Foods to ditch – If serious about dieting

Summer is just about here, but your skirts from last year no longer fit? Then it’s time to lose a few pounds again.

We’ll tell you which foods tend to get in the way of losing weight and take a look at healthy foods that will help your diet along.

Five foods you should avoid

1. CEREALS AND DRIED FRUIT

Oatmeal is an excellent choice if you want to get your day off to a good start. But ready-made muesli is an absolute sugar trap. It contains a lot of dried fruit or even household sugar, which adds a lot to the calorie balance.

A small bowl of muesli with milk or plant milk can thus quickly have 500 or 600 calories. So it is better to make your muesli. Mix some oat flakes and spelt flakes, add some fresh fruit, and your power breakfast is ready to keep you full for a long time.

2. COCONUT BLOSSOM SUGAR, AGAVE SYRUP, AND CO.

Household sugar has been demonized for a long time. And rightly so. Because on average, we eat far too much sugar, which is also hidden in bread, salad dressings, convenience foods, and juices.

That’s why many people turn to alternative sweeteners. Because if a product is natural, such as honey, agave syrup, or coconut blossom sugar, we feel better. After all, this sugar is healthy and organic, right? But, unfortunately, that’s not entirely true. All alternative sweeteners contain just as much fructose or sugar as regular household sugar.

In the body, all sweeteners, whether fruit, honey, or sugar, are metabolized in the same way and just put on in the form of fat. An alternative sweetener is therefore not food for losing weight.

3. WRONG WHOLEMEAL BREAD

Whole grain bread is the right choice if you want to eat bread. But many whole grain loaves of bread contain a significant amount of white flour and hidden sugar that won’t fill you up appropriately.

So read carefully what it says on the package. Some wholemeal bread is dark because it contains sugar beet syrup. A genuine cheat pack with a lot of sugar. False wholemeal bread does not count therefore to the forbidden food – you can lose, however, only with it, if also really the full-grain is contained to at least 80 percent.

4. BANANAS

On the one hand, bananas are a natural appetite satisfier and belong to a power breakfast. On the other hand, they also contain a lot of sugar. A banana has about twice as many calories as an apple. So if you want to lose weight, it’s better to choose fruit that is low in sugar. Papaya, kiwi, raspberries, and sour apples always go.

Related: The top 12 superfoods for weight loss and a healthier you

White flour products

Refined, white flour, found in most industrially processed foods, not only provides a rapid rise in blood sugar levels and the dangers that come with it, ranging from obesity to diabetes. Several studies also show that increased consumption of white flour can also lead to increased cancer risk. The digestion of white flour products additionally deprives the body of vitamins and minerals, especially calcium and vitamin B1. Fortunately, however, there are many healthy alternatives, such as homemade gluten-free bread!

Frozen meals

The quick and easy preparation makes many consumers reach for ready meals repeatedly. But the supposed shortcut is harmful in the long run. Ready-made products usually contain numerous highly processed ingredients that the body cannot process well and poor quality ingredients. Terms such as “flavor” or “natural flavor” often conceal undisclosed flavor enhancers and preservatives. It would be best to avoid an ingredient list containing many hard-to-pronounce ingredients. Trans fats, high sugar and salt content, and low nutrient and vitamin content make most convenience foods an additional no-go.

Chewing gum

Chewing gum today is made of plastic and contains chemically produced sweeteners such as aspartame, which is harmful to our nervous system and metabolism. Other additives, such as butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), are often found in chewing gum and harm our health! Detailed information and reasons why you still don’t have to give up the chewing pleasure completely, you get here!

Microwave popcorn

Aside from microwave irradiation having long been debunked as unhealthy, microwave popcorn is a food to avoid! They contain unhealthy trans fats and artificial flavorings and additives. In addition, chemicals in the package often trigger infertility and, in the worst cases, cancer. So for popcorn cravings, buy corn kernels, grab a big pot and make it yourself!

Diet or light products

In the widespread slimming craze, diet and light products have become increasingly popular. But the supposed calorie savings can lead to many health problems. Diet or light products are often full of additives and, in many cases, contain sweeteners that “confuse” the body and mess up the metabolism in the long run.

Lose weight automatically with light products? No way!

The thought is tempting: Reach for light versions of the foods you’re used to, and the kilos will fall off virtually by themselves and without any significant change in diet. But the reality is usually different. In addition, we are not doing our bodies any favors with such a diet – many light products are considered unhealthy and are therefore a poor alternative. And enjoyment often falls by the wayside.

Additives make low-fat light products unhealthy.

There are different light products – some are light because they contain less fat, while others replace sugar with sweeteners. Since 2007, it has been a legal requirement that foods containing at least 30 percent fewer calories, fat, sugar, or alcohol be called “light,” according to information from Health Canada, among others. However, this “or” is precisely one of the reasons why light products are often unhealthier than the conventional version. For example, if yogurt’s fat content is significantly reduced, this is at the expense of taste since fat acts as a flavor carrier. Some manufacturers add extra sugar to the product to compensate for this, so the calories saved by the lower fat content are offset by more sugar. Less fat also means that the body can absorb the vitamins contained in the food. Light products are also unhealthy because they often contain flavor enhancers and other artificial additives. These are intended to ensure that the taste and consistency are as similar as possible to the original product.

Related: The top 10 worst food choices if your on a diet

Sodas

Most sodas available in supermarkets contain excessive sugar and often dyes and other chemicals that can be very harmful to the body and, in extreme cases, can contribute to cancer.

Margarine

Even though margarine has long been hailed as a plant-based butter alternative, it’s better to avoid it. Many trans fats, hydrogenated fats, and toxins are detrimental to health and, despite advertising claims to the contrary, definitely do not make margarine a healthy spread!

Ketchup

Ketchup also falls into the category of foods that our bodies could heartily do without. Even if it contains a lot of tomatoes in the best-case scenario, there are often artificial flavorings and flavor enhancers in the famous sauce. In addition, the sugar content is extremely high. Here it is helpful to read through the ingredients carefully and if in doubt, make the ketchup yourself!

How much sugar can be in breakfast cereals?

Children eat up to eight cubes of sugar with one portion for breakfast.

Funny cartoon characters smile from many packages of breakfast cereals. This is especially appealing to children. But these same products contain large amounts of sugar, warns health and nutrition experts worldwide.

One of the breakfast products tested, for example, consists of 43 percent added sugar. With a 60-gram serving, a child consumes eight sugar cubes. For an elementary school student, that’s more than the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends for the entire day. The better alternative: homemade muesli made from oatmeal and dried fruit.

How unhealthy is alcohol?

Red wine, in particular, is said to have a health-promoting effect. Small amounts of red wine are stated to protect against heart attacks and diabetes. This is the resveratrol contained in red wine and other secondary plant substances such as polyphenols. They are among the most potent antioxidants known to us and ensure that our body cells do not degenerate. Polyphenols are also found in grape juice.

However, only those who do not consume more than one glass of wine per day can benefit from this positive effect of red wine. The German Nutrition Society recommends a maximum of 20 g of alcohol per day (0.25 ml of wine) for men, while only half that amount is permitted for women. Anything above that is detrimental to health.

How long does alcohol remain in the blood?

The rule of thumb is that about 0.1 – 0.2 per mill is broken down per hour. About 90% of the alcohol is broken down via the liver, a small part via the breath and urine.

Healthy foods for weight loss

Many foods will help you lose weight. First of all, this includes everything that is not industrially processed. Therefore, sausages, ready-made pizza, cornflakes, or fruit yogurt should disappear entirely from your menu.

Everything fresh and wholesome can help you lose weight – as long as your calorie balance is correct. Fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grain pasta, tofu or white meat, fish, plain yogurt, milk, and a little cheese should make up a large part of your diet.

So healthy foods for weight loss can be found in abundance at the supermarket, as long as you can manage to leave the freezers and candy shelves behind. But what might a day of weight loss foods look like? We have an example for you:

Do you want healthy recipes that will actually help you lose weight? Have a look at the Alkaline Recipes Cookbook collection, their recipes are easy to prepare and focus on a simple raw-food diet. Click here to learn more.