WHY HEALTH EXPERTS SUGGEST AVOIDING THESE FOODS
Rice Cakes
Once praised among the best for dieting in the late 80s and 90s, rice cakes are no longer on the “best of anything” food list today. Rice cakes can have a hyper-glycemic index rating – even as high as 91 (pure glucose has a rating of 100), making it the worst of many carbohydrate foods that will send your blood sugar on a balloon trip to the moon. Bad for diets and your health!
Refined and Re-Fortified Grains
Unfortunately this rules out a majority of the carbohydrates found on supermarket shelves. Refined and re-fortified grain-based foods, such as some breakfast cereals, rice products and even some pasta, have been so refined that their natural vitamins, minerals and fiber are non-existent by the time they’re packaged and ready for consumers. They’ve been replaced, often with synthetic versions. Sometimes (and this is really sneaky) they put everything back in naturally occurring ratios so that they can still claim the food contains “whole grains.” Best suggestion: eat the real unfortified stuff in the first place.
Fat-Free Salad Dressing
Fat-free salad dressing is a perfect example of a good food gone bad. Salad dressing is a combination of vinegar (this helps control blood sugar) and plant oils (with essential fatty acids and sometimes antioxidants). Irrational fears of dietary fats forced food companies to dink around with the original perfect blend that became fat-free salad dressings that more often than not have sugar and high fructose corn syrups. Stick with the regular dressings; just use them in smaller proportions.
Seitan
Personally, I wasn’t sure what seitan actually is. So I looked it up and apparently, seitan is originally from Asia and is used as a common meat substitute in vegan dishes. However, unlike many meat substitutes, seitan is not soy-derived but made entirely of wheat gluten. Wheat gluten is a highly allergenic protein that is naturally found only in small amounts in wheat-based products. While there is no research linking seitan intake to increased prevalence of gluten allergies, one might be concerned that eating a lot of this allergenic protein may trigger a more severe gluten allergy or even intolerance.
4) Shark
The benefits of eating fish with omega -3 fats are substantial. However, shark is not a good choice, even with the omega benefits, when considering the non-healthy risk of ingesting mercury at the same time. Despite having an omega-3 fat content similar to tuna, shark contains almost three times the amount of mercury. Tilefish is another high mercury/low omega-3 fish that should be avoided. The best choice for getting the most from a fish food would be salmon.
Sugar-Sweetened Beverages
Even if you stop eating everything else on the listed foods that are bad for you, sugar sweetened beverages of ALL kinds should be at the top of the list! Between the empty calories that keep a person chunkier than they might ordinarily be, and lowering good cholesterol while raising triglyceride levels (which is bad for the heart), sugary drinks mess with your auto anti-inflammatory balance, and that can make it much more difficult to recover from exercising and puts your body at risk for many chronic diseases. If you need something wet and sweet, try sweetened tea or Kool-Aid!
KEEPING TABS ON WHO VOTED FOR WHAT
On April 17th, 2013, the United States Senate voted on the Manchin-Toomey amendment, which would have required background checks on all commercial sales of guns. The vote failed. There were 54 members in support, and 46 voting in opposition. One of nine proposed changes to a gun-control bill debated in the U.S. Senate, the Manchin-Toomey background check amendment failed even though the amendment received the majority of votes, because it failed to get the 60 votes required for passage. Nearly all of the members who voted against the amendment have received substantial amounts of money from the political action committees of gun rights groups, including the National Rifle Association. Some of the members who supported the amendment have also been recipients of gun-rights PAC money.
Three senators representing Minnesota and North Dakota have received zero campaign contribution monies from PAC committees of gun rights (including the NRA) and gun control groups, as well as gun manufacturers from 2007 until March, 2013: Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Senator Al Franken accepted ZERO money from PAC committees for gun rights, including the NRA or PAC manufacturing committees or any other gun control groups. The same would be true for Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota.
Senator John Hoven from North Dakota has received $9,950 from PAC committees for gun rights and $1,000 from PAC manufacturing committees.
Senators John Hoven and Heidi Heitkamp from North Dakota voted against the Manchin-Toomey amendment, which would have required background checks on all commercial sales of guns.
Senators Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken voted in favor of the failed amendment.
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