6 Everyday Foods That Make You Fat

The world has a problem, obesity levels are through the roof.

In some parts of the UK around 57% of people are either overweight or obese and in the US its 67%.

By 2020 its reported to be around 70% and 80% respectively – now they are crazy statistics if you ask me.

There is a human time bomb waiting to go off, I believe there are lots of people walking around with life threatening illnesses like cancer AND THEY DON’T EVEN KNOW IT!

They are just weeks and months away from the big tap on the shoulder from the grim reaper which will change their lives forever.

Please take action today and start to become healthier, if not for yourself do it for your wife, husband or children, they want to see you alive for many years to come.

Ok sorry for the heavy stuff, back to the article.

We live in a world where nothing seems impossible, scientific breakthroughs are being made every day, we are building fantastic gadgets and machinery, we can control a satellite in outer space, yet we aren’t able to control our own health.

Food is big business and people are profiting from our health(or lack of it).

I just viewed a short discussion on a TV show where they discussed if junk food adverts should be banned before 9pm.

I think this is a pretty good idea, it could help a little bit with tackling childhood obesity, I know the power of being pestered by my son for treats like sweets and chocolates, it really is hard to say no to the little darlings all of the time.

I am pretty strict on this stuff in our house as we try to eat organic, we try not to have sweets in our house (because I WILL eat them as I have a real sweet tooth), BUT even so, Louis (my son), still has a bit of “junk” sometimes given to him by well meaning family members, and I have accepted a certain amount of this due to pressure – they say – “one wont hurt him”, “all kids have them” I either have to make a fuss or let him have the odd treat, so I let him have the odd treat.

I also get reminded by my wife, Ellie, of a friend of hers when she was growing up who was never allowed any sweets, chocolate or treats as her parents were a bit like I am now. Ellie says that every time she was out of her parents sight as a teenager she scoffed as much crap as she could, so it obviously didnt work!

Obesity really needs to be tackled at all levels. A child whose parents don’t eat well and are obese has no chance of being healthy really. Children don’t do what we say they do what we do – heard the saying “monkey see monkey do” (and my son is definitely a monkey!)

Back to it…..

The production of processed packaged food is relatively cheap which means it can be sold cheap, this is obvious a great appeal in today’s world where money can be hard to come by.

The better quality untouched fruit, vegetables and meat cost more to get onto the supermarket shelves without being tampered with so then cost more to buy. Some people struggle to afford to eat well, some people just don’t help themselves and some people just don’t know what they should and shouldn’t be eating.

So to help the last group which I mentioned I have put together a list of 6 foods that a lot of people will eat everyday in their life that make you fat!

1. Crisps

You have probably heard me discuss good carbs and bad carbs, well crisps fall into the bad carbs side of things. In addition to the carbohydrate content they are cooked in bad fats like transfats and hydrogenated fats which destroy your ability to lose fat. They don’t really fill you up which means you can eat packets upon packets, the flavours added to them make them addictive. The only thing that crisps really do is add a few pounds to your waistline. Nowadays there are many low fat, low calorie versions to ‘bad foods’ these can be just as bad as the originals, as they are adding more and more things to make them ‘good’, lots of sugar can be found in ‘diet’ options. In my opinion you are never going to have a healthy fizzy drink or a healthy packet of crisps! Always choose REAL food! Try making your own sweet potato crisps in the oven at home. (recipe on you tube)

2. Processed Meat

This is a big one! I would say nearly every single person who does a proper shop will go through the supermarket with some form of meat, packets of ham for the kids at lunch, cooked chicken for you on your lunch break, beef joint for food on Sunday, some chicken breasts or a full chicken for a dinner.

You will find processed meats to contain the ‘waste’ bits of meat that wouldn’t make the final cut. These meats will have gone through a process involving adding chemicals to prolong the shelf life, this process really reduces the nutritional value of the food. These meats will therefore be higher in salt and calories, causing a negative effect on your fat levels.

Not sure if you heard about the ‘pink slime’ or saw the picture. Type it into google if you haven't seen it! This slime is the substance created from the grindings of all the waste meat together with certain additives, this is then used as the meat for some foods like chicken nuggets, burgers and tinned hot dogs.

3. Frozen meals/Microwave Meals

A full meal which can be ready in 5 minutes with just a touch of a button is every busy/lazy persons dream! We wanted fast convenience foods and now we have it in abundance. What we didn’t want though was for many of these various different frozen meals to be packed with low quality ingredients, additives, toxins, salt and fat. The diet/low calorie versions of these products are often not too much better. Make double batches of your favorite healthy chilli or casserole and freeze them for a quick easy meal.

4. Margarine

Margarine is very cleverly marketed as a healthy alternative to eating butter. Its officially classified as a NON-FOOD. Yes thats right its NOT FOOD. But it sits next to food on the shelf in the supermarket which is very sneaky if you ask me. Realistically though margarine is terrible product, it contains many ingredients similar to plastic and paint and would not even be eaten by insects if left outside for the night. It is full of artificial fats and is one of the most chemically altered products out there, we really don’t need this in our body. Eating a lot of margarine can elevate our levels of LDL (bad cholesterol) and damage our blood vessel walls and stiffen our cell membranes, making them lose function.

5. Beer

You may not think that a drink would affect your weight too much, but it can. Beer is packed with sugar and chemicals and drinking a pint or two 4/5 times a week really can add up (beer belly). Every time you consume alcohol the liver burns alcohol instead of fat, so you can see on a big drinking day how this could be a problem. Alcohol in general puts the pause button on losing weight by messing with your liver function. YOU CANT OUT TRAIN or OUT EAT A BAD DRINKING HABIT. Beer contains a very highly concentrated amount of carbohydrates, another negative with drinking beer is it makes you hungry! It is very common to work up an appetite for snack foods such as peanuts and crisps after a couple of pints and then pizza or a kebab on the way home after a few more. And this is not taking into account the other health concerns associated with drinking alcohol regularly.

6. Diet & Low Fat Foods

To a lot of people a label such as low calories, low fat, and reduced salt will make the person buying it forget about all of the other ingredients in the product. They will automatically think that they have made a healthy choice, chances are whatever they are buying will taste pretty nice so they will keep buying them again and again thinking they are being healthy.

Food marketers are clever and they counted on this, they now have an option for everyone, normal people and for the people who are trying to eat healthy and don’t know any better.

For nearly every product you will find a ‘healthier’ alternative, for every frozen meal there is a weightwatchers version, for every yogurt there is a low fat one, you have diet pepsi, diet coke, baked crisps, reduced calorie chocolate bars, even light beer!

In truth these lighter versions are no better than the original, for whatever seemingly ‘bad’ ingredient they take out like salt and fat they will add something potentially more harmful in to maintain the taste and colour.

So there we have my list of 6 everyday foods that make you fat, in truth I could have probably added another 10 foods to the list but I know you shouldn’t make too many changes at once.

These foods on their own will make you fat eventually, the foods mentioned are ones which you are likely to eat day in day out which makes it possible for them to creep up on you and cause other health problems you are not aware of. Anyone want diabetes?!

If you do eat several of these foods on a day to day basis then maybe just have a think about reducing each one at a time and see how you feel.

There are always healthy foods out there, it may require a bit more preparation (10 whole minutes!), but isn’t it worth it?

Vanity is pretty big in the western world; we spend so much money on things like clothes, our hair, beauty products and spray tans!

But the fact is if you care about the way you look buying these things doesn’t solve the problem – losing weight is the best way to improve your looks, its knocks years off your age straight away at the very least.

Why not spend a bit more money on the body underneath that you are actually placing these expensive must have products on?

I would love to hear your thoughts and questions, leave them below.

Thanks for reading, take care

Richard