A healthy macronutrients should contain the most or all the 6 micronutrients. A table provided below classifies the healthy and unhealthy macronutrients.
In order to understand further the danger of eating unhealthy food, the impact of eating unhealthy foods is explained below:
1. Processed foods which contained refined white sugar: These include all foods made with High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), corn syrup, refined sugar, sucrose, maltose, mollases, brown sugar, artificial sweeteners, processed honey, candy, jam, jellies, cookies, cakes, pies, cereals and ketchup.
Health impact: These refined carbohydrates will cause our blood glucose level to rise rapidly, triggering food cravings and insulin surges that lead to fat production, inflammation, depletion of vitamins and minerals, low energy and weakening our immune system. Over the long run, this can lead to disease such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, arthritis, Alzheimer’s and osteoporosis. Although artificial sweeteners and sugar-free foods do not contain the refined sugar, their chemical make-up is acidic which is also not good for our health. This will be explained in the next chapter on chemical properties of food.
2. Processed food which contain refined white flour: These include all food made with refined flour such as white bread, enriched bread, white pasta, white rice, macaroni, cereals, crackers, donuts, pancakes, pastries, biscuits, spaghetti, cakes, pies and starchy vegetables such as potatoes and corns.
Health impact: These refined carbohydrates will be eventually broken down into its basic form (C6H12O6) which will cause our blood glucose level to rise albeit at a slower rate than refined sugar. Excessive consuming this type of food over the long run will have almost the same impact as consuming refined sugar. Furthermore bleaching agents used for whitening the flour produced a chemical called alloxan which may damage pancreatic beta cell in some people. We can minimize the negative effects to our health by eating the organic whole grain, high fiber version of these foods.
A point to note is that white rice which is the basic food for Malaysian is highly glycemic. High glycemic food means food that converts readily to sugar (glucose). All food has a glycemic index and this is compared against glucose which has the highest index of 100. For example, white rice and white bread is 90 and brown rice is 50. Bananas and papaya is 60 whereas orange (42), pears (38) and grapefruits (25). If you are at high risk of developing diabetes, you should take food with index less than 50 and eat lots of fibers. Alternatively we should reduce our intake of white rice or substitute the white rice with the healthier form which is the brown rice.
3. Trans fats: These include all processed foods made with hydrogenated oil, such as stick margarines, French fries, potato chips, pretzels, cookies, fried foods, donuts, store-bought baked goods, and packaged foods. The process of creating hydrogenated oil destroys the essential fatty acids in the oil and replaces them with deformed trans fatty acids.
Health impact: Trans fats are shaped differently from their original form, creating deficiencies and imbalances throughout the metabolism, including fatty deposits in the arteries. Trans-fats in processed foods lead to fat production, inflammation, clogging of the arteries, and damaged cells (DNA structure). These foods also prevent our body from burning fat and effectively utilizing insulin as this synthesis fat clogs our insulin receptors. We should be wary of foods that are cooked beyond 250 degrees Fahreinheit because they contain acrylamide, a proven carcinogen (cancer-causing agent). Examples of such foods are French fries which also contain trans fats and behaved like refined sugar.
4. Saturated fats: they are solid at room temperature and are found in animal meat, organ meats, processed meats, fried foods and some dairy products (cow’s milk, cheese, butter, ice cream). These fats contain arachidonic acid, which is found in the fat and muscle tissues of animals. Arachinodic acid is essential for our health, but it can be destructive at high levels, leading to inflammation and heart disease.
Health impact: Excess consumption of saturated fats can lead to inflammation, excess fat production, increased leptin production (loss of appetite control), clogging of arteries, cancerous tissues, and reduced insulin utilization. We should be wary of animals that are given growth hormones, antibiotics and other chemicals which are passed to us when we consume these meats on a regular basis.
5. Drugs: they include alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, etc
Health impact: Alcohol and tobacco devastate the liver, lungs and cardiovascular system causing cancer, heart disease and other disease. Caffeine is a stimulant that may trigger insulin surges. Caffeine has diuretic property and may cause slight dehydration. It will also generally increase your heartbeat. Excess caffeine may cause the body to produce an oxidative chemical called alloxan that may damage the pancreatic beta cells in some people, reducing their production of insulin.
Eating healthy and nutritious foods on the other hand help to initiate a cleansing and detoxification of the body at the cellular level to help repair trillions of defective cells that were damaged in our body due to eating bad food and accumulated toxin in your body. Raw vegetable juice can accelerate the cleansing of the body’s terrain to increase absorption and strengthen the immune system; reduce the inflammation and acidity in your body; and, rebalance the body biochemically and hormonally.
The consistent consumption of nutritious foods with proper nutritional supplementation allows the entire body to begin a rejuvenation process to repair and rebuild itself. These nutritious foods enable the body to function in a harmonious manner; and the body, in turn operates in harmony with the mind.
To be continued in Part 3
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