I don't know how the landscape is looking where you're from, but on my side of the world, people are getting
FAT. I'm not just talking about a little extra spare tire around the holidays, I'm talking about people so obese they have to waddle instead of walk. I find myself wondering on a daily basis how we got to this point as a society. Do people really care this little about their bodies and their appearance? Certainly that does play a role in our collective march toward corpulence, but I think most people would make better decisions if only they could cut through all the misinformation propagated by the food industry and figure out what's truly bad for them and what's not. Since I feel compelled to cut through BS whenever possible, I'd like to share with PUA forums the two least healthy ingredients in food so that we can all avoid them and thereby take another step toward becoming the internet community of stud-muffins I know we all are at heart. Onward!
#1 Worst Food Ever: High Fructose Corn Syrup
If you had a childhood anything like mine, you already know that sugar isn't any good for you. Nearly everyone has heard arguments against sugar, ranging from the childish ("It'll rot your teeth!") to the very adult and dangerous (like the fact that over-consumption of it is the leading cause of diabetes, cancer and obesity, just to name a few). It's also fairly common knowledge that eating foods high in sugar causes a gigantic spike in insulin that signals your body to store fat. Well, if sugar is the demon of healthy eating then HFCS is Lucifer himself.
HFCS is a man-made sweetner that didn't even exist until the '70s and because of that, our bodies don't recognize the calories that come from it. Chances are you know a guy who can drink an entire liter of Coke in one sitting; that's because HFCS--the main ingredient in pretty much all soda-- doesn't flip any of nature's appetite switches, so you can eat as much as you want and never get full. Your body has never seen anything like it before and it can't use HFCS for immediate energy like it does other sugars, so (surprise, surprise) it shows up later in the form of a double-chin. Avoid it like the plague.
#2 Worst Food Ever: Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil
Otherwise known as trans fat (or more commonly, margarine), any kind of partially hydrogenated oil in the ingredients list of food should be a sign to turn and run. Trans fat increases bad cholesterol, decreases good cholesterol, increases your odds of heart disease and contributes to many forms of cancer. Just like HFCS, it's not found in nature so your body has a really hard time processing it, making it just as hard on your digestive system as it is on your heart. Margarine is so bad for you (and so prevalent in prepared food products) that it's estimated nearly 30,000 people a year die prematurely due to overconsumption of it. This stuff is poison!
I'm not going to lie, eliminating these two ingredients from your diet will be
HARD. They are in nearly
everything. Your friends will make fun of you. Shopping for groceries (at least in the beginning) will become a far more involved process. Carefully examining nutrition labels will make you feel nerdy. You'll begin to fantasize about how much easier life would be if all the foods that are healthy could be bought at McDonald's.
But don't forget, this is your life and your body we're talking about here! Don't think of it as years added on to the end of your life, think of it as extra time you get
right now, free from the sickness and injuries inherent to an unhealthy lifestyle. This is a small change you can make
right now that will reap inconceivable rewards almost immediately! So next time you feel the craving for something sinfully unhealthy creeping on, rail that HB10 you've been gaming instead of heading to the grocery store
Your boy,
870