3 of the Most Toxic 'Health' Foods

Let's face it, most of us have probably eaten something we thought was healthy due to savvy marketing tactics, only to find out later that it really wasn't what it was hyped up to be. 

Many so-called healthy foods have little nutritional value and some even contain harmful chemicals, despite that bright and shiny advertising that leads us to believe otherwise.

Advertising is definitely tricky. It can make some of the unhealthiest foods look healthy - even if they're anything but. These three foods are some of the most toxic of purported "healthy foods" that should be avoided at all costs, that is, if you're interested in achieving optimal health, of course!

#1 Heart Healthy Vegetable Oil

Have you ever reached for that bottle of vegetable oil on the grocery store shelf because the label read "heart healthy?"
Industrial vegetable oils found in the supermarket typically contain .56 to 4.2% of their fatty acid as trans fats, which are highly toxic. Trans fats are actually "fake" fats. They're known to clog arteries, increase levels of LDL, or "bad" cholesterol, and lower HDL, or "good" cholesterol. Eating too many trans fats causes an overload of inflammation, a main factor in many chronic diseases, as well as weight gain.
The heat and harsh chemicals used to extract oil from vegetables, including bleaching and the toxic solvent hexane, actually destroys some of its vitamins and antioxidants. In later stages of processing, even more chemicals are injected in to "improve" the color and odor. Not only that, but overheating vegetable oils - which is typically what's done when cooking with them, releases compounds that can damage lungs and potentially cause cancer.
Not only that, but almost all vegetable oils are damaged and rancid from their processing and also contain high amounts of inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids, both of which cause massive inflammation throughout your body that can possibly lead to heart disease, cancer, digestive disorders, and joint problems.
Remember that inflammatory vegetable oils are used in almost every type of fried food at most restaurants, and any type of processed food that contains vegetable oils such as potato chips and many snack foods.
Despite the healthy sounding name of "vegetable oil", the fact is that vegetable oils do NOT come from vegetables... This is a generic term that usually means any combination of soybean oil, corn oil, canola oil, cottonseed oil, or other heavily refined processed omega-6 based oils that are all bad for you.
So what should you use instead?
For high heat cooking, use organic extra virgin coconut oil which contains medium chain fatty acids that are resistant to high heat. They also turn into ketone bodies in the liver which provide energy to the brain and are known to help improve all types of health problems.

#2 Energy/Protein/Breakfast Bars

Those prettily packaged bars advertised to boost energy, provide protein or as a "healthy" substitute for breakfast are another one of the worst offenders. Most are highly processed products - really just a candy bar in disguise - filled with sugar, high fructose corn syrup and even trans fats as well as artificial sweeteners.
If you read the label of a Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Strawberry Yogurt Bar, for example, you'll see that it has just 130 calories and 3.5 grams of fat. Sounds good, right? Unfortunately not. Many of its ingredients aren't technically food - it packs a ton of sugar and even contains Red Dye #40. While it's a pretty color, its effects are anything but, with just a few of the reported symptoms including migraines, inability to concentrate, nervousness and upset stomach. Children have been found to be especially sensitive to Red 40, exhibiting symptoms like temper tantrums and aggressive behavior.
If you need a boost of energy or are looking to meet your body's protein needs after a workout, grab a small handful of raw, organic almonds instead! They make the perfect convenient snack that you can take with you wherever you go.

#3 "Healthy" Breakfast Cereals

You probably know to avoid sugary cereals like Lucky Charms or Cocoa Pebbles, but most breakfast cereals, even those with health claims like "whole grain," are often loaded with refined blood sugar spiking carbs and sugars. Manufacturers fortify them with a few synthetic vitamins, a small amount of whole grains, and then market the product as "healthy."
Some cereals even contain preservatives like BHA and BHT which are linked to an increase risk of cancer. Not only that, but you may be getting a dose of unhealthy trans fats disguised under a new name: "monoglycerides."
But the WORST thing about most cereals, even so-called "whole grain" cereals is that they ALL cause a significant spike in your blood sugar which results in a cascade of fat storing hormones to be released in your body, and causes more carb cravings later in the day. This is NOT the way to start your day if you care about your waistline!
Not only that, but any cereals with wheat ingredients in them can possibly cause gut inflammation and long term gut damage from too much gluten. Think those corn-based cereals are better than wheat? Think again! Corn-based cereals are almost always made with GMO corn, which has many scientists very concerned about long term health threats. And rice-based cereals (krispies, etc) aren't much better, as they cause just as high of a blood sugar spike as pure table sugar... Ouch!

Instead of cereal in the morning, try a bowl of plain greek yogurt (which is loaded with healthy gut probiotics AND protein) and add in fresh, organic berries, nuts, and a little stevia or vanilla protein for a little added sweetness. This breakfast will leave you leaner, keep your blood sugar and hormones balanced, and give your body much less toxic load than cereals.
Unfortunately, this is just 3 examples we gave you in today's article, and deadly toxins are lurking EVERYWHERE these days in hundreds of foods, in your lotions and shampoos, plastics, air pollution, water pollution and more...
For that reason, you absolutely MUST detox at least occasionally to keep your hormones normalized, keep your energy levels high, and to keep your metabolism from shutting down.
The problem is that MOST "cleanses" or celebrity detox fads out there are actually dangerous to your health and can HARM your hormones making fat loss impossible in the long term and even causing rebound weight gain that's worse than where you started.

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Can Timing Your Food The Right Way REALLY Help You BOOST Your Metabolism and Lose More Weight?

3 VERY Unusual Food Timing Tricks That STOP Fat Storage & KILL Belly Fat…

By Shaun and Karen Hadsall
Best Selling Nutrition Authors & Stubborn Fat Experts

Did you know that when you eat food at the wrong times, it can literally make
ALL the difference between losing fat or gaining fat?

In fact, if you don't understand proper meal timing, it can SLOW down your metabolism, destroy your energy levels, and STOP your body from using fat as fuel, which means the majority of calories you eat TODAY could easily be stored as belly fat making you fatter and fatter with every bite.
 
Simply put, if you eat food at the wrong times, you'll STORE fat, but if you eat food at the right times, you'll keep your body BURNING fat.

Did you also know that traditional food timing recommendations, like "don't skip breakfast"… or "don't eat late at night"…or "make sure to eat before exercise" are ALL complete myths?

Contrary to popular belief, you should intentionally BREAK all 3 of these traditional "diet rules" if your goals are to look younger, increase your fat loss, and boost energy levels.

As with most weight loss topics, the contradicting information is everywhere when it comes to the subject of food timing and losing unsightly belly fat.

However, if you understand these 3 VERY unusual food timing tricks below, you'll NEVER have to worry about storing the calories you eat as fat on your body.

All you have to do is follow these 3 simple steps to ensure that EVERY time you eat your favorite foods you'll speed up calorie burning, STOP your metabolism from slowing down, and keep your body's fat burning hormones at optimal levels day in and day out.
 
But please proceed with caution: these 3 tricks are NEVER talked about or recommended by dieticians or personal trainers, so they go completely against the grain and are often considered HIGHLY controversial.

The 3 controversial food timing tricks below reveal exactly how you can STOP FAT STORAGE and
REPROGRAM your body to STAY in
"fat burning mode" every time you eat or exercise…

Below, you'll find all 3 tricks, and you'll also discover how easy it can be to time your food intake to help BOOST your metabolism, increase your anti-aging hormones, while keeping your body in a fat burning environment 24/7.

Food Timing Trick #1:
SKIP Breakfast (it INCREASES your fat storing hormones)

Breakfast. It's the most important meal of the day - right?

Our culture has bought into the fact that if we don't eat breakfast our metabolism will slow down, we'll get intense cravings, lose energy, and it will be harder to lose weight and burn fat

But published scientific research is now proving otherwise. Here are 3 myths we've all been programmed to believe about eating breakfast for long term health and weight loss.

MYTH #1: Breakfast Increases Your Metabolism

The whole idea that not eating a big breakfast will somehow slow down your metabolism is simply not true.
In a recent paper published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition [1], researchers delved into dozens of studies to uncover the relationship between eating breakfast and increased metabolic rate.

The researchers divided 309 overweight and obese (but otherwise healthy adults) into two groups to specifically find out whether eating or not eating breakfast had any impact on weight loss. After 16 weeks, the researchers found absolutely NO difference in weight loss between the groups.

The researchers concluded that breakfast being the most important meal of the day is merely nothing but a shared belief. That's it. In other words, there is ZERO long term research indicating or proving that eating breakfast leads to lower body fat or increased metabolism.

MYTH #2: Eating Breakfast Helps Control Your Hunger

In fact, the exact opposite happens.

Typical breakfast foods like orange juice and wheat toast will spike insulin levels, sending your fat storage hormones soaring SKY high, making you go on a hunger binge—all while putting your body directly into a fat STORING environment.

MYTH #3: Breakfast Helps You Control Weight And Lose Fat

There are tons of studies out there that claim eating a big, well balanced breakfast helps promote weight loss. But in reality there are NO long term studies that show a direct correlation between eating breakfast and weight loss.
In fact, according to Time Magazine [3]….
 
"...contrary to popular belief, having breakfast every day was NOT tied to an improvement in metabolism. Prior thought—supported by research—has shown that eating early in the day can prevent people from overeating later out of hunger, and it boosts their metabolism early. The new study which examined causal links between breakfast habits and energy balance did NOT prove that."

Bottom Line: Eating Breakfast Does NOT Aid Weight Loss Efforts

In fact, SKIPPING breakfast altogether (a form of intermittent fasting) and eating your calories later in the day, say between 11am to 7pm or 12pm to 8pm, has been shown to increase anti-aging Growth Hormone [4], while BOOSTING your immune system [5] and regulating your hunger hormone (Ghrelin).

It also normalizes insulin sensitivity, balances leptin levels (i.e. your #1 fat burning hormone), and even reduces oxidative stress by decreasing free radicals, helping you LOOK younger.

Mounting evidence also confirms that when you skip breakfast and use some form of intermittent fasting, your body becomes adapted to burning FAT (instead of sugar) as its primary fuel, which can make you LEANER, while dramatically reducing your risk of chronic disease.

And for all you breakfast lovers out there? Feel free to have a "light" breakfast, but make sure you AVOID traditional high carb breakfast foods that spike your insulin like bagels, toast, and orange juice.
 
Stick with light protein sources, like farm fresh whole eggs, along with some low glycemic fruits (like berries or cherries). This will help keep your body in "fat burning mode" for the rest of the day.

Food Timing Trick #2:
NEVER Eat Food BEFORE You Exercise (it STOPS your body from burning fat)

Eating a balanced meal before exercise is often HIGHLY recommended and considered a "healthy" choice to help you lose weight, but in reality it can actually STOP your body from burning fat

Even when you eat healthy food before exercise you'll still raise insulin (your body's #1 STORAGE hormone), which BLOCKS your body's ability to burn fat.

Additionally, if you eat before exercise your body will be so busy digesting and burning off the food you just ate, which is great if you're a bodybuilder looking to gain muscle—but it makes it impossible for you use fat as a fuel source.

Instead, the BEST time to eat food is at LEAST 3 to 4 hours before you exercise. This will ensure there is enough time after you eat to allow insulin levels to stabilize, which will KEEP your body in a fat BURNING environment before, during, and after your workouts.

In fact, recent research suggests "fasting" before exercise may help you shed fat, which is exactly what my wife Karen and I do to stay lean and younger looking. This happens because your body's fat burning processes are controlled by your sympathetic nervous system (SNS), which is "activated" by two things: exercise and lack of food. The combination of fasting and exercising together increases the breakdown of fat and glycogen for energy.

Food Timing Trick #3:
Eat Late At Night (even BEFORE bed if you want!)

Are you paranoid or afraid of eating late at night from the fear of gaining unwanted weight?

Well, there is really only ONE reason not eating after 6pm will help you lose more weight. You automatically end up eating LESS, which creates more of a calorie deficit. It's really that simple. It has NOTHING to do with eating late at night.

As long as you fast for a few hours before bed to let blood sugar levels return to normal levels before going to bed, which helps you release more Growth Hormone while you sleep… you can feel free to eat your biggest meal of the day well after 6pm if you want.

Believe it or not, Karen and I intentionally eat our LARGEST meal of the day between 7pm and 9pm for a variety of reasons that contribute to our health and fat loss goals.

But unfortunately, most people have been misled so they'll continue to consume their food and meals at the WRONG times, wreaking havoc on their metabolisms, suppressing their fat-burning hormones, and STOPPING their body from using fat as fuel – WITHOUT even knowing it.

It's backed by scientific research, and it's one of the easiest and safest ways to visually SEE your belly get flatter in as little as 7 short days WITHOUT strict, complicated diets or the pain and suffering of traditional crash dieting.

It's safe for ANY man or woman of ANY age, it works incredibly FAST, and it's one of the quickest ways to get a flat, attractive belly  WITHOUT long, boring exercise sessions or worrying about WHEN you eat your food.

Want to find out what foods you should have in your kitchen cupboards, and what foods you should avoid at all costs if you want to lose body fat? CLICK HERE




1. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition June 4, 2014 [Epub ahead of print]
2. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition June 5, 2014 [Epub ahead of print] (PDF)
3. Time Magazine June 6, 2014
4. Eurekalert April 3, 2011
5. Daily Life June 6, 2014

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