When you make a decision to gain control over your eating habits to shed pounds and body fat, it is crucial to avoid 2 ingredients : high-fructose corn syrup and trans-fats. These 2 health-robbing chemicals are present in a wide-variety of prepared foods, including baked goods, soft-drinks and salad dressings.

High-fructose corn syrup ( HFCS ) is a common replacement for more costly cane sugar in a multitude of products. The fact that high-fructose corn syrup is a diet-killer is that it plays havoc on blood-sugar levels. High blood-sugar levels are linked to lots of the conditions that plague modern life : pre-diabetes ( impaired fasting blood-sugar levels ) type II diabetes,and coronary heart-disease. One of the first sources of HFCS in our diets is colas. Did you know that one 48-oz.”super-size” soda can contain as many as 550 calories, not to mention equivalent to over thirteen tablespoons of sugar? If you drink one of these each day for a week without reducing your caloric intake or burning off an equivalent amount of calories through exercise, you can gain a pound a week–a whopping 52 pounds a year! Replace any beverages containing HFCS with cold, refreshing water or unsweetened ice tea as a most important step to lose healthy weight. If you’re a regular customer of soda, you may shed pounds by following this straightforward step alone.

Trans-fats are frequently found in baked products such as pies, cookies, crackers and also as oil for frying products such as french-fries or potato chips. Trans-fats were developed to guarantee a long activelife for these kinds of products, but their negative health effects were unknown at the time of their development. Trans-fats are made by taking a mono-unsaturated ( liquid ) fat and reacting it with hydrogen gas. The ensuing fat from the reaction is solid at 70 degrees. When we consume trans-fats, they build up in our arteries just as grease clogs a drain. Ultimately, this increase of fat in our arteries can cause coronary heart disease and stroke, and is also thought to make a contribution to dementia in the old.

So how can we avoid allthese lethal ingredients in our foods? Our first and best line of defense is simply by reading the labels on food products. Both high-fructose corn-syrup and trans-fats are required to be listed on labels. Also, be careful of fast-foods such as fried chicken, fish sandwiches and fried pies. Ask if these foods have been prepared with trans-fat free oils or not. If the restaurant staff can’t tell you if the food is fried in oil containing trans-fat or not, it’s best to avoid it altogether. So educate yourself as a shopper and harvest the health advantages of your due diligence.

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