21 Foods to Kick Out of Your Kitchen for Good

By Ghuman

Introduction

If you’re looking to make healthier food choices, it’s important to know which foods to avoid. Eating unhealthy foods can lead to weight gain, increased risk of chronic diseases, and other health issues. To help you make better food choices, here is a list of 21 foods to kick out of your kitchen for good. These foods are high in calories, sugar, sodium, and unhealthy fats, and should be avoided if you’re looking to improve your health.

21 Foods to Kick Out of Your Kitchen for Good

If you’re looking to make healthier choices in the kitchen, it’s important to know which foods to avoid. Here are 21 foods to kick out of your kitchen for good.

  • Processed Meats: Bacon, sausage, hot dogs, and other processed meats are high in saturated fat and sodium, and can increase your risk of heart disease and stroke.
  • White Bread: White bread is made from refined flour, which has been stripped of its nutrients. Opt for whole grain bread instead.
  • White Rice: White rice is also made from refined flour, and has been stripped of its nutrients. Choose brown rice or other whole grain options instead.
  • Sugary Drinks: Sodas, energy drinks, and other sugary drinks are high in calories and can lead to weight gain. Opt for water or unsweetened tea instead.
  • Fried Foods: Fried foods are high in fat and calories, and can increase your risk of heart disease and stroke. Choose baked or grilled options instead.
  • Candy: Candy is high in sugar and calories, and can lead to weight gain. Choose healthier snacks like fruits and nuts instead.
  • Artificial Sweeteners: Artificial sweeteners are not a healthier alternative to sugar, and can have negative health effects. Choose natural sweeteners like honey or maple syrup instead.
  • Processed Cheese: Processed cheese is high in sodium and saturated fat, and can increase your risk of heart disease and stroke. Choose real cheese instead.
  • Chips: Chips are high in fat and calories, and can lead to weight gain. Choose healthier snacks like fruits and nuts instead.
  • Ice Cream: Ice cream is high in sugar and calories, and can lead to weight gain. Choose healthier alternatives like frozen yogurt or sorbet instead.
  • Cake and Cookies: Cake and cookies are high in sugar and calories, and can lead to weight gain. Choose healthier snacks like fruits and nuts instead.
  • White Pasta: White pasta is made from refined flour, which has been stripped of its nutrients. Choose whole grain pasta instead.
  • Refined Sugar: Refined sugar is high in calories and can lead to weight gain. Choose natural sweeteners like honey or maple syrup instead.
  • Margarine: Margarine is high in trans fats, which can increase your risk of heart disease and stroke. Choose real butter instead.
  • Vegetable Oils: Vegetable oils are high in saturated fat and can increase your risk of heart disease and stroke. Choose healthier oils like olive oil instead.
  • Processed Snacks: Processed snacks are high in fat and calories, and can lead to weight gain. Choose healthier snacks like fruits and nuts instead.
  • High-Sodium Foods: High-sodium foods are high in sodium and can increase your risk of heart disease and stroke. Choose low-sodium options instead.
  • Artificial Flavors: Artificial flavors are not a healthier alternative to natural flavors, and can have negative health effects. Choose natural flavors instead.
  • High-Fructose Corn Syrup: High-fructose corn syrup is high in calories and can lead to weight gain. Choose natural sweeteners like honey or maple syrup instead.
  • Processed Foods: Processed foods are high in fat and calories, and can lead to weight gain. Choose whole, unprocessed foods instead.

By avoiding these 21 foods, you can make healthier choices in the kitchen and improve your overall health.

Think about you had the possibility to peek into the kitchens of the world’s greatest nutritionists and dietitians—the individuals who know precisely what to eat for a fitter physique, slimmer stomach, and an extended life. You most likely would not be shocked by what you see: Numerous recent fruit and veggies, complete grains, fish, some olive oil—nothing shocking there. However what would possibly shock you is what you will not see—the frequent, so-called “wholesome” meals that most likely populate your individual pantry, however which these within the know have lengthy banned from their very own houses.

We assembled a panel of consultants and obtained a sneak peek into the consuming habits of those that dwell and breathe diet day by day, and discovered about which meals ought to by no means be in your kitchen if you wish to shed extra poundsThrow these meals that are not doing any favors in your physique into the trash and begin making an attempt out these 7 Healthiest Meals to Eat Proper Now.

worst healthy snacks rice cakes
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Rice muffins are an old-school weight-reduction plan staple. However the easy carbohydrates rank notoriously excessive on the glycemic index (GI) — a measure of how shortly blood rises in response to meals on a scale of 1 to 100 (rice muffins are available in at 82). Excessive GI meals present a rush of power however can depart you hungry inside a couple of hours. Researchers on the New Stability Basis Weight problems Prevention Middle discovered high-GI snacks prompted extreme starvation and elevated exercise in craving and reward space of the mind — the right storm for overeating and weight achieve.

cappuccino
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“I attempt to keep away from extreme caffeine,” says Dr. Mamta M. Mamik, Assistant Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science on the Icahn College of Medication at Mount Sinai. “An grownup can safely devour as much as 400 milligrams of caffeine a day—which is equal to 4 8-ounce cups of espresso—however ingesting any greater than that may trigger calcium excretion, which, over time, might result in osteoporosis. Avoiding extra caffeine additionally helps to push back uncomfortable withdrawal signs like lethargy, insomnia, complications, and irritability.”

cream of mushroom soup
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“Though I really like them, I attempt to steer clear of cream-based soups. They not solely trouble my abdomen, however they’re additionally loaded with empty energy and sometimes have regarding fillers like hydrolyzed proteins, meals dyes and corn syrup that I discover out about later!” says, Dr. Taz Bhatia, integrative well being professional and writer of The 21-Day Stomach Repair.

Coffee muffin
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“I attempt to keep away from meals that incorporates trans fat, corn syrup, and added sugars,” says Eugenia Gianos, MD, heart specialist, Co-Scientific Director, Middle for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Illness at NYU Langone Medical Middle. “Typically listed as hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils, synthetically engineered trans-fats enhance your unhealthy (LDL) levels of cholesterol and reduce your good (HDL) levels of cholesterol, upping your threat of coronary heart assault and stroke.” Oftentimes, grocery chains or bakers will use partially hydrogenated oils to increase the shelf lifetime of their “recent” baked items. Apart from the potential for PHOs, these pastries are sometimes instances calorie-dense, and will not do a lot to maintain you energized all morning.

soy milk
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“I keep away from soymilk,” notes Guillem Gonzalez-Lomas, MD, sports activities medication specialist and assistant professor of Orthopaedic Surgical procedure at NYU Langone Medical Middle. “Sure, the horror tales linking overconsumption of soy merchandise to estrogen-like results–like the event of enlarged breasts in in any other case wholesome males–are distinctive. Nonetheless, the actual fact is that soy mimics estrogen and prompts estrogen receptors within the physique. Do you need to take that threat? There are many different milk substitutes—like almond milk—that do not carry the identical potential unwanted effects.”

nutrition bars
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“As a plastic surgeon, I am at all times occupied with my determine,” says New York Metropolis-based doctor, Lara Devgan, MD. “To that finish, I by no means eat power bars or granola bars. Though they are often tasty, for the quantity of calorie-dense carbs and fats they comprise, you would possibly as properly eat a sweet bar. Many of those bars are filled with easy sugars, and so they aren’t fairly filling sufficient to substitute for a meal or snack.”

Egg whites beaters
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“That is as far faraway from a pure egg as you may get,” says Dana James CDN, a nutritionist from Meals Coach NYC. “Warmth pasteurized and comprised of factory-farmed eggs, this product is processed a lot that makers even have so as to add in artificial nutritional vitamins to spice up its nutrient density. “Go for the true factor as a substitute,” says James. Choline, present in eggs, lean meats, seafood and collard greens, assaults the gene mechanism that triggers your physique to retailer fats round your liver.

drinking smoothie
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A fruit smoothie appears like a virtuous selection for a day pick-me-up, however be forewarned: Many store-bought choices are blended with high-calorie dairy bases and low-cost sweeteners that make them extra dessert-like than diet-friendly. Take Bare’s May Mango Fruit Smoothie, which has 57 grams of sugar per bottle.

Unhealthy orange juice bottle held in front of fridge
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“Speak about turning a great meals unhealthy,” says Leah Kaufman, MS, RD, CDN a New York Metropolis-based Registered Dietitian. “If you remodel produce into juice, you are taking away its fiber—one of many main advantages of consuming complete fruit and veggies. What you wind up with is a drink that is so concentrated with sweetness, it will possibly have as a lot sugar as a soda.” Increasingly analysis has begun to indicate that some fruits are literally higher at combating stomach fats than others. And the grasp fruits all have one factor in frequent: they’re purple, or at the least reddish. Raspberries, strawberries, blueberries—they’re filled with polyphenols, highly effective pure chemical compounds that may truly cease fats from forming.

two glasses of soda
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“I do not drink soda. A very long time in the past cola had cocaine in it, and it is arguably gotten much more unhealthy since then,” says Gonzalez-Lomas. “Most sodas comprise phosphorus, which binds to calcium and will increase calcium loss, which is horrible for bone well being. Plus, only one can is stuffed with 40 grams of sugar—the equal of 20 sugar cubes—which makes it difficult for the physique to take care of wholesome glucose and insulin ranges. And weight-reduction plan soda is probably worse. Diet drinks comprise low doses of carcinogens and synthetic sweeteners which have probably harmful results on the mind and metabolism. Whereas every thing carefully is affordable, I avoid sodas—excessive threat, no reward.”

Do not miss discovering out What Occurs to Your Physique When You Give Soda!

granola
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“One of many main well being meals impostors!” says Lisa Moskovitz, RD, founding father of The NY Vitamin Group. “One tiny cup of granola has practically 600 energy, 30 grams of fats, and 24 grams of sugar. That is the equal of beginning your morning with two slices of cheesecake.” Moskovitz provides, “If I need a crunch cereal, I am going to go for a lighter various like Cheerios or Particular Ok. They pack the identical satisfying crunch with a fraction of the energy, fats, and sugar,” she says.

ham sandwich
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“I eat a really clear, plant-based weight-reduction plan so the keep away from record is lengthy for me. Nonetheless, even for individuals who eat meat, the processed varieties are a foul selection,” warns David L. Katz, MD, MPH, Director of the Yale College Prevention Analysis Middle and President of the American Faculty of Life-style Medication. “Whereas the hyperlink between meat and persistent illness is pretty tenuous, the connection between salt-, sugar- and chemical-laden processed meats and persistent illness threat is robust and constant. When you eat meat, it needs to be pure—such as you need your individual muscular tissues to be. When you eat the extremely processed, adulterated meats they might pay it ahead to the meat by yourself bones.”

For a listing of the purest proteins, try the important record of The 29 Greatest Proteins for Weight Loss.

Peanut butter cookies
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“I keep away from any product marketed as ‘low-fat.’ Usually, these things are extensively processed and filled with chemical compounds which can be added to attempt to obtain the consistency or reproduce the flavour of the full-fat fashions on which they’re primarily based,” explains Rebekah Gross, MD, a gastroenterologist on the Joan H. Tisch Middle for Ladies’s Well being at NYU Langone Medical Middle. “I would reasonably bask in a smaller portion of a meals naturally excessive in fats or sugar than ingest a man-made substitute. Typically, the true deal tastes higher, is extra satisfying, and does not trigger the gastrointestinal upset that may be related to extremely processed meals,” says Gross.

hot dog with ketchup and mustard
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“It is known as ketchup as a result of, over time, it should catch as much as you,” jokes Moskovitz. “Simply two measly tablespoons has as much as 8 grams of sugar and 40 energy. And most of these energy come from excessive fructose corn syrup, which has been proven to extend urge for food and, over time, result in well being issues equivalent to weight problems and diabetes.” When you actually cannot dwell with out the stuff, “use an all-natural model with no added sugar, chemical compounds or HFCS,” says Moskovitz.

eating cereal
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“Most chilly cereals—even those that appear wholesome—are carb-laden, candy and extremely processed. They’re undoubtedly not the breakfast of champions—at the least not skinny champions,” says Lauren Slayton, MS, RD, founding father of Foodtrainers. As a substitute, “Beginning your day with lean protein, like eggs, is the easiest way to make sure that you will keep energized and full into early afternoon,” says Slayton.

Coffee creamer milk
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“I keep away from flavored espresso creamers as a result of they’re stuffed with pretend components that may do extra hurt than the flavour is value: trans fat, synthetic sweeteners, carrageenan and synthetic coloring,” says Gina Consalvo, MA, RD, LDN, Pennsylvania-based proprietor of Eat Properly with Gina. “Over time, your morning shot of non-dairy creamer can elevate harmful LDL levels of cholesterol and enhance the chance of blood clots and coronary heart assault. “Lighten your espresso with a half and half that solely lists milk and cream as components,” she says.

nutella
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“Nutella is a kind of meals that individuals imagine to be wholesome as a result of it incorporates a nut,” says Kaufman. “However examine the components: spreads like Nutella are primarily sugar and palm oil, with virtually no precise nuts concerned. With over 20 grams of added sugar and solely two grams of protein, the unfold simply winds up at your waist.”

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canned vegetables
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Individuals sometimes eat solely one-third of their really useful day by day consumption, so it’s possible you’ll be shocked to listen to us knock any type of vegetable. Sadly, we have got to go there. Why? Some veggies of this selection are saved in cans which can be laced with BPA, an industrial chemical utilized in varied meals and drinks containers. “There may be plenty of controversy round BPA,” says Consalvo. “It’s thought to pose some well being dangers in fetuses, infants and younger youngsters’s mind growth.” She notes that there are various manufacturers that at the moment are utilizing BPA-free cans and onerous plastics. We advise going with recent or frozen veggies, which are usually more healthy and freed from salt and preservatives, too.

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“We have been conditioned to search for low-cost meals as a substitute of the high-quality meals,” Dan Roberts, celeb coach and creator of Methodology X tells us. “Now, to eat natural looks as if a luxurious when it actually is not. For each ethical and well being causes (it is freed from progress hormones), I at all times purchase and eat free-range natural hen.”

white bread
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Jim White RD, ACSM HFS, Proprietor of Jim White Health and Vitamin Studios says that “White bread has been bleached and stripped of its bran and germ, the weather of the grain that comprise useful vitamins. Because of this, white bread is not very filling, has virtually no dietary worth and is transformed into sugar when you eat it. Like desk sugar, it then spikes insulin ranges, which promotes fats storage.” Jay Cardiello, NSCA, personal-trainer to the celebs, provides, “Additionally, do not get caught up in phrases like, ‘made with complete grains’. This catchy phrase could make you assume your bread is a wholesome selection, however it solely implies that the bread is made up of a mix of whole-wheat flour and another much less nutritious flour that will not profit your well being.”

Gummy bears bowl
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“Tossing again a handful of sweet might not appear to be an enormous deal, however it’s the equal of chowing down on pure sugar. I might by no means try this and neither ought to anybody else,” explains Lori-Ann Marchese, health celeb and proprietor of Physique Assemble LLC.