In today’s busy times, people have hectic work schedules and lifestyles and no time to cook fresh food .In such situations, they either resort to fast food or readymade packaged foods or instant cooking.
For a short term, it may look like a good solution but in the long run it will affect your body in many different ways.
These packaged foods contain preservatives and certain added ingredients to enhance the taste, an example of which was in the recent news with Maggi. Monosodium glutamate or “ajino moto” is not only found in Maggi but also in various other packaged foods and sauces; also the Chinese food which most people relish daily on the streets and in hotels has a good amount of MSG added to it. The unique and so called good taste of Chinese food is thanks to MSG. But the harmful effects it has are now known to everybody. Many options for the same taste with safer variables like veggie cubes and broths are advised by chefs.
Let’s look into the different preservatives and their side effects.
Take a pack of nachos, chips, burgers, white bread, buns, the instant rice, noodles, soups, hot dogs, khakras, biscuits, cookies, chivda, farsan, and beans with sauce etc. which are packaged and readymade or have to be heated, and have a look at the ingredient list. You are likely to find food additives in every one.
Is this healthy? Compared to the foods our bodies were built to eat, definitely not.
Processed, packaged foods have almost completely taken over the diet of most Indians.
Most processed foods have sweeteners, salts, artificial flavors, man-made fats, colours, chemicals that alter texture, and preservatives. The soluble fibre which protects the heart is taken away as well as antioxidants and “good” fats. Additives welcome ill health.
The main four ingredients in processed foods you should look out for are:
Trans Fats
Trans fats are man-made fats seen in bakery products, microwave popcorn, fast-food French fries, burgers, chips and other condiments .
Trans fats are twice as dangerous for your heart as saturated fat, and cause many premature heart disease deaths each year.
They are worse for your heart than saturated fats because they boost your levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol and decrease “good” HDL cholesterol. They also raise your levels of artery-clogging lipoprotein and triglycerides.
Check the ingredient list for any of these words: “partially hydrogenated,” “fractionated,” or “hydrogenated” (fully hydrogenated fats are not a heart threat, but some trans fats are mislabeled as “hydrogenated”). The more “partially hydrogenated oil”, the more trans-fat the product contains.
Replace trans fats with good fats (N3 & N6 fatty acids found in olive, canola and rice bran oil and flax, sunflower, pumpkin seeds, nuts like almonds, walnuts) which could cut your heart attack risk by 50 percent.
Salt
Three-quarters of the sodium in our diets is from the processed foods, such as canned vegetables and soups, condiments like soy sauce, fast-food burgers (and fries, of course), and cured or preserved meats, not from added salt.
Sodium occurs naturally in unprocessed edibles, including milk, beets, vegetables and drinking water, which is good. It is necessary for life. It helps regulate blood pressure, maintains the body’s fluid balance, transmits nerve impulses, muscles and heart contractions and keeps senses of taste, smell, and touch working properly. You need a little salt every day to replace the sweat, tears, and other excretions too.
When you eat more salt than your body needs, the body retains fluid to dilute the extra sodium in your bloodstream. This raises blood volume, forcing the heart to work harder; at the same time, it makes blood vessels constrict, which raises blood pressure.
The limit should be 1.5 mg of sodium per day, about the amount in of a teaspoon of salt (60%Na & 40%Cl) Older people should eat even less, to counter the natural rise in BP with age.
Only the “Nutrition Facts” panel on a food package will give you the real Sodium count. “Sodium-free” (foods can still have 5 miligrams per serving); “reduced sodium” (it only means 25 percent less than usual).
Refined Grains
Having refined grains such as white bread, maida roti or chapati rolls, white rice or white pasta instead of whole grains, may be yummy to taste, but can boost your heart attack risk by up to 30 percent.
Labels such as “made with wheat flour” or “seven grain.” may be made by white flour breads topped with a sprinkling of oats, or coloured brown with molasses. Often, they’re just the same old refined stuff that raises risk for high cholesterol, high BP heart disease, insulin resistance, diabetes, and tummy fat, obesity.
People who eat more whole grains (including multigrain bread, whole-grain breakfast cereals, cooked oatmeal, brown rice, bran, and other grains like ragi or rajgira ) have 20 to 30 percent less heart disease than those who opt for refined (maida roti and white bread) who have increased susceptibility to heart attacks, insulin resistance and high blood pressure.
Read the ingredient list on packaged grain products. If the product is of whole wheat or another whole grain, such as oats, the fibre content should be at least 3 grams per serving, and is better to consume.
High-fructose Corn Syrup
This is cheaper to make, sweeter to taste and mixes more easily with other ingredients, than the conventional sweeteners. Today, we consume it daily in soft drinks and sweets, as well as in other products. It is used in many frozen foods. It gives bread an inviting, brown color and soft texture, so it is also in whole wheat bread, hamburger buns, muffins, cookies and whatnot. It’s also in beer, bacon, spaghetti sauce and ketchup.
Research suggests that this liquid sweetener may disturb the human metabolism, raising the risk of heart disease and diabetes. Researchers say that high-fructose corn syrup’s chemical structure encourages overeating. It also encourages the liver to pump more heart-threatening triglycerides (type of fat found in blood which may clog blood vessels) into the bloodstream. In addition, fructose strips the body’s reserves of chromium, a mineral important for healthy levels of cholesterol, insulin and blood sugar.
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