1.Vegetable oil
We all have been told to opt for vegetable oils and decrease the consumption of animal based fats such as butter, cream, ghee, whole milk, lard, tallow egg yolks etc. Because it is believed that animal based fats cause heart attacks by clogging up the arteries. However, that is not true and in reality it’s the opposite.
Vegetable oils such as soybean oil, canola oil, sunflower oil, peanut oil etc. are the single most dangerous ingredient in today’s food. They are the driver of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, inflammation, cancer and other kinds of severe diseases. They one of the biggest destroyer of human health. Why would this be? Well, the reason is that vegetable oils are highly prone to oxidation (oxidation simply means to react with oxygen) this makes them go rancid very easily. Why would this be bad? When you eat these oils they produce something called oxidative stress in your body, this stress is very damaging and is the main driver of cancer, heart disease, strokes, diabetes, brain damage, ageing etc. On top of that when you cook your food in vegetable oil it releases highly toxic chemicals called aldehydes. Aldehydes increases the growth of cancer cells, promote inflammation and brain damage.
Contrary to their name(vegetable oil) they are not made from vegetables but from seeds. The process of ripping oil out of thousands of tiny seeds is not easy and requires a long industrial process. So, large machines and factories are dedicated to this process. As mentioned before these oils oxidize easily and heat is one of the easiest way to oxidize fat. In the factory during their processing vegetable oils are repeatedly heated. By this time these oils are already so rancid that they cannot be eaten directly because they would smell and taste terrible. A final deodorization process is carried out to make these oils palatable. So, basically long before the bottles arrive in your kitchen these fragile oils are repeatedly heated making them severely toxic.
Which one of these do you think is a more nutritious and healthy fat?
Unlike these oils animal fats are resistant to oxidation and they do not go rancid easily when they are heated during cooking process. These fats are very stable and nourishing to our bodies. They are also rich in vitamin A,D,E, K2 and some other minerals. If you care about your health the very first step you should take is to remove vegetable oils from your diet and kitchen completely. They are literally hidden in almost every food you eat. Vegetable oils are present everywhere in the restaurants, chips, granola bars, roasted nuts, crackers, biscuits, breads, salad dressings, mayonnaise, sauces etc.
2.Breakfast cereals
Breakfast cereals such as cornflakes, muesli, cheerios and many heart healthy cereals out there are one of the worst breakfast you can eat. why? This is because breakfast cereals are a highly processed food. They are made up of grains, which themselves are not nutritious and when they are treated at a very high heat during the making of these cereals they get denatured and their remaining nutritive value is destroyed. Even though they are fortified that does not make them nutritious because our body does not even absorb the synthetic nutrients added to them. For example: iron added to these breakfast cereals is not absorbed by our body unlike the one which occurs in whole foods. Secondly, they are loaded with sugar and have a very high glycemic index, meaning that they spike your insulin levels. High insulin level drives weight gain, will make you lethargic and increase your hunger. You do not want to start your day with something that does not satisfy your hunger and makes you lethargic.
There are far better options than these processed cereals. You can opt for traditional cereals instead such as oat meal made from steel cut or rolled oats, eggs and milk are super healthy to start your day with, Paneer pratha or paneer sandwich with butter is also a great option.
3.Fruit juice
Surprise surprise! yes you read it right that fruit juice is not healthy. I am not talking about homemade fruit juice from real fruits but about commercial fruit juice which comes in tetra packs and bottles, Tropicana, Real, B-natural just to name a few. The juice that you buy from the market thinking that it’s a healthy alternative to coke or any other soft drink is made from artificial flavors, preservatives, juice concentrate and is loaded with sugar. It is no more than flavored sugar water. On the other hand, juice that is made at home by squeezing real fruit retains all of it’s nutrients, some fiber and is not loaded with extra sugar, It is raw and easily digested by the body. The one that is made in a factory is processed and it’s nutritive value is next to none even if it claims to be fortified. First they process the natural fruit into a flavored sugar water by treating it with heat and adding preservatives and then they pretend it to be healthy by adding some synthetic vitamins to it. Does it even make any sense?
Although commercial fruit juice can be enjoyed occasionally for a refresh but try not to make a habit of drinking it regularly in a belief that because it’s a fruit juice so it must be healthy. It does not even come close to real fruit juice from real fruits.
