Dr. Nupur Pagore

Do you like to eat processed foods, and gorge on them a lot to stay away from cooking? It is important for you to know that processed foods are bad for your health and it is best that you avoid consuming them. Although all food items we eat are mechanically processed in certain ways, chemical processing, which is the primary feature of processed food items, is hazardous for your health.

Here are the major reasons why you should not eat processed food items.

1. Processed food contains high amounts of sugar and fructose corn syrup: It is a known fact that excessive consumption of sugar in any form is not good for your health. Processed food products are loaded with sugar in huge amounts and also contain high fructose corn syrup, which is equally harmful in excess. Sugar basically has empty calories, which contain no important nutrients. Sugar also has dreadful effects on your body metabolism and may lead to high triglycerides, increased cholesterol levels, insulin resistance, and excess accumulation of fat in your abdominal cavity and liver.
2. Processed food is hyper rewarding in nature and over consumption gets likely: Processed food items, because of their high content of sweet and fat, become a sort of addiction for many people. The reward centers of your brain acknowledge them, and as a result, you develop a constant craving for such food stuff.
3. Processed food contains harmful artificial ingredients: It is likely for you to not understand the names of ingredients, which processed foods are made of. This is because of the reason that maximum of these ingredients are not actually natural, but are artificial chemicals which get added for several purposes such as preservation, maintaining aroma and much more. These chemicals are associated with several harmful effects on your health. The common ingredients of highly processed foods include the following:
   • Chemical preservatives for preventing processed food from rotting
   • Chemical colourants, which induce attractive and unique colours to processed foods
   • Chemical flavors for giving specific flavours
   • Texturants for proving a particular, specific texture to processed foods

The hyper rewarding nature of processed food can lead to severe consequences in many people. It is possible for you to become addicted to processed foods, and lose total control over your consumption rate. This problem of addiction to processed fast foods is a major problem in today’s world. It is an important reason for obesity, which is a prominent health concern today all over the world.