“Diabetes is a chronic (long-lasting) health condition that affects how your body turns food into energy.

Your body breaks down most of the food you eat into sugar (glucose) and releases it into your bloodstream. When your blood sugar goes up, it signals your pancreas to release insulin. Insulin acts like a key to let the blood sugar into your body’s cells for use as energy.

With diabetes, your body doesn’t make enough insulin or can’t use it as well as it should or you have no insulin in the body being made. When there isn’t enough insulin or cells stop responding to insulin, too much blood sugar stays in your bloodstream. Over time, that can cause serious health problems, such as heart disease, vision loss, and kidney disease.”

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – CDC (https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/basics/diabetes.html)

“The American Cancer Society’s estimates for pancreatic cancer in the United States for 2023 are:

• About 64,050 people (33,130 men and 30,920 women) will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
• About 50,550 people (26,620 men and 23,930 women) will die of pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic cancer accounts for about 3% of all cancers in the US and about 7% of all cancer deaths.

It is slightly more common in men than in women.”

American Cancer Society

(https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/pancreatic-cancer/causes-risks-prevention/risk-factors.html)

“-Your left lung is smaller than your right lung, to accommodate for your heart.
-70% of waste is eliminated through your lungs just by breathing2.
-Can you live without one lung? Yes you can, it limits your physical ability but doesn’t stop you from living a relatively normal life. Many people around the world live with just one lung.
-No matter how hard we exhale, our lungs will always retain 1 litre of air in the airways. This makes the lungs only human organs that can float on water.
-Oxygen only plays a small part in our breathing. The air we breathe contains 21% oxygen, but our bodies only use 5%, the rest is exhaled.
-Children and women are faster breathers than men because their breathing rate is higher.
-Humans exhale up to 17.5 millilitres of water per hour.”

Lung Foundation Australia (https://lungfoundation.com.au/lung-health/protecting-your-lungs/how-your-lungs-work/)

“The predictive powers of a cholesterol test only go so far. If your LDL is low, your C-reactive protein may be a better sign of impending heart trouble.  The gap between knowing what’s good for you and actually doing it can be huge, especially when it comes to something like getting exercise. (Never underestimate the appeal of the sedentary life.) Many of us need a warning-some might say a bit of a kick in the pants-before we’ll change our ways and get with a heart-healthy program.”

Harvard Health Publishing/Harvard Medical School

(https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/c-reactive-protein-test-to-screen-for-heart-disease)

“It’s unreasonable to expect you to eat healthy foods 100 percent of the time, but for better health, aim to eat nutritious foods at least 80 percent of the time. That means sweets, snacks and other junk food should only be occasional treats, rather than the bulk of your diet,” says Jason Sayanlar, M.D., FACC, a cardiologist at Hackensack University Medical Center.”

Hackensack Meridian Health

(https://www.hackensackmeridianhealth.org/en/healthu/2021/11/18/worst-foods-to-eat-for-your-health)

Processed Meat

Even though unprocessed meat can be healthy and nutritious, the same is NOT true for processed meats.

Studies show that people who eat processed meats have a higher risk of many serious diseases, including colon cancer, type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Most of these studies are observational in nature, so they can not prove that the processed meat caused the diseases.

However, the statistical link is strong and consistent among studies, so I do believe there is something to it.

Alternatives: If you want to eat bacon, sausages, pepperoni and other “processed” meats, then choose wisely and try to buy them locally from sellers who don’t add a lot of unhealthy ingredients. Quality counts.

Processed Cheese

Regular cheese is healthy.

It is loaded with nutrients, and a single slice of cheese contains all the same nutrients as an entire glass of milk.

However, processed cheese products are nothing like regular cheese. They are mostly made with filler ingredients that are combined and engineered to have a similar look and texture as cheese.

Cheese is healthy, but processed cheese is not. Read labels, and make sure that the cheese you’re eating is actually cheese.

Alternatives: Eat real cheese instead.

Most Fast Food Meals

Generally speaking, “fast food” chains serve only junk foods.

The majority of the food they offer is mass-produced, highly engineered junk food with very little nutritional value.

These places are often very cheap, but keep in mind that junk food costs you twice.

For every penny you save there, chances are that it’s going to cost you many times more in the future. Poor health is expensive (obesity, diabetes, hearth disease, hypertension, most I go on).

Alternatives: Fortunately, all sorts of healthy fast food places have started to appear. Chipotle is one great example.

High-Calorie “Coffee” drinks

Coffee has been unfairly demonized.

It is actually very healthy, and loaded with antioxidants.

Studies also show that coffee drinkers have a lower risk of serious diseases, like type 2 diabetes and Parkinson’s.

Unfortunately, stuff is sometimes added to coffee that turns this wonderful beverage into harmful sludge.

If your “coffee” has a ton of artificial creamer and sugar, then it is NOT good for you.

It is loaded with liquid, empty calories, and will be just as unhealthy as any other sugar-sweetened beverage.

Alternatives: Drink plain coffee instead. Black is best, but small amounts of heavy cream or full-fat milk are fine as well.

Anything That is High in Sugar, Refined Grains and Vegetable Oils

One of the most important things you can do to eat healthier, is to read labels.

It is important to avoid (or at least minimize) foods that contain:

• Added sugar (and high fructose corn syrup).
• Refined grains like white flour.
• Industrial vegetable oils.
• Artificial trans fats.

These are some of the unhealthiest (and most common) ingredients in the modern diet.

The importance of reading labels can not be overstated, and this applies to all foods, even so-called health foods.

20. Most Highly Processed Foods

By far the simplest way to eat healthy and lose weight, is to avoid processed foods as much as possible.

Put simply, if it looks like it was made in a factory, then it’s probably bad for you.

A good rule to remember, is that real food doesn’t need an ingredients list, because real food IS the ingredient.

“Choose processed foods carefully.

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

American Heart Association (https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/go-red-get-fit/unhealthy-foods)

There is a lot of confusion out there about which foods are healthy, and which are not. 

Let us start with  a list of 20 foods that are generally very unhealthy.  If you want to lose weight and avoid chronic disease, then you shouldn’t eat much of these foodsif you know you can treat yourself to these foods once and awhile (eat them moderately where 80% of your diet during the week is healthy foods with doing some form of exercise than your doing good).

In many cases, the best choice is to avoid them completely but if you know you can treat yourself to these foods once and awhile with actually doing it  meaning eating them moderately where 80% of your diet during the week is healthy foods with doing some form of exercise than your doing good.

 In this article, healthy alternatives are mentioned whenever possible.

Sugary Drink

Added sugar is the single worst ingredient in the modern diet.

However, some sources of sugar are worse than others, and sugary drinks are the absolute worst.

When people drink sugar calories, the brain doesn’t “register” them as food.

For this reason, people don’t automatically compensate by eating less of other foods instead, and end up drastically increasing their total calorie intake.

Sugar, when consumed in large amounts, can drive insulin resistance in the body and is strongly linked to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. It is also associated with various serious diseases, including type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Sugary drinks are the most fattening aspect of the modern diet, and drinking them in large amounts can drive an increase in weight/fat gain and obesity.

Alternatives: Drink water, soda water, coffee or tea instead. Adding a slice of lemon or lime to water or soda water can add some taste if you don’t like it plain.

Most Pizzas

Pizza is one of the world’s most popular junk foods.

This is not surprising, given that it tastes awesome and is incredibly convenient to eat.

The problem is that most commercially prepared pizzas are made with seriously unhealthy ingredients.

The dough is made from highly refined wheat flour, and the meats on them are usually processed. Pizza is also extremely high in calories.

Alternatives: Some pizza places use healthier ingredients. Homemade pizzas can also be very healthy, as long as you choose wholesome ingredients.

White Bread

Bread is generally made from wheat, which contains the protein gluten.

For this reason, all wheat-based breads are a bad idea for people who have celiac disease or  gluten sensitivity.

However, most commercial breads are unhealthy, even for people who do tolerate gluten.

This is because the great majority of them are made from refined wheat, which is low in essential nutrients (empty calories) and leads to rapid spikes in blood sugar.  Keeping that in mind remember you have a large meal it goes to your stomach and gets digested sent to the blood eventually with the sugars in it.  If you have high sugar amounts your tissues in the body can only utilize so much than your liver storing extra sugar not needed making it inactive converting it to glycogen but if there is still extra sugars hanging around in the blood now it goes into the fat tissue for storage and becomes fat in the tissue.   Eat most of your foods high in sugar and obesity results.

Alternatives: For people who can tolerate gluten, another type of  bread is an excellent choice called ezekiel bread. Remember whole grain bread is also definitely better (or “less bad”) than white bread.

Most Fruit Juices

Assumed to be healthy, but this is a mistake=most fruit juices.

Many fruit juices are actually little more than fruit-flavored sugar water.

It is true that the juice contains some antioxidants and vitamin C, but this must be weighed against the large amount of liquid sugar.

In fact, fruit juice contains just as much sugar as a sugary drink like Coke or Pepsi, and sometimes even more.

Alternatives: There are some fruit juices that have been shown to have health benefits despite the sugar content, such as antitoxin juices (blueberry or pomegranate juices).   However, these should be considered as supplements, not something you drink every day to quench thirst.   The best drink for supplementing everyday your quench of thirst is water.

Industrial Vegetable Oils

In the last 100 years or so, people have increased their consumption of added fats.

However, this is entirely explained by a drastic increase in the consumption of refined vegetable oils like soybean, corn, cottonseed and canola oils.

These oils are very high in omega-6 fatty acids, which humans never consumed in such large amounts before.

There are many serious concerns with these oils. They are highly sensitive to oxidation and cause increased oxidative stress in the body. They have also been linked to increased risk of cancer.

Alternatives: Use healthier fats like coconut oil, butter, extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil instead.

Margarine

Considered a healthy alternative to butter once is no longer the fact.

Fortunately, most people have now realized that this is far from being true.

Margarine is a highly processed pseudo-food that has been engineered to look and taste like butter.

It is loaded with artificial ingredients, and is usually made with industrial vegetable oils that have been hydrogenated to make them more solid. This increases the trans fat content significantly.

Keep in mind that manufacturers can label “no trans fat” to their products as long as it contains less than 0.5 grams per serving, which is still a significant amount.

Alternatives: Use real butter instead, preferably from grass-fed cows.

Pastries, Cookies and Cakes

Most pastries, cookies and cakes are extremely unhealthy but most of us know this already.

They are generally made with refined sugar, refined wheat flour and added fats, which are often disturbingly unhealthy fats like shortening=trans fat content is high.

These tasty treats are literally some of the worst things that you can put into your body besides it having no essential nutrients with tons of calories and ingredients totally unhealthy.  Foods to have holidays, once in a while.

French Fries and Potato Chips

Potatoes whole and white, that are very unhealthy.

However, the same can be said of the products that are made from them, such as potato chips and with our typical burger french fries .

These foods are very high in calories, and it is easy to eat excessive amounts. Several studies link consumption of french fries and potato chips with weight gain.

Stay tune tomorrow for part II on more unhealthy foods in your routine diet.

“The nature of conflict and violence has transformed substantially since the UN was founded 75 years ago. Conflicts now tend to be less deadly and often waged between domestic groups rather than states. Homicides are becoming more frequent in some parts of the world, while gender-based attacks are increasing globally. The long-term impact on development of inter-personal violence, including violence against children, is also more widely recognized.