Stop eating this food! It is quietly destroying your health

In the pursuit of longevity, we may be being held back by some everyday foods. Today, let’s talk about the “health killers” hidden around us - refined carbohydrates, especially ultra-processed foods.

What are “refined carbohydrates”?

For example, the rice, rice porridge, white steamed bread, noodles , etc. that we often eat are all finely processed rice and flour products. Ultra-processed foods such as cakes, sweets, sweet drinks, etc. are also in this category.

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Ultra-processed foods are a health threat that has only been noticed in recent years. In the UK and the US, residents get more than half of their total energy intake from ultra-processed foods, but now they eat less and less, and people with high socioeconomic status eat even less. It's different in developing countries, where the consumption of ultra-processed foods is rising rapidly. From 1999 to 2013, the amount of money spent on them by Chinese people tripled every two years. Take soda, for example. Sales in low- and middle-income countries have grown rapidly and have long surpassed high-income countries.

What exactly do ultra-processed foods look like?

Food can be divided into four categories according to the degree of processing. The first category is natural or minimally processed food , such as fresh fruits and vegetables, eggs, fresh pasteurized milk, unsweetened yogurt, tea and coffee, etc. These are gifts from nature and are basically not processed. The second category is processed cooking ingredients , such as vegetable oil, honey, etc. The third category is processed food , which is lightly processed from natural food, and the raw materials can be easily seen, such as canned fruits and vegetables, nuts with sugar or salt, fresh bread or cheese without industrial packaging.

Finally, there are ultra-processed foods, which have undergone complex industrial processing and added many food additives such as spices, pigments, emulsifiers, flavor enhancers, etc., making them convenient and ready to eat, but you can't tell what the raw materials are . Just like blueberries, fresh blueberries are natural foods, but blueberry jam is processed food, and blueberry-flavored cookies are ultra-processed foods.

Ultra-processed foods have a lot of problems

Generally, they are high in sugar, salt, saturated fat, and calories, but very low in protein, dietary fiber, and micronutrients. They are brightly colored, attractive, and taste good, but they don’t fill you up, and you can easily eat too much. Moreover, advertisements are everywhere, and some of them even falsely promote health, saying that they are high in dietary fiber and have added vitamins, but in fact, they are high in sugar and calories.

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However, if you eat too much ultra-processed food, you will eat less natural foods such as fruits and vegetables, which will reduce the quality of your diet and increase the risk of various diseases. Compared with people who eat less than 2 servings of ultra-processed food a day, those who eat more than 4 servings have a 62% increased risk of death, and each additional serving increases the risk of death by 18%.

If the intake of ultra-processed food increases by 10%, the overall cancer incidence and breast cancer incidence will increase by about 10%, and the risk of type 2 diabetes will increase by 15%. People who eat ultra-processed foods consume an average of 508 kcal more per day than those who eat natural foods, and can gain 2 kilograms in two weeks. For every 10% increase in the proportion of ultra-processed foods in the diet, the risk of cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, and cerebrovascular disease will increase by 12%, 13%, and 11% respectively within 5 years, and the risk of depression will increase by 21%.

How to avoid ultra-processed foods?

1. Try to eat more natural food. It is healthiest to cook at home. Go to restaurants less often and order less takeout.

2. Eat less ultra-processed food. It is best not to give it to children or use it to reward children.

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3. Don’t trust those “low sugar, low salt, low fat” propaganda. When buying things, read the food ingredient list and nutrition label. Be careful if sugar and oil are listed first in the ingredient list, and don’t choose the ones with high fat, carbohydrate and sodium content in the nutrition label.

4. For example, whole wheat toast is better than white toast, pure milk is better than sweetened milk drinks, tofu and other soy products are healthier than vegetarian chicken and spiced tofu, and fresh meat products are better than sausages and ham.