Muesli – from 36 rubles
What will be replaced: cookies, sweets, pastries.
What is it: a mixture of cereals, bran and dried fruits. The grains are dried, ground, and sometimes oven-baked to add sweetness and body to their flavor. There are countless variations of muesli: they are pressed into bars, sold in crumbly form, and also added to yogurt, nuts, and berries.
Muesli is rich in vitamins B and E, minerals, and fiber. All together, this increases immunity, normalizes the functioning of the digestive system and, most importantly, prevents you from gaining weight. However, there are questions regarding the last point.
Healthy potato chips
You can quickly make crispy chips from potatoes at home in the oven or microwave. The main thing is to cut everything into thin slices, season to taste and bake at high temperature for 10-15 minutes.
It only takes 3 minutes to cook the chips in the microwave, but the temperature should be set to maximum.
Try to replace harmful, fatty and sometimes low-quality chips that crunch so deliciously with healthy snacks. Homemade chips can be made from vegetables, fruits, and pita bread. There are many recipes, so it’s worth experimenting if you want to get the perfect and healthy product.
Fast food and French fries
A win-win and, let's be honest, delicious option. Each shopping center has its own food court, fast food chain restaurants are confidently located in places with maximum crowds of people and are presented to us as places where you can spend time with your family.
Why do we think this is junk food:
- Very high calorie content. Just for fun, take a look at the calorie content of McDonald's dishes. The smallest and most harmless cheeseburger “weighs” 300 calories. And the same 300 calories will weigh a full meal of baked chicken, a side dish of cereal and salad. But if you fill yourself up with such a lunch for 3-4 hours, it will be very difficult to get enough of a cheeseburger. In 5 minutes you will be hungry again. An example of a similar dinner with chicken soufflé.
- Carcinogens. The components of fast food and French fries are fried and carcinogenic substances are formed. Oil is often used multiple times. It has been proven that carcinogenic substances lead to an increase in cancer. If previously cancerous tumors formed mainly in older people, today statistics show that the average age of cancer patients has decreased significantly. There are many reasons for this, but fast food and French fries make their contribution.
- French fries arrive at fast food restaurants already partially cooked. It is processed with palm oil. All that remains is to give the deep-fried potato wedges a crispy crust and add a huge amount of salt. Excessive salt consumption is a topic for another article. But thanks to these qualities, French fries are definitely one of the most harmful food products for humans.
- Lots of fast carbohydrates and a small amount of protein and fiber in the composition. If fast food dominates the menu, the feeling of fullness quickly disappears due to simple carbohydrates, and you want to eat the same food again. As a result, overeating and weight gain. A lack of fiber and protein results in muscular dystrophy, constipation and many other troubles.
- Low nutritional value leads to a deficiency of incoming vitamins and minerals. A negative consequence is vitamin deficiency.
What to do if you love fast food and are not ready to give it up?
- Many dishes on the menu of fast food restaurants can be easily prepared yourself. Bake potatoes in wedges, make a sandwich yourself, cook pancakes or shawarma at home. Homemade chicken nuggets are easy and simple to prepare. Believe me, it will be no less tasty.
- If you understand that you want to eat here and now, and there is nothing else except fast food, try to minimize the harm. For example, choose a roll with thin flatbread or vegetables, or a vegetable salad.
- And if you already had lunch at fast food, then you shouldn’t suffer from guilt. Just think about what you can do to avoid a repeat visit.
Premium white wheat flour
Soft and airy white flour of the highest grade appeared in our homes not so long ago. It makes delicious baked goods and is used in bread and pasta. But what's the benefit?
A wheat grain consists of a germ (an incubator for a sprout), a starchy endosperm (a nutrient medium for a sprout), and a multilayer shell (bran). Distant ancestors ground grains in stone millstones and obtained brown flour, that is, the grains were completely used.
The modern grinding process sifts out the germ and the shell. What remains is the starchy endosperm. From a dietary point of view, this is a low-quality product, since it contains mainly starch, which results in high calorie content, increased gluten, and lack of fiber.
Products made from white flour do not have biologically active substances (low nutritional value). In the process of digestion, they are akin to cement, inhibit digestion and clog the intestines. The snow-white color of flour is achieved using chemical bleaching.
It is ironic that flour with such characteristics is called the highest grade.
What to do?
- Try using other types of flour in baking, since there is a large selection on the shelves. Buckwheat. oatmeal, rye, whole grain, corn and so on. Combine it with traditional white flour to increase the nutritional value of your prepared meals.
- If you eat bread, try to choose rye, Borodinsky or with the addition of other types of flour.
- You can choose whole grain pasta or durum flour.
How to replace chips and crackers when dieting
One of my friends complained that she is indifferent to sweets, but chips and pizza are her loves, which she wants to eat endlessly. Naturally, with unlimited consumption, weight begins to increase. What is the main danger of classic potato or corn chips?
First, the accompanying event. We very rarely eat chips just as food. Most often, chips are accompanied by a bottle or two or three of beer when gathering with friends, or watching a movie for an hour and a half. In this situation, we don’t even think about how many snacks go into our mouths; eating chips passes by our consciousness - automatically.
Secondly, accompanying high-calorie drinks and other snacks (this point follows from the previous one). We sit in the cinema, eat nachos with fatty cheese sauce until the whole package is gone, wash it down with cola or beer - and an insane amount of calories fly into us.
Thirdly, the composition. All store-bought chips contain flavor enhancers. The most famous of them is monosodium glutamate. The taste enhancer works in such a way that the sensations from the taste of the product become much brighter, the pleasure centers in our brain are irritated, and the hand itself reaches for the next chip, wanting more and more exactly until they run out.
What to do? Options: don’t buy chips at all, or if you buy, buy a small pack. However, if you want to find the perfect replacement for chips, let's compare alternative options and maybe there is a crunchy snack just for you. I warn you right away that I am attaching pictures only with the composition and calorie content of the products, without the front side
1. To have something to compare with, let’s take the classic version of chips – Pringles. The calorie content of nachos with sauce can cause a heart attack, and the calorie content of its closest competitors, “Lays”, is almost identical. So, personally, just reading the ingredients on the label discourages me from eating these chips. The calorie content is also relatively high, 503 kcal per 100 grams. A large package contains 165 grams, and if you eat it at one time, you will add as much as 830 kcal to your diet!
The solution is to look for an alternative with less calories, but with a good rich taste, and so that the pack is not too bulky.
2. Corners from Dr. Korner (in our case with chili and paprika). The package contains 50 grams, which means that if you empty it to the bottom, you will have a snack of 180 kcal, which, in principle, is not critical. The taste of paprika and chili is quite pronounced, but precisely because of the absence of monosodium glutamate, it does not hit the receptors very much. The composition is not bad, but not everyone likes the taste of corn-rice bread (my husband calls it silage, but I like it).
3. Fruit and vegetable chips. I have only seen apple chips from “Vkusville” on mass sale; chips from other fruits and vegetables can be purchased in various online stores from small companies. When I first tried apple chips, I was simply delighted - a familiar taste in a crispy design. Then I tried chips made from pumpkin, mango and other vegetables and fruits. And I was so excited by this idea that I bought a dehydrator and started making them myself. I completely switched from store-bought chips and sweets to homemade ones. However, there are both pros and cons: due to dehydration, such chips lose water, but the calorie content does not disappear, that is, we get more calories for a smaller volume. So, for 100 grams of apple chips there are 360 kcal, but in terms of volume they turn out to be much larger than the same “corners”. If you take pumpkin chips with herbs and hot peppers (which, in my opinion, are closest to potato chips), their calorie content will be about 140 kcal. per 100 grams (I did the calculation myself based on my own dehydration conditions), and 100 grams is also a large amount. On the downside, I’ll note that this is quite an expensive pleasure, for example, 25 grams of apple chips from tasteville costs 60 rubles, craft-made pumpkin chips will cost even more. If you do it yourself, you must first invest in a dehydrator.
4. And finally, I will present to you my favorite snack, which after eating it leaves a feeling of pleasure, as if eating something harmful, but due to their low specific gravity, their calorie content per serving is not high, and at the same time, they have a good nutrient composition. We are talking about seaweed chips. They are found in several manufacturers: “Vkusville”, “Sen Soi”, “Midori”, and so on. I myself regularly buy seaweed from “Vkusville” as a snack, so I give the composition and calorie content for this product specifically. In addition to great taste, we get a good source of iodine, protein, unsaturated fats and vitamins. I take 10 gram packages - due to the low specific gravity, there are a lot of them in volume, the price is not low - 89 rubles, but this package is perfect for me for a snack, and 10 grams only have 44 kcal.
So, we come up with the formula for the ideal crispy chip snack: small packaging, pleasant taste without enhancers, composition with minimal additives, low calorie content per pack, since snacks have the property of being eaten to the last crumb.
Sausages and smoked meats
Sausages (cervelat, raw smoked, boiled, frankfurters, wieners) are officially recognized as harmful food by the World Health Organization.
Sausages are mostly a chemical product rather than a meat product. If the meat content in the sausage reaches 30%, you are lucky. The rest of the content will be soy and additives. For production, animals and poultry that were intensively fattened are slaughtered in conditions of absence of movement. This makes the meat fattier. Animal carcasses are almost entirely used for processing (skin, bones). The mechanically separated poultry meat in the composition indicates that it was not the loin part or even the skin that was used.
What else is in sausage?
- Hydrogenated vegetable fats using palm oil. Palm oil itself is beneficial. But when it is processed, fatty acids are converted into trans fats.
- Stabilizers and dyes help the product become elastic and have a color that is pleasing to the eye.
- Sodium nitrite also affects color and is a powerful preservative. Doctors directly link the consumption of sodium nitrite and the development of stomach cancer.
- Flavor enhancers and flavorings make the taste of sausage even more attractive and “dull” the taste buds of the tongue.
- Carrageenan (E-407) can lead to gastrointestinal ulcers and oncology.
- If sausages and frankfurters are fried (everyone remembered the delicious scrambled eggs on sausage), then the components, oxidizing, are converted into carcinogens. Cancero means “cancer”.
Smoked legs, sausages, fish, and meat contain benzopyrene, formaldehyde, and light phenols. Ideally, food should be smoked using natural sawdust. In reality, the smoky flavor is achieved using “liquid smoke” to save on the production process.
Eating a small piece of such food will not harm yourself. Those who like to eat a lot of sausage and smoked meats are always at risk of developing premature senile dementia (personal destruction).
Between the human brain and the skull there is a so-called film that performs a protective function. It has been established that eating large quantities of said food throughout life leads to its destruction. A kind of pleasant bonus: there is no longer any health, but a person is not able to realize this fact.
What if you love sausages and sausages?
- Try replacing your favorite food with homemade boiled pork or homemade sausages. They are easy and simple to prepare and can also be frozen.
- A less healthy, but easier option: buy half-cooked sausages and bake them at home.
Fast food products
The list of the most harmful products is supplemented by PBP (fast food products). Noodles with different flavors, mashed potato starch, soups with the addition of boiling water, bouillon cubes and other “delicacies” are designed to save time for cooking.
With the time saved, for example, you can earn more money, which will be spent on medicines, if you eat fast food products.
What's wrong with this food? Low nutritional value, lots of salt, monosodium glutamate (E-621), flavorings and other artificial additives.
If you were forced to eat such food, for example, on the road, there would be no danger. Although, even one serving can cause stomach pain.
With the systematic use of PBP, a decent “bouquet” of diseases is guaranteed: allergies, asthma, chronic diarrhea, ulcers, colitis, kidney failure, damage to the structure of nerve cells, weakened immune system, malignant tumors.
What to do?
Try to find healthy instant food options if you can't prepare or purchase healthier foods. For example, you can find oatmeal in bags with a minimum of additives and no sugar; flaxseed porridge is very healthy and quick to prepare.
Alcohol
Alcoholic drinks cause relaxation, a feeling of euphoria that is pleasant to experience and wants to be repeated. In large quantities, alcohol results in addiction, a complete lack of self-control, and destruction of the personality and body.
Alcohol contains ethanol in varying proportions. Which causes liver diseases, gastrointestinal tract diseases, nervous system disorders, and destruction of brain cells. With alcoholism without treatment, a person loses his personality.
Modern alcohol is a drink that contains the same flavors, dyes and other synthetic additives.
It is important that the stronger the alcohol, the more calories it contains. Alcoholic drinks have the ability to increase hunger and remove the restrictions that we impose on ourselves.
What to do:
- Try to minimize or eliminate alcohol from your diet.
- If that doesn’t work, leave it as an allowed “harmful” drink in the amount of no more than one serving once a week.
Salt and sugar
These are the most harmful foods for the body, among others.
Recommendations for salt intake range from 8-10 g per day. In reality, the norm is exceeded by 1.5-2 times. Constant consumption of over-salted food leads to swelling, increased blood pressure, urolithiasis and joint diseases.
Sugar (sucrose) is a quickly digestible carbohydrate. During digestion, it is broken down into fructose and glucose. The brain is primarily fed with glucose. Normally, it is concentrated in the blood at a level of 80-120 mg of sugar per 100 ml.
An excess of sucrose leads to damage to tooth enamel, vitamin deficiency, skin problems, obesity and diabetes. The dangers of sugar are written in detail in this excellent article.
What if you like sugar and salt?
Come to terms with it. But seriously, try to find your own ways to reduce the amount of salt and sugar in your food. For example, with the help of seasonings, food can be made less salty, and we have a whole training on how to reduce the amount of sugar.
