Unhealthy foods most people think are healthy

Do you know what foods are unhealthy? When examining your diet, it can be difficult to determine what foods are healthy or not.

The most common unhealthy foods include highly-processed items “such as fast foods and snack foods,” says Vilma Andari, M.S. “Highly-processed foods tend to be low in nutrients (vitamins, minerals and antioxidants) and high on empty calories due to the content of refined flours, sodium and sugar.”

Examples of processed foods include:

• Chips
• Cookies
• Cakes
• Sugar cereals

What makes food unhealthy?

“The preparation method and the types of ingredients the food contains make it unhealthy,” says Andari. “Sodium, sugar and fat (saturated fat and trans-fat) are key ingredients one should always monitor when eating out and shopping at the grocery store. The American Heart Association recommends keeping the consumption of saturated fat to less than 7 percent and the consumption of trans-fat to less than 1 percent of an individual’s daily calories.”

Avoid sodium, added sugar

According to the American Heart Association’s 2013 heart disease prevention guidelines, women are smart to shy away from eating foods that contain high levels of sodium and added sugar.

For optimal heart health, the American Heart Association recommends you consume:

• No more than 1,500 milligrams of sodium per day.
• No more than 6 teaspoons or 100 calories of sugar a day for women.

Unfortunately, the average American eats more than double their recommended sodium and sugar intake, consuming 3,600 milligrams of sodium and 22 teaspoons of sugar daily.

How to avoid unhealthy food

Andari offers several pieces of advice for how to stay away from food that is bad for you:

1. Choose processed foods carefully.
2. Avoid sodium from the six most common salty foods (bread and rolls; cold cuts and cured meats; pizza; burritos and tacos; soup; sandwiches).
3. Read food labels and stay away from items that have sugar added, excess sodium and fat.
4. Plan ahead and prepare healthy snacks and meals at home made from whole, fresh foods.
5. Choose lean meats with less than 10 percent fat.
6. Don’t skip meals (this can contribute to snacking on unhealthy foods when hungry).

We are what we eat, but we do not think that what we eat is not healthy, then we wonder why we are fattening, why we have high cholesterol, why we have cancer?

Today's food is very processed, most of it no longer contains fiber, protein, healthy sugars.

Try not to eat food that you can eat while walking.

Diet and Exercise to Lower Cholesterol

Diet to Lower Cholesterol

Cardiovascular disease has long been the number one health killer, and its related diseases caused by very high mortality rate. And constitutes a major cardiovascular disease risk factor is high cholesterol, however, the vast majority of cholesterol through diet and lifestyle can be a considerable degree of control. Studies have shown that as long as the lower value of 1% cholesterol, the risk of heart disease can be reduced by 2%.

Changes in lifestyle towards a healthy way

If you have high cholesterol (200 mg / dL or more) trouble, you can try by the U.S. Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute) of the proposed “therapeutic lifestyle change” (Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes , TLC) diet.

It is a positive lifestyle reduces the body’s cholesterol levels to reduce the incidence of heart diseases. Its main objectives are as follows:

1. Reducing sodium intake to 2,400 milligrams per day
2. To determine the daily intake of saturated fat of total daily calorie intake of less than 7%
3. Restrict access of calories from fat, total daily calorie intake does not exceed 25% to 35%
4. Limit dietary cholesterol (dietary cholesterol) of less than 200 mg per day, it comes from animal sources of food.
5. Restrict carbohydrate intake accounted for 50% of total daily calories to 60%, make sure it is rich in complex carbohydrates, mostly from (complex carbohydrates) food such as whole grains, vegetables and fruit.

Dietary Guidelines for therapeutic lifestyle

Therapeutic lifestyle diet emphasizes a balanced intake of various types with low saturated fatty acids, low in cholesterol and trans fatty acids, beneficial for cardiovascular health and more.

Dietary recommendations include:

1. Bread / cereal: whole grain bread, cereal pieces, such as oatmeal or brown rice.
2. Vegetables: Eat more dark green vegetables, beans, soy milk, tofu and other soy products.
3. Meat: Remove fat, retain lean part of the peeled poultry consumption, and limit intake of animal organs.
4. Choose a good oil: more choice of unsaturated vegetable oils such as soybean oil, canola oil, corn oil or olive oil.
5. Dairy products: skim or low-fat milk, yogurt, yogurt or low-fat cheese and so on.

In addition, it should eliminate the salt and seasonings to replace the use of herbs and spice.

Exercise can lower cholesterol

TLC appropriate program of physical activity is another key. In addition to regular exercise can help you manage your weight, adjusting blood fat, reduce arterial accumulation of cholesterol, enhance the beneficial HDL (high density lipoprotein), and improve overall cardiovascular function. Study found that jogging habits, their body fat clearance rate faster than people who do not exercise 70%.

You do not have to be marathon runners or mountain climbers, but persistent and progressive sport, and allows you to achieve the maximum cholesterol-lowering effect. Started by a number of simple activities, such as walking, climbing stairs, gardening or dancing. And then advanced to a higher intensity activities, try brisk walking, swimming, tennis or riding a bicycle and so on. Goal is to reach almost every day for at least 30 minutes of aerobic exercise. Once you change your diet and start exercising, you will see a decline in cholesterol and weight values, that is, to pay the maximum return.