It is the time when we start thinking about our holidays, and how we will look in that bikini again. With our busy lives we don’t always have time to cook ‘proper’ fresh food for ourselves, but beware, ‘convenience foods’ aren’t really worth it. You’ll pay for it with added inches to your waistline. And those excess pounds in the end lead to chronic diseases like obesity, cancer, and heart disease.
- Here are three foods that will put you on the fast track to fat:
• Breakfast Cereal: This one is a little deceptive. No one thinks of cereal as being a threat to their health. But no matter which one you choose, breakfast cereals are high on the glycemic index (GI). For many people, a dose of high-glycemic carbohydrates in the morning is the prescription for building excess body fat.
Kellogg’s Corn Flakes registers a glycaemic index of 132. (You want things below 55). This means that corn flakes break down into sugar in your bloodstream faster than pure glucose! And if you add fuel to the fire by putting sugar on your cereal, you’re sending an overwhelming surge of sugar into your system. What this does is to trigger a wave of insulin, and when there is a lot of insulin in the blood it sends the message to build and store fat. It also increases inflammation in the body.
Even “healthy” cereals like Grape-Nuts have a GI of 80. That’s also very high.
It might feel like a fast fix when you’re rushing in the morning, but cereal in the morning will make you fat. If you must have a cereal the best one to go for is porridge because it is low glycaemic.
• French Fries: Possibly the worst foods you can eat. Firstly, potatoes are high-glycemic and not good for you in any form. But when you take potatoes and deep-fry them in trans fatty oil, you have a recipe for sickness and disease.
While white potatoes aren’t the best choice, the oil they’re cooked in adds much more danger than the potatoes do. If you need a potato fix now and then, opt for sweet potatoes. They’re loaded with carotenoids, vitamin C, potassium, and fiber.
• Breads: Don’t fall for the ‘whole-grain goodness’ trap. When it comes to the glycemic index, it matters very little whether breads are made from whole grain or not. Grains spike your blood sugar, and you know what that means, so it is best to avoid grains completely to stay lean!
Instead, in the morning for breakfast, take a few extra moments and scramble some eggs, or have a piece of ham or some fish. Sauté some sliced tomatoes and add a little spinach or an avocado. In less than 10 minutes, you can have a breakfast that will make you feel pumped and energetic for the whole morning.