Eight Reasons to Avoid Processed Foods

Of the many reasons to avoid processed foods, here are the top eight reasons why it is important to remove these processed foods, also known as ” frankenfoods”, from your diet immediately.

1. They contain chemicals. The chemicals found in processed foods are added to give them a longer shelf life, enhance taste and color, and/or make them grow faster and larger. These chemicals can have damaging and significantly negative effects on our bodies. Your body cannot process chemical additives into usable nutrients. Because your body does not know what to do with these chemicals, your body just absorbs them and stores them primarily in your fat tissues. When this happens, the chemicals can wreak havoc on your body’s natural detoxifying systems. This can cause many diseases and digestive problems and can add extra toxins to your blood, tissues, and organs. They can even cause weight gain and make it nearly impossible for you to lose weight!
2. They contain hidden ingredients. Processed foods often contain hidden sugar, salt, and harmful fats. All three of these contribute to health problems. Additionally, ingredients are frequently hidden under different names. For example, a nutrition label may not include “sugar” as one of the ingredients. It may list “dextrose,” “cane juice crystals,” or any one of more than fifty names sugar can be disguised as, but these are also processed sugars and just as dangerous as “regular” or “white” sugar.
3. They contain mystery ingredients. Many processed foods are filled with strange parts and pieces. For example, hot dogs contain “edible offal,” which is animal skin, snouts, ears, esophagi, etc. Um…ew! I don’t know about you, but this doesn’t sound very appetizing to me! If this is your thing, though, then go for it! 🙂
4. They are fortified with synthetic vitamins and minerals. To make up for the loss of nutrients during processing, synthetic vitamins and minerals are added to processed foods. These vitamins and minerals may appear healthy, but our bodies do not know what to do with them. A perfect example of this is the “enriched flour” found in many products, especially breads and cereals. Wheat is stripped of all its natural nutrients. Then synthetic vitamins are added to it. This is what is considered “enriched.”
5. They change your taste buds. Processed foods contain refined sugar, extra salt, and other so called “natural flavors.” Not only are these things horrible for your body, they dull your taste buds to real, natural foods. This results in a need to eat more processed foods to get the taste you want.
6. You are supporting the wrong market. When you purchase any product, you are voting for that product with your dollars. If you spend money on processed foods, you encourage growth in this market. By spending your money on organic produce and other, better choices instead, you can help to lower the overall prices of organic foods. The more demand there is for organically grown foods versus conventionally grown foods, the lower the prices will be for organic foods.
7. They cost more money. Although fruits and vegetables, whether organic or conventional, often appear to be expensive, they are often much less expensive than processed foods, even if you purchase organic produce. If you usually load your cart with processed foods, try buying only fresh, whole foods on your next shopping trip, and see how your savings can add up.
8. They Are Dead! Processed foods are stripped of nutrients, making once nutrient-rich foods basically dead foods. Most of the goodness is cooked or processed out of them. As a result, we are not able to benefit from the enzymes and nutrients the foods normally contain. Dead foods equal dead cells!

This is just a small list of why it is a good idea avoid these “foods”. I will explore more reasons why you might want to avoid processed foods in future posts. While exploring this topic further, I will show you how you can make simple changes and replace them with whole, natural, delicious foods.

I promise if you make a few lateral shifts in your diet, you will eventually get to a point where you will begin to crave real food rather than those “not foods”, and you won’t even miss the processed garbage.

Are you a “processed food freak,” or do you try to make sure you are feeding yourself and your family the best your money can buy? Do you fall somewhere in the middle? I would really like to know. Please share your thoughts and strategies in the comments below.

You will find that the stubborn weight you have been trying to lose will finally begin to effortlessly melt away. You will no longer lose and regain those last five or ten pounds. Your skin will look better. Your mood will improve. You will feel so much better.

Please feel free to leave a comment below letting me know your thoughts on processed foods. If there are any issues around processed foods that you would like me to address, please also leave that in the comments section. Furthermore, if you have any questions, please ask them below.