Your heart will thank you when you avoid these hidden sugar and sodium bombs that are loaded into the typical American diet.
Non-dairy coffee creamers
From powder to liquid, the stuff that seems to never go bad on office coffee station countertops is essentially made with a combination of hydrogenated oils and thickeners.
The trans fats cause chronic inflammation in the arteries. And many of these zero trans fat brands aren’t totally trans-fat free.
They just have less than .5g per serving, so if you’re having more than one cup of coffee a day, you’re still slowly eating away at your arteries with plaque.
Opt for real milk, or a simple nut milk that has few ingredients.
Low-fat turkey deli slices (pre-packaged)
Yes, even this classic healthy lunch food is gross in the eyes of cardiologists.
Super processed turkey sliced up and sold in tubs full of liquid is typically very high in sodium and filled with nitrates to keep the meat pinkish and fresh.
Sodium makes your body retain water, and puts unnecessary strain on your heart and arteries. Certain packaged turkey meats also have a natural flavor called “liquid smoke” that has been associated with higher oxidative stress in the body.
If you want to eat turkey, buy a whole bird and roast it yourself.
Bottled low-fat salad dressings
Dressing without fat tastes terrible, so in order to make up for that loss, most brands load it up with high-fructose corn syrup and modified food starch to make up for the texture loss.
That extra sugar will send your insulin through the roof, which can promote weight gain around your middle and lead to cardiovascular disease.
Your body actually needs healthy fats (like the ones in olive oil) in order to absorb the nutrients from your salad.
Eating straight vinegar will hurt your gut, but a mixture of vinegar and oil is better than what you’ll find at the grocery store.
Microwaveable diet entrees
Sure they might be low in calories, but chances are those frozen dinners are packed with sodium to make up for the lack of fresh ingredients.
Not only will that drive up your blood pressure for the day, but the boxes those meals come in are typically guilty of leaching chemicals into your food when you heat them up in the microwave.
Many of these chemicals are known endocrine disruptors which can wreak havoc on your heart indirectly.
Eat fresh, even if it’s just pasta and sauce.
Diet sodas
Ok, so you may have heard this one before, but diet soda is actually terrible for you. Artificial sweeteners can actually wipe out beneficial gut bacteria and mess with your metabolism.
They also confuse your brain into thinking you want more sweet foods later in the day, causing endless cycles of cravings and weight gain. Type 2 diabetes risk increases with diet soda, not decreases.
Research indicates that individuals who regularly consume diet sodas experience a higher incidence of strokes and vascular issues compared to those who don’t.
Your best bet is plain ol’ sparkling water with a bit of lime or lemon.
Sugary oats
Oats in their whole form are one of nature’s finest foods for the heart.
However, instant oatmeal packets are often devoid of fiber and loaded with fake flavors and white sugar. They are ground into such small pieces they break down just as quickly as white bread, spiking your blood sugar and stressing your heart.
Plus, those flavored powders and added salt will transform your heart-healthy breakfast into a boxed snack.
Take the few extra minutes to prepare steel-cut or rolled oats and you’ll enjoy the real cholesterol-lowering properties oats have to offer.
Rotisserie chickens (pre-made)
While rotisserie chickens are undeniably handy, it’s worth noting that many store-bought ones are loaded with a saline solution.
This plumping technique is great for locking in moisture under heat lamps, but not so great for your heart.
Too much sodium can irritate heart failure and hypertension. Plus, that skin is probably glazed with a sugar-based marinade and preservatives that melt into your bird.
Buy yourself a raw chicken and season it the way you like. This way, you’ll know exactly how much sodium goes into it.
Protein bars
It seems every calorie-packed bar on the market these days is trying to pass themselves off as healthy. Just because it has 20 grams of protein doesn’t mean it’s good for you.
Most of these bars combine highly-processed soy protein isolates with sugar alcohols and palm oil (not heart-healthy fats your doctor wants you eating). Heart-friendly fibers are replaced with chicory root and other chemicals that wreak havoc on your digestive track.
A small bunch of raw walnuts or an apple will offer far more heart-healthy benefits than these fake meals.
Canned soups
Soup is great, but don’t be fooled by the canned variety.
Unless it explicitly states “Low Sodium” on the label, canned soup is chock-full of salt used to preserve the veggies and noodles inside. Organic and vegetable canned options can contain up to 800mg of sodium per one cup serving.
Most cans contain two servings and the excess sodium in your diet contributes to arterial hardening and stiffness with every spoonful.
Doctors recommend making large batches of soup using herbs and spices to flavor your veggies instead of relying on that salt shaker.
Commercial fruit juices
It doesn’t matter if the label says “100% juice”, without the fiber of whole fruit those sugars will enter your bloodstream immediately.
Eating the whole fruit allows you to receive benefits from the pulp and skin that help regulate blood pressure and cholesterol.
Sipping on juice delivers a sugar rush straight to your system, bypassing all the good stuff you’d get from whole fruit.
Frozen breaded fish sticks
Fish is terrific for your heart. Process it into pieces, coat it in refined flour, then pre-fry it in inflammatory seed oils, and you essentially negate all the good it does.
They’re typically made with the lowest quality white fish, full of fillers and sodium to make them shelf stable.
Plus, the trans fats lurking in the breading wreak havoc on your good cholesterol (HDL). Bake or sear a fresh piece of salmon or cod with some lemon and herbs instead.
Light mayo
They took out the fat in light mayo and replaced those egg/oil calories with starches, gums and sugar.
These ingredients cause the same issues our bodies experience with other low fat processed foods (spiking triglycerides).
Many brands use extremely refined soybean or canola oils high in Omega-6s, which can cause systemic inflammation if we don’t eat enough Omega-3 fatty acids to even it out.
Go for a tiny serving of avocado oil mayo (full fat) or mashed avocado.
Toaster pastries and breakfast tarts
Triple threat: refined white flour, high-fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated oils.
They don’t fill you up, so you end up eating more later, and the sugar shell coats your blood vessels causing an instant inflammatory response.
Many of these foods are also colored with artificial dyes, which some doctors think tax our body with oxidative stress.
Consuming this amount of refined sugar first thing in the morning is essentially sabotaging your cardiovascular system.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.
