilling as well.
1. Many people end up eating very high-fat meats and sausages when they fire up the bar-b-que which pumps yet more calories, fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol into their diets.
2. There is also the matter of some potential cancer-causing compounds which are polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heterocyclic amines (HCAs). PAHs are formed when fat from the meat drips onto the hot coals or grill element. They are then deposited on the food because of the flames and rising smoke. But unfortunately, that yummy charring which forms of meat can contain PAHs as well. When red meat, poultry, and fish meat is cooked on high heat, like grilling or broiling, they produce HCAs.
Broiling is the method of cooking food on direct heat. The food is placed in a special broiling pan in an oven broiler and is subjected to 550-degree heat. This high temperature gives the food the same quick sear as a grill to your beef, chicken, salmon, and even vegetables.
The good thing about grilling is that it is a quick and easy way to prepare a weeknight dinner to entertain friends and family. To be safe, use lean meat which is always available in stores. Also, red meats like beef and lamb are packed with protein, iron, zinc, and B vitamins such as niacin, vitamin B-6, and vitamin B-12 nutritionally. When you are marinating meat before grilling, it helps tenderize and add flavor. Many studies have shown that marinades with little or no sugar also help protect the meat from charring. It has been shown to reduce heterocyclic aromatic amine (HAA) formation, which are the compounds that have been linked to cancer.
If you may want to reconsider the bad aspects of grilling, then you should know that charring causes the formation of HAAs, which has been linked to cancer in animal studies. Furthermore cooking meats over open flames where fat can drip and produce smoke can lead to the formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). PAHs have also been linked to cancer formation.
Pastries, cookies, and cakes
There are many types of bakery products that are usually perceived as harmful to health. Made with refined white flour, most bakery products are considered unhealthy. These bakery items are also filled with preservatives, additives, sugar, or artificial sweeteners. There are also of course other chemicals that are often hidden in bread and not disclosed on the label which are also dangerous to health. If eaten in excess most of the time we eat pastries, cookies, and cakes, which are unhealthy. Packaged food versions are made with refined sugar, refined wheat flour, and added fats. Sometimes also added, shortening, which may be high in unhealthy trans fats. You might find these treats tasty, but they have almost no essential nutrients, copious calories, and many preservatives.
The bottom line
Emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat milk and milk products. This includes a variety of protein foods such as seafood, lean meats and poultry, eggs, legumes (beans and peas), soy products, nuts, and seeds. These are low in saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol, salt (sodium), and added sugars. Though the Western diet packs plenty of junk food, you can maintain a healthy diet if you steer clear of the processed. Always try to avoid the high-sugar items mentioned above. If you focus on whole foods, you’ll be well on your way to feeling better and reclaiming your health. Plus, practicing mindfulness when you eat by listening to your body’s cues and paying attention to flavors and textures can help you. You should be more aware of how much and what you eat. This can be done by allowing yourself to achieve a better relationship with food.
Comments