Some foods are good for our health and help in weight loss. However there are others that should be strictly avoided if one wants to lose weight or can be labeled as the worst foods for weight loss
Since there can be no best foods for weight loss we thought of curating worst foods list because sometimes its good to know what you shouldn’t have, instead of knowing what you should. While we do not advocate that you abstain from these foods permanently, we advise you to practice extreme moderation. Below are the top 10 foods to avoid for weight loss:
10. Microwave Popcorn:
Microwave popcorn or buttered popcorn that everyone happily munches on while watching a movie isn’t the best thing one should be having. Most of the times they are drenched in butter, which is mostly unhealthy or have high amounts of sodium; even the packaging for popcorn contains a chemical that is used in pans and teflon. Surely makes them one of the worst foods for your belly.
9. Margarine
Magarine is marketed to us as a substitue to butter and having no cholesterol. What people fail to realize is that margarine isn’t natural and is synthetically made, thus having trans fat, which damages blood vessels. If there was a list for worst foods for your belly trans fat margarine would be the king. Opt for healthier omega-3 fats instead.
8. Alcohol
No points for guessing this one. Alcohol basically means empty calories. A pint of beer approx. has around 180 calories and those calories are nutrient wasting, meaning they do not contain any nutrients. Not only do alcohol and muscle building counteract each other, but this will surely not help in your weight loss endeavours as well. Again, opt for better options like wine, which contain antioxidants and remember to skip out on the sodas and mixers (read below why). I would personally recommend that alcohol should be one of the foods to avoid while dieting.
7. Nutrition Bars
Here’s the deal with every nutrition, granola and high protein bar on the market. It contains added sugars. Sugars are pretty much no-go when it comes to weight loss as it activates insulin which prompts the body to increase fat stores. Everyone thinks they are a healthy snack option which is a huge diet mistake.
6. White Flour
The biggest culprit when trying to get ripped is white flour which is what your holier than thou roti or chapatti is made of! When we are trying to lose weight, every calorie that is consumed counts, so when we use white flour for roti’s, be warned that it, like alcohol, contains empty calories thus making it a food to avoid when dieting. Instead opt for a greater helping of the sabzi, or vegetables that can provide sufficient macro and micronutrients to your body.
5. Cereal
Cereal is a popular breakfast option and in my humble opinion is the cause of the obesity problem. Commerical cereals or kids cereals consist of high amounts of sugar and gluten, a surefire way to ruin your body. Not only does the sugar increases insulin production, thus leading to weight gain, but the gluten will cause inflammation and more break outs on your body. This is surely a food to never eat. Instead opt for healthier preworkout food options like Oatmeal.
4. Sauces
Sauces are a major culprit when weight loss is involved. This is because nutritionally they only contain sugar and fat. You might be seeing a trend here. Sugar should be all but eliminated from the diet when we are looking to lose weight since low insulin levels lead to higher fat loss. These sauces can then turn even the healthier salads into terrible snacks for weight loss. Using a calorie calculator for counting calories would be helpful here although I would suggest you opt for calorie free salad dressings like balsamic vinegar. Just remember, if it’s shelf stable, then it has preservatives.
3. Packaged Juices
All packaged juices contain fructose, which is a sugar making fruit juice a semi-healthy entry into the list of foods not to eat while trying to lose weight. An insulin spike is surely to occur and moreover you will literally get half of the micronutrients you would have, had you consumed the fruit raw. Do your weight loss diet a favour and eat the raw fruit as a healthy post-workout supplements.
2. Aerated Beverages
Where do I even start? These are literally liquid candy that one intakes. Not only do soda drinks contain corn fructose syrup, the major contributor to mass gain, but also they are carbonated and contain sodium which will leads to bloating. On top of that they contain no nutrients that will actually help the body. Before you start with the argument that diet sodas are calorie free, do understand that they do contain artificial sweetners to which the harmful effects are unknown.
Just remember this. If it can be used to clean a toilet, it’s not going to be helpful for successful weight loss. If you want to satisfy your sweet tooth, try supplementing with a whey protein shake.
1. Junk Food
This deserves its special own section. Not because it’s stupid to club pizza’s, burgers and doughnuts but also because they pretty much cause the same defects and diseases. When 45% of the nutrients in a burger come from fat, it’s common sense to stay away from it. How many calories do you eat per bite? Anywhere from 100-200 depending on what you have. In additon to this, you will recieve a whole plethora of eating disorders.
