The Economics Of Obesity- Why The Food Industry Needs Us To Overeat

In 2007-2008, the prevalence of obesity in the American population was a staggering 32.2% among adult men and even higher at 35.5% among adult women.[1] It isn’t a secret that the overabundance of food and the propensity towards overeating are key contributing factors to the lofty numbers of obese and overweight men, women and children here in the United States. But few understand the economics of what brought us to this unfortunate juncture in our health history. Weight problems and the collection of metabolic related diseases that accompany them stem mainly from eating more calories than we need. It might seem a simple cause and effect relationship but is personal weakness really the issue behind our tendency to overeat, or are there significant external factors? A studious look at the economics of food production provides considerable insight into the fact that overeating and excessive consumption of processed foods aren’t simply a matter of personal failing- but are requirements for the continued success of the U.S. food industry in its current form.

As disquieting as it may be, almost everything we hear or see relating to how and what we should eat is influenced in one way or another by major food conglomerates. From the seemingly obvious advertising via the direct media, to not-so-obvious processed food product friendly studies and government issued dietary guidelines. The fact that we are mostly unaware of the effectiveness of advertising and public relations by the food industry in making us eat more of the foods than we should is in itself a testament to its success. Food companies spend upwards of 33 billion dollars a year promoting their wares to the public- a figure that’s hard for most of us to really comprehend. Seventy percent of those funds are used to promote processed convenience foods, candy, snacks, alcoholic beverages, soft drinks and desserts compared to the meager 2.2% which goes towards the encouraging consumption of fruit, vegetables, grains or beans.[2] The state of confusion experienced by most members of the public with regards to all matters related to diet and what is or isn’t healthy, is a deliberately planned result of these advertising dollars. Consequently, more people believe they are eating healthy while overeating and consuming the very processed foods and beverages that lead to weight gain.

Understanding The Impact of The Food Industry On Our Eating Habits

People often ask why would the food industry go to such ends to undermine public health and why does our government allow such things to happen? Most dismiss the question with the overly simplistic refrain that food corporations are inherently evil. As tempting as such explanations may be, the question remains unanswered. We are then left unaware of the inner workings of a system that can often mislead us if we don’t fully understand it.

“Know your enemy and know yourself and in a thousand battles you will always be victorious” –Sun Tsu

When I started personal training twenty years ago in Trinidad, there was never any mystery as to why some of the people who worked with me were overweight. They understood very clearly that their weight gain was caused by eating too much of the wrong foods. They could readily identify what those foods were. They also knew that remedying their situation meant regular exercise and eating a diet of natural foods, fruits and vegetables while avoiding processed food products. Now let’s fast forward to my practice today in New York City, where over the last ten years most of the overweight individuals who start our training program don’t understand how and why they put on weight. Many firmly believed that they followed a healthy diet and were baffled by their weight gain. But those diets always included processed food products. These products, marketed under the healthy food banner and or ‘organic foods’, do little but add an abundance of empty calories and are easily overeaten. Given such deceit, it’s hard not to see food corporations as evil troll-like entities bent on destroying our health. But the explanation is far more complex than we tend to think.

Why companies work so diligently to sabotage our health with messages of overconsumption of unhealthy foods? It has to do with economics and with the limitations of our profit driven society. Corporations are just that: corporations. They don’t have conflicts of conscience or moral dilemmas as they aren’t human beings capable of such abstractions. A corporation is an entity whose survival relies completely on its ability to amass growing profits for its shareholders. The ethics of any system usually revolve around what’s required to sustain the life of said system and food corporations are no exception to this rule. Without profit, corporations eventually cease to exist and so, in the name of generating revenue, everything becomes fair game. With regards to food production here in the United States, there are two inter-related economic factors that most of us don’t think about very often. They are that:

1. Food production in the United States is so efficient that it produces a food supply far greater than the caloric needs of the population
2. In spite of profits that seem to be astronomical, the annual growth rate of the food industry has always been very low

The Overabundance of Food and Its Effects on How the Food Industry Operates

The development of agricultural technologies have allowed American farmers (if you can still call them that) to become more efficient and productive while using less labor. Therefore, the American food supply is now large enough to feed everyone in the country twice- even after exports.[3] As encouraging as this may sound, it does impose some very finite limits- namely that there is more food being produced than people in this country can eat. Even the most voracious can only eat but so much, so in order to be successful, food companies not only have to aggressively promote their products as being superior but also must convince consumers to eat more of it. Much more. Economically speaking, overeating is a required condition for the survival of American food corporations because it is the only way they can turn large enough profits to satisfy their shareholders.

Tying in with the quandary of an overabundant food supply is the problem of limited market growth. With so many different products on the market, the annual growth rate of the food industry is only one or two percentage points. Thus, companies do their utmost to ensure that nothing interferes with this growth as it isn’t very much to begin with. Hence, they spend billions not only in advertising but in influencing government officials, nutritional authorities and the media to either say that their products are healthy or say nothing that could be construed as negative about their products. Lobbyists from the industry pressure Congress to see that no restrictions are placed on the consumption of their foods. The government has little choice but to be swayed by such lobbies as food sales in the U.S. account for 8% of the gross national product which works out to more than a trillion dollars in sales.[3] Equally persuasive is the fact that the food industry employs 12% of the American labor force. So, Washington has no alternative but to look out for their interests – given the enormous impact food production has on the stability of our economy. We tend to see our government as a system designed to protect the interests of its citizens and forget that for our current society to continue, they must also consider the well-being of corporations within its borders.

The Political Consequences Of Food Overproduction

The US need to protect the prosperity of the food conglomerates politicizes all nutritional guidelines. Therefore, policies as words like ‘eat less’, ‘don’t eat’ and ‘bad foods’ are vehemently opposed by lobby groups and seldom find their way into any public statements. Bear in mind that the government also supports financially the food industry to make sure that their profits remain high so it would be ludicrous to think that they would do anything to jeopardize an industry that they help sustain. Our tax dollars subsidize everything from price supports to marketing and food promotion programs. So, it shouldn’t be much of a surprise to learn that the government actively works to promote higher consumption levels of foods that may not necessarily be good for us. The recent revelation that the US Department of Agriculture had been working with fast food restaurants to increase the amount of cheese that people eat in pizzas while the administration talks a fighting a war against obesity is a classic example. There is often much going on under the surface. The average citizen isn’t necessarily aware that the government’s public message isn’t always congruent with what goes on behind closed doors.

Read Part 2 of of the Economics Of Obesity- How The Food Industry Makes Us Eat More Than We Should here.

Kevin Richardson is one of the most sought after personal trainers in New York City and the creator of Naturally Intense High Intensity Training. Download a copy of his free weight loss ebook here. If you live in the New York City area and need help losing weight or getting into shape give Kevin and his team a call at 1-800-798-8420. Check out Kevin personal training services here.

References & Sources

1. Flegal KM, Carroll M.D, Ogden CL, Curtin LR- Prevalence and Trends in Obesity Among US Adults, JAMA
2. Gallo AE. Food advertising in the United States. America’s Eating Habits: Changes & Consequences. USDA

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The Best Health And Fitness Articles Of 2010

2010 was a landmark year!  My blog won several awards for and most importantly had an average of over ten thousand people reading my articles each month! With a tight writing schedule of one new article every week, fifty-two articles a year, it isn’t always easy. I spend a lot of time painstakingly researching each post, but it is worth it! My thanks to all of my readers for the continued support and to commemorate this successful year I have complied for your browsing pleasure the most popular health and fitness articles on our blog for 2010. Be sure to subscribe to our monthly newsletter so you won’t miss a post!

Be sure to vote for your favorite!

The Best Health And Fitness Articles Of 2010

Food And Self Control- How Do You Stop Cravings?
Self control is one of the hardest things when it comes to following a diet and research from the now famous ‘Marshmallow Experiment’ gives us some scientific insight into how we can increase our own self control.

Overcoming The Fear Of Going to The Gym
While lack of time is often cited as the number one reason why people don’t exercise- the fear involved in joining a gym is another often overlooked factor.

5 Tips For Eating Well And Losing Weight On A Budget
Can you lose weight and eat healthy while on a tight budget? Of course you can and here are five easy ways to do it!

Keeping Us Fat- Why Not Losing Weight Is Profitable
Given that we spend more money on weight loss than ever before the number of overweight people continues to climb, could not losing weight be more profitable?

Obesity And Chronic Disease- Is It Genes Or Lifestyle?
Many blame genes for the prevalence of obesity and metabolic disease in society, but research shows that lifestyle and environmental factors are to blame.

5 Reasons Why You Should Never Take Weight Loss Supplements
Here are five very valid reasons and eye opening reasons why you should never use weight loss supplements.

Being Skinny Doesn’t Mean Being Healthy
Contrary to popular belief being skinny isn’t always an indication of how healthy you are and you can be overweight and still be physically fit!

Is Exercise As Effective For Relieving Depression As Therapy and Medication?
Exercise has been proven as a preventive aid to major depression, but can it relieve depressive symptoms as well as medication and conventional therapies? Some research says it can!

You Can Eat Nuts Guilt Free And Not Gain Weight
Research shows that although nuts are high in calories, you can eat them with a very low risk of weight gain. Eating nuts also seems to help you stay on your diet!

As Little As One Drink Of Alcohol A Week Can Significantly Reduce Fat Loss
As little as one or two drinks a week can have a marked effect on your efforts to lose fat! Here is why.

The Dangers Of Visceral Abdominal Fat
Once it was thought that all fat was the same, but we know now that visceral abdominal fat can increase risk of metabolic syndrome, chronic inflammation, cancer and impair daily life.

Is It Safe To Exercise With A Cold?
A common question about the common cold- should you or should you not exercise when you have the sniffles. The answer may not be what you think it is!

Out of the 52 articles posted for 2010 there were some notable runner ups. Here they are:

The Best Health and Fitness Articles Of 2010- Honorable Mentions:

High Intensity Training Workouts For Women Increases Bone Density

The Biggest Loser- A Bad Example For Weight Loss

Does Weight Training Reduce Breast Size In Women?

Agave Isn’t A Healthy Sugar Alternative- It’s Worse Than Sugar

Short High Intensity Workouts Can Help Regulate Blood Sugar

Changing Your Diet Forever- Why Is It So Hard?

Not to forget our pick of most popular health and fitness article of 2009. With a total of almost 22,000 page views in 2010, this article tops the list as the most viewed post of the year-

Best Health & Fitness Article 2009

Is Subway Really Healthy?

Thanks again for reading and be sure to let me know in the comments which one was your favorite!

Get a copy of Kevin’s free weight loss ebook here!

Kevin Richardson- celebrity NYC Personal Trainer, is the creator of Naturally Intense™ High Intensity Training, a lifetime natural bodybuilder and arguably the most sought after personal trainers in New York City

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A 10 Step Guide To Healthy Eating

Eating healthy today isn’t as easy as it might have been for those in generations past, but as waistlines expand around the world and mortality rates climb from diet related diseases- healthy eating is not only a cosmetic concern in terms of maintaining an ideal weight- but it is also an important factor in our longevity. It isn’t always easy and you have to keep in mind that Rome was not built in a day and you should not expect yourself to be able to eat healthy foods at all times right off the bat. Like anything else, consistency in healthy eating is a skill that comes with practice. The more you do it , the better you get at it. It took me the better part of 15 years to be able to consistently stay away from processed foods, and not for lack of trying!  The key is to be patient with yourself and don’t think about never eating some of your favorite foods ever again- it will just drive you insane (and make you more likely to eat it!) Instead take it day by day, one step at a time- think about eating well today and stay in the moment. As the days go by you’ll find it easier and easier to stay on point.

That being said here are 10 steps to help you stay on your path towards healthy eating:

Step 1: Lead Yourself Away From Temptation By Stocking Up On Healthy Foods

Eliminate temptation at home. Clear out all the junk from your cupboards, and get the whole family on board. It is so much easier to change your diet when you are not surrounded by the foods you should not eat. At work you may not have that much control over what you are exposed to, but I always have my clients include their entire family in their weight loss endeavors. The good part is that everyone will be all the healthier as a result!

Step 2: Eat A Large Healthy Breakfast

Eat a large breakfast. My experience has been that individuals that skip breakfast almost always have difficulty towards the afternoon to evening avoiding junk foods. A good breakfast will do wonders to regulate your appetite, and you will be surprised at how quickly the late night cravings disappear! The mantra I keep repeating to my clients is to always breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and eat dinner like a pauper- follow that rule and you will be in shape in no time. (You can download my free weight loss ebook on healthy breakfast choices here!)

Step 3: Get A Support System

Let everyone at work know that you are trying to eat better and actively recruit them. Not eating what everyone else is eating can be a real strain at times and it helps to have people around who understand and support your endeavors.

Step 4: Set Realistic Goals

Set realistic expectations for yourself by remembering to practice moderation, and don’t feel badly if you indulge. The guilt that we feel after eating something that we should not will work against you, in that it will cement the idea of eating the wrong food in your mind for a long time afterwards, as you keep on beating yourself up for slipping. In so doing you are actually more likely to do it again. The best bet is to forget about the past, (since there is nothing that you can do about it unless you have access to a working time machine) and instead just pick yourself up and keep on going. Everyone slips sometimes and we forget instantly how well we have eaten for the day and instead focus on the one bad food that we may have eaten. So be patient with yourself and keep things in perspective. (See my article- Why Is Staying On A Diet So Hard)

Step 5: Know Your Problem Times & Triggers

Identify those times of the day when you’re most vulnerable to a junk-food attack. Is it that relentless 8 pm craving? The phone call from your client-from-hell that spurs a run to McDonald’s? Stress at work? Stress from the kids? Whatever the trigger, prepare ahead of time by having healthy, flavorful alternatives on hand. Better yet, schedule alternate activities for those times when you’re most likely to face temptation.

Step 6: Make Good Choices When Eating Out

When eating out choose grilled or broiled versions of foods that are typically fried, don’t eat the bread and ask for all the sauces on the side. In the better restaurants, you can ask for salt free food preparation, but almost everywhere (except fast food restaurants) you can find entrees that are mainly natural foods sources like chicken, fish, or lean meats that can fit in with any healthy diet.

Step 7: Never Let Yourself Get Too Hungry

Try to eat every 3 to 4 hours so your body always has a steady stream of nutrients. That will help keep your blood sugar nice and level and help keep the cravings away. As an aside, never go food shopping hungry as well. You’ll be more likely to buy things that you shouldn’t!

Step 8: Keep Busy

Sitting in front of the television late in the evening can be a formula for bad eating habits. In addition to exercising three times a week- you should find other activities to keep you occupied. (I don’t recommend any more than that and as great as exercise may feel, if you train too often you will end up being overtrained and diminish any potential gains you are getting from the activity.) Instead find a hobby over simply going home and watching television night after night, as it will indeed help you stay on track, diet wise.

Step 9: Prepare Your Own Meals

Learn to cook. It is not easy to always find the right foods, and so you end up giving in to the always available junk foods that are everywhere. The best way to beat this is to cook your own foods and bring it with you. A great idea is to cook large quantities and put extra meals in the freezer. You will also need to get some containers to carry your foods around with you.

Step 10: Plan Ahead!

Plan ahead. If you know that you are going to be gone for a certain period of time, carry enough food to eat for the duration, and then some. When an aircraft takes off from an airport, they always carry contingency fuel, just in case something happens and they end up spending more time in the air that they planned. You should do the same and bring along some extras with your meals like non perishable snacks (like nuts, etc) so you don’t get stuck with nothing to eat in a sea of fast foods. This is perhaps the best advice I can give, and is what helped me and so many others that I have worked with over the years get away from eating the wrong foods.

Kevin Richardson is the creator of Naturally Intense High Intensity Training 10 Minute Workouts™ and one of the most sought after personal trainers in New York City. Get a copy of his free weight loss ebook here.

Healthy Foods To Avoid To Lose Weight- Part 2 of  2

Check out: Healthy Foods To Avoid Part 1

Are you tired of ‘eating right’ only to find that you are still out of shape and are nowhere near the body of your dreams? You can thank the wonders of modern advertising for most of your woes as the majority of so called healthy foods are in fact junk foods that will so do nothing but adversely affect your health and increase your waistline. In this the second part of my postings on unhealthy health foods we will take a look at the remaining members of the health food list that you need to avoid!

6. Margarine.

Whenever people gather around and cite the news, or media as a source of health information I always bring up margarine. In the 1980’s it was touted as the new health food, and a far superior alternative to butter, as it was low in saturated fats. Just as it is today, no one questioned the veracity of those statements and we seem to have ignored the fact that we know today that margarine contains the worst type of fat possible, trans fatty acids which we know well as hydrogenated oils. These fats are artificially created and the human body simply is not able to function well with this new synthetic fat that man has made to make foods last longer on the shelf and give them a smooth texture and taste. Banned in many parts of the world outright, trans fatty acids lower your good cholesterol, and hike up the bad cholesterol. It also has been linked to an increase in risk of heart disease and diabetes. Interestingly enough, this is a food that most people can remember being endorsed by the nutritional powers that be and should serve as a warning to anyone that loos to the government and expert nutritionists for information on what is healthy. 

5. Milk 

Milk is a high sodium, high fat and high sugar food that will bloat your physique and keep you from attaining the look that you are training for. We grew up hearing (thanks to the great sums of money invested by the dairy association lobbyists) that milk was the ‘perfect food’ and that’s true if you are an infant. As we get older however our ability to digest milk declines. This, along with the fact that adult mammals do not drink milk leads me to believe that milk is a food geared towards a particular stage of our development. As an adult, drink it regularly and just watch your toes disappear. If you have to drink it stick to the skim version and not the 1% and 2% variety. (Ladies, don’t worry about calcium and osteoporosis if you decides to skip milk- there are many better alternative and to be honest there are no validated studies to show that calcium loss is prevented by drinking milk or taking supplements. What has been observed is that calcium loss can be prevented by increasing weight bearing exercises and increasing exposure to Vitamin D. It doesn’t sell dairy products, but keep in mind as well that in Europe and the United States, milk is a staple, and yet we have high incidences of bone loss in our population, while many in third world countries where milk is not consumed they have no such occurrences. Sadly, contrary to the ads for milk and calcium supplementation, the studies conclusively show that bone loss has more to do with a high sodium, high caffeine, high phosphorus (from carbonated beverages) and or alcohol intake and lack of exercise and sun exposure than anything else.

4. Soy Milk.

Soy milk is one of the biggest selling soy products, with $300 million in sales in the year 2001, up from a mere $2 million in 1980 due to the advertising of its potential benefits. The irony is that this so called health food that is supposed to be a staple part of the Asian diet is virtually unknown in that part of the world. Vegetarianism itself, has become profitable for companies to promote as a result, and more and more people are trading soy over animal based proteins largely as a result of the overwhelmingly present push towards soy being a superior food source, with soy protein used for a wide variety of vegetarian friendly products. In fact you would be hard pressed to find someone that did not believe that soy was good for the body after such an extensive and pervasive campaign, but no matter how many people call an arm a leg, it remains a leg and processed soy products are not at all good for you! Refined soy products do not provide the full array of essential amino acids required by the human body and the chemical processing required to make it safe for consumption fast and  in large quantities denatures much of its useable amino acids, especially lysine. In fact, soy products are not as natural as one might think, since they are contain inherently harmful toxins such as phytic acid and protease inhibitors and are perhaps the most processed foods being consumed today. In terms of its effect on weight loss- very early on in my career I noticed that soy milk consumption made a huge difference in the amount of weight lost by my clients. My advice is to stay away.

3. Rice Cakes

One of the original diet foods. As odd as it may sound, rice cakes have a higher glycemic index than sugar- so forget about adding it to your diet if you are serious about getting and staying in shape. Again, it sounds like a great idea- as it is after all made from rice- but they are so highly refined that they are devoid of the fiber that makes rice a great food choice. Forget the advertising and avoid it and don’t even consider the chocolate and butter flavored versions.

2. Granola

A personal favorite. I love to hate granola in all of its incarnations. It is marketed in a manner  similar to the aforementioned rice cakes as a ‘health food’ with labels proclaiming that it is ‘all natural’, well, natural does not mean good for you! Granola is nothing but candy with good press. It’s chock full of sugar, fat and calories and last time I looked there is no such thing as a granola tree. Best left on the supermarket shelf.

1. Diet & Protein Shakes

Another one of those suspicious ‘health foods’- one popular brand whose name I will not mention has the ludicrous marketing slogan that life is too short not to slim fast! All of them, protein shakes included promise quick nutrition and weight loss in a gulp or two while the truth is usually far less promising. Firstly, the majority of those so called ‘shakes’ are nothing but glamorized milk shakes. That’s right- milk shakes, filled with sugar and fats, with some vitamins thrown in for good measure- the most hyped up cross filtered whey protein drink is nothing more than a milk byproduct at the end of the day and if you use them regularly you’ll see a nice rounding of your stomach over time. So forget about a quick fix- there are no quick fixes and there is a reason why we have evolved the way we have as a species to ingest solid food sources over liquid ones.

As depressing as the list may seem, there are indeed really good choices out there if you really want to lose weight and stay in shape. By choosing foods in their natural form and eating only foods that your great-great parents would recognize in the way that they ate it is the only tried and true way to help the general population take control of their health and their waistlines. It really is that simple- natural foods don’t need fancy slogans and neither do you.

Kevin Richardson is the creator of Naturally Intense High Intensity Training 10 Minute Workouts and one of the most sought after personal trainers in New York City. Get a copy of his free weight loss ebook here.

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The Dirty Dozen- So Called ‘Healthy’ Foods To Avoid To Lose Weight

So many people struggle every day with diets that do far more harm than good to lose weight and get themselves in shape. Thanks to the multi-billion dollar bonanza created by the public need for weight loss solutions companies spend an enormous amount of money to influence what we think is healthy. From public relations campaigns where their products and foods are touted in the press and endorsed by celebrities and at times government organizations to studies funded by food lobby groups to find healthy attributes in foods with questionable health properties.

Never before has it been harder to get unbiased information on what you should and should not eat if you want to lose weight, stay healthy and avoid diet related diseases. The misconceptions are so numerous that I thought I might help a bit by going over the definitive no-no’s to keeping your tummy tight and your body in the best shape possible. Remember that words like ‘organic’ and ‘natural’ are marketing terms that refer to the foods ingredient but have no bearing on whether the food is actually good for you or not. Nightshade berries for example are organic, natural and are high in vitamins anti-oxidants – but it doesn’t make it a good idea to eat it as it is the most poisonous plant in the Western Hemisphere! The same applies to our foods- don’t be mislead by hype about the great properties a food product is supposed to have- in fact I would venture to say that the more of a health food it is supposed to be the more you should avoid it! We are today eating more ‘organic’ and ‘health’ foods in the United States than ever before but our rates of obesity and diet related ailments continue to climb so obviously there is something fundamentally wrong with Western processed foods. Here is my definitive dirty dozen of hidden dangers in what most refer to as healthy foods:

‘Healthy’ Foods To Avoid To Lose Weight

12. Bran Muffins 

It always amazes me that people still think that there is some inherent good in having bran muffins for breakfast. Trust me, there isn’t, even though they do contain some fiber, bran muffins are notoriously high in sugar and have a very high glycemic index. It is are refined carbohydrate and often also contains a fair amount of partially hydrogenated oils- (trans fats)- exactly what you want to stay away from if you want to get into shape. Carbohydrates that have a high glycemic index will give you a nice sugar rush, followed by a nasty crash. Whenever your body consumes a high glycemic rated food your insulin levels will go up dramatically. Increased insulin levels make your body store fat– which I am sure is not your goal nor are they healthy for your body as over time it can lead to pancreatic problems and the onset of type 2 diabetes. The key is to eat only complex carbohydrates that are naturally occurring foods not their refined cousins that are man made.

11. Juices

“You must drink orange juice everyday to be healthy and get your Vitamin C!” is what most of us grew up hearing. Oddly enough, fruit juices are devoid of almost all naturally occurring vitamins as the refinement process destroys them and thus vitamins have to be added back into it. Basically when you drink a glass of orange juice all the vitamin C that you are getting comes from a dissolved vitamin tablet (which explains the taste) which our body cannot use as efficiently as a naturally occurring source. Juices of all kinds should be avoided if you are really trying to slim down as they are high in simple sugars and low in fiber. As strange as it may seem but juices are very much a foreign entity to our bodies as we are not at all designed to drink them. In nature, sugar occurs in fruits in the presence of fiber. This fiber is a key factor in how our body processes the sugars and serves to reduce any severe spikes in insulin levels after consuming it. The naturally occurring fiber also helps tell our brain when enough is enough. Anyone can easily drink a glass of apple juice in a couple of seconds but it takes anywhere from 6-8 apples to make one glass of juice and our bodies are not made to ingest that many apples at one time. In fact I don’t know of too many people that could eat more than one or two apples at a sitting as the high fiber content would prevent you from overdoing it. Take away the fiber by juicing it and voila you have just transformed a perfectly healthy food into a refined food product that isn’t good for your health or your waistline.

Don’t fall for the nonsense marketing of the health benefits of juicing- it’s a great way to sell juicers but don’t think that you can get your servings of vegetables and fruits by gulping down a glass- even vegetable become refined food products if you use a juicer because the concentration is unnatural to our bodies. So if you want the nutrition of a fruit and vegetables just do what we’ve been doing for the past 150,000 years without any problems- just eat fruit and vegetables.  You’ll lose weight, save money and stay healthier.

10. Soda.

There is no getting around it, soda is evil. Every year Americans guzzle over 15 billion gallons of it and I cannot understand why. Simply put, soda is loaded with empty calories and simple sugars. One can of soda exceeds your USDA recommendation of sugar requirements for the entire day! What about diet soda, you ask? That couldn’t be too bad,  right? Wrong! Diet sodas contain high amounts of phosphoric acid, which can destroy your teeth and gums. The phosphorous in soda also weakens bones by interfering with calcium absorption. Additional studies have found that diet soda also can lead to weight gain.  So don’t fool yourself at the checkout window by thinking that you are doing yourself a service by having the diet soda instead of the regular kind. Having a diet soda instead of a regular one like jumping from the 70th floor instead of the 75th. The only healthy choice is a little known beverage called water but thankfully it isn’t that hard to find.

9. Processed Meats.

Lunch meats and cold cuts are among the most disgusting and revolting foods on the planet and I intrigued by the fact that they are allowed to get away with labels that proclaim some form of health benefit. You’ll see tags saying that they are ‘99% fat free’ and such but it is still junk and really bad for you. Pregnant women are advised to avoid cold cuts and deli meats and for good reason. Keep in mind that these meats have only a quarter of the protein value of real meat per serving size. The other 75% is made up of preservatives and nitrates designed to keep them ‘fresh’ as well as fillers and binders made from questionable animal parts to make up the extra weight. Consider how old the meat that you are eating might be– do you really think eating meat that is several months old is a good idea? The extremely high sodium levels also won’t help your blood pressure and your physique. But there is more cause for alarm,  according to a recent study in the journal Circulation- eating just one serving a day of processed meats like bacon, sausage and deli meats was associated with a 42% higher risk of heart disease and 19% increased risk of type 2 diabetes. Interestingly enough, there were no risks at all associated with eating the much maligned red meat as long as it was unprocessed. Remember our forefathers ate red meat for hundreds of thousands of years without any problems- it’s the processed meats that will kill you.

8. Cereal.

Here’s the deal, if you start your day with cereal, resign yourself to end it without looking and feeling great. Most cereals claim to be low in fat and that may be so, but they are still highly refined and processed, which means that most of the inherently good nutrients are lost. Refined carbohydrates also have a high glycemic index, which we talked about earlier which will make you ‘crash and burn’ as well as help put on some unwanted pounds. All cereals are bad, and many are high in sodium as well even the so called ‘organic cereals’. Be smart and stay away and keep your kids away from it as well. You are better off eating something like oats as a carbohydrate source in the morning for breakfast. Read my article on oatmeal as a breakfast food here.

7. Alcohol.

Quite often I my clients whether or not they drink and the answer is often “Only a little on social occasions.” I have been able to catalog the effects of alcohol consumption on the weight loss progress of my clients over the past fifteen years and my notes clearly show that as little as one drink a week reduces the rate of weight loss by as much as 50 to 75% when compared to non-drinkers on the same diet and training program. This holds true for all ages and levels of fitness and comes with a significant decrease in performance during training as well. There is a great deal of media coverage given to to research about the benefits of moderate alcohol intake in reducing your chance of heart disease (thanks to a lot of money spent by wine and alcohol lobbies). Granted there may indeed be benefits, but there other, safer ways to reduce your likelihood of developing cardiovascular disease, like good nutrition and maintaining a healthy weight. Last time I checked alcohol didn’t help too much with the latter two categories and the risks far outweigh the benefits. Alcohol contains 7 empty calories per gram. It can also wreak havoc on your hormone levels, damage your liver, dehydrate you, depress you, impair your judgment, addict you and leave you with an always fashionable beer belly. Keep in mind as well that the positive studies were underwritten by the wine industry and aren’t by any means conclusive. Read my article on alcohol and weight loss here.

Read part 2 of Healthy Foods To Avoid To Lose Weight

Kevin Richardson is the creator of Naturally Intense High Intensity Training and one of the most sought after personal trainers in New York City. Get a copy of his free weight loss ebook here.

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