In one word: EVERYTHING!
I am sorry to give you a reality slap here. The truth is almost everything in the aisles contain something that is not good for you, could make you gain weight, increase your blood pressure, or shorten your life.
There are a lot of carbohydrates in packaged food. Carbohydrates are converted to glucose, which is a scientific name for sugar, in your bloodstream. The majority of people get most of their calories from carbohydrates. Therefore, they are mostly burning sugar for energy. This is a quick energy, kind of like kindling. It gets the fire started, but it is used up quickly. Then, you need more sugar or carbs to keep running. When we are burning carbs or sugars our bodies have to work harder. Our pancreas sends out insulin to bring the sugar into our cells and either burn it for energy or store it for fat.
So, where does that lead us: diabetes, obesity, inflammatory conditions like arthritis and alzheimer's, heart disease, and cancer.
Yes, CANCER feeds on sugar! Yikes!
This fact bears repeating. Cancer cells increase when we eat sugar, carbohydrates, fruits! Scary!
Yes, sugar causes our pancreas to secrete more and more insulin, which causes our cells to become insulin resistant, which can lead to diabetes. If our cells become immune to the effects of insulin and sugar can't get absorbed into the cells. Then, more sugar will be in the bloodstream, which is the marker for diabetes.
Too much sugar in your bloodstream all the time, leads to inflammation in your blood vessels, heart disease, kidney disease, heart attacks, and strokes. This inflammation can also cause arthritis, alzheimer's, fibromyalgia, and autoimmune illnesses.
Excess glucose in your bloodstream is stored as fat. Whatever we don't burn as it circulates, stores as body fat. This is how sugar and carbs make you fat. If you look at how much food is in the middle aisles, and you notice how much of that food people are putting in their grocery carts, you will understand why we have an obesity epidemic. Now that you have heard my spiel about "carbs" the rest of this discussion should make more sense.
Let's think about how the average child starts their day:
Juice = sugar
Cereal = carbs = sugar
Milk = sugar
Now, you see why we have children who can't sit still and concentrate in school.
How about this breakfast:
pancakes = carbs = sugar
maple syrup = sugar
milk/ juice = sugar
Basically, any of that crap that they sell in the aisles as breakfast food is just sugar and carbs. Read the labels for pop tarts, yogurt, English muffins, waffles, and breakfast sandwiches!
As I write this, I get tears in my eyes. As a parent, I believed the myth too. I thought I was giving my children a healthy start to the day. Really I was just stressing out their poor little systems.
Then, you add telemarketing targeted at kids and parents. Everyone is brainwashed into wanting all the products in the aisles. Mornings are hectic. Parents are rushed. Kids are rushed. We all want something easy and healthy. So, we believe the storyline we have been told.
What is your best bet for a healthy breakfast? I can give you a hint, it is not in the aisles.
Eggs, hard boiled for on the go; bacon/ sausages with no sugar or nitrates; avocado slices or guacamole on Ezekiel bread toast. Plain yogurt with a small amount of fresh fruit.
Unfortunately, what I have to share next is even scarier. Did you ever ask yourself, how can the food in the aisles stay on the shelf for so long? The answer is preservatives. These are chemical compounds put into food, so that it will not breakdown. Rumor has it, a Twinkie will never breakdown!
What does this mean for your digestive system? It means the packaged food is loaded with chemicals that your body has to work extra hard to breakdown. Your body will not be able to absorb all of the nutrients from the food. And your body will use up valuable resources to break the food down. Not everything will get broken down. Hence, your intestines become lined with food particles that are in various stages of breakdown. This leads to less nutrient absorption, constipation, bloating, diarrhea, toxic gut. This sludge kills your gut bacteria. This is why everybody needs probiotics. You also use extra stomach acid, which leads to indigestion and poor food breakdown going into the intestines, compounding the problem. Your liver and gall bladder become overworked. Eventually this leads to poor health, loss of energy, and chronic illness.
But, the worse news is this: because our body is lacking nutrients, and our blood sugar is constantly spiking and then bottoming out, we are chronically hungry!!! This leads to even more obesity!
Both dopamine and serotonin require nutrients absorbed from our food, so our levels drop. This leads to increased anxiety, depression, and sleep disorders.
Remember food is what fuels our bodies. Choose wisely...
If you changed your diet today, how long would it take until you see improvement?
That depends on how bad off your body is. It could be anywhere from 1 month to 2 years. It is worth the effort!
Namaste
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