Processed Foods Are Slowly Killing People

Processed foods are bad.They are the main reason why people all over the world are getting fat and sick.How do we know?Every time a population adopts. “Western” diet high in processed foods, they get sick.It happens within a few years. Their genes don’t change, their food does.

Real vs Processed Food
The word “processed” often causes some confusion, so let me clarify what I mean.Obviously, most foods we eat are processed in some way. Apples are cut from trees, ground beef has been ground in a machine and butter is cream that has been separated from the milk and churned.

But there is a difference between mechanical processing and chemical processing.If it’s a single ingredient food with no added chemicals, then it doesn’t matter if it’s been ground or put into a jar. It’s still real food.

However… foods that have been chemically processed and made solely from refined ingredients and artificial substances, are what is generally known as “processed food.”

1. Processed Foods Are Usually High in Sugar and High Fructose Corn Syrup


Processed foods are usually loaded with added sugar… or its evil twin, High Fructose Corn Syrup.It is well known that sugar, when consumed in excess, is seriously harmful.

As we all know, sugar is “empty” calories – it has no essential nutrients, but a large amount of energy.But empty calories are really just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the harmful effects of sugar…

Many studies show that sugar can have devastating effects on metabolism that go way beyond its calorie content.It can lead to insulin resistance, high triglycerides, increased levels of the harmful cholesterol and increased fat accumulation in the liver and abdominal cavity.Not surprisingly, sugar consumption is strongly associated with some of the world’s leading killers… including heart disease, diabetes, obesity and cancer.

Most people aren’t putting massive amounts of sugar in their coffee or on top of their cereal, they’re getting it from processed foods and sugar-sweetened beverages.

2. Processed Foods Are “Hyper Rewarding” and Lead to Overconsumption

We all want to eat good food. That’s just human nature.Evolution provided us with taste buds that are supposed to help us navigate the natural food environment.Our appetite gravitates towards foods that are sweet, salty and fatty, because we know such foods contain energy and nutrients that we need for survival.



Obviously, if a food manufacturer wants to succeed and get people to buy their product, it has to taste good.

But today, the competition is fierce. There are many different food manufacturers, all competing with each other.

For this reason, massive resources are spent on making foods as desirable as possible.

Many processed foods have been engineered to be so incredibly “rewarding” to the brain, that they overpower anything we might have come across in nature.

We have complicated mechanisms in our bodies and brains that are supposed to regulate energy balance (how much we eat and how much we burn) – which, until very recently in evolutionary history, worked to keep us at a healthy weight.

There is quite a lot of evidence that the reward value of foods can bypass the innate defense mechanism and make us start eating much more than we need, so much that it starts to compromise our health.

This is also known as the “food reward hypothesis of obesity.”The truth is, processed foods are so incredibly rewarding to our brains that they affect our thoughts and behavior, making us eat more and more until eventually we become sick.

Good food is good, but foods that are engineered to be hyper rewarding, effectively short circuiting our innate brakes against overconsumption, are NOT good.

3. Processed Foods Are Often High in Refined Carbohydrates



There is a lot of controversy regarding carbohydrates in the diet.Some people think that the majority of our energy intake should be from carbs, while others think they should be avoided like the plague.

But one thing that almost everyone agrees on, is that carbohydrates from whole foods are much better than refined carbohydrates.Processed foods are often high in carbs, but it is usually the refined variety.

One of the main problems is that refined, “simple” carbohydrates are quickly broken down in the digestive tract, leading to rapid spikes in blood sugar and insulin levels.

This can lead to carb cravings a few hours later when blood sugar levels go down again. This phenomenon is also called the “blood sugar roller coaster” – which many people who have been on a high-carb diet can relate to.
Not surprisingly, eating a lot of refined carbohydrates is associated with negative health effects and many chronic diseases.

Do NOT be fooled by labels like “whole grains” that are often plastered on processed food packages, including breakfast cereals.

These are usually whole grains that have been pulverized into very fine flour and are just as harmful as their refined counterparts.If you’re going to eat carbs, get them from whole, single ingredient foods, not processed junk foods.