Processed foods are so convenient. It is so easy to open a pack and get a ready-made meal within 2 minutes – A meal that costs you around 2-3 hours or more if you prepare it from scratch. But today, I will tell you why you should eat home-cooked foods and avoid processed foods at all costs and
You Can Not Lose Weight With Processed Foods
Recently I met an old friend, after two years I have not seen her. I was surprised to see that how within two years, she has drastically changed. She has gained a lot of weight, looks tired, and does not even look of her age (she is in her mid 20’s).
I asked her why she is not taking care of herself; she sadly told me, “I know that I gain extra kilograms. Recently, I try to lose weight . I even have a dietitian. I am so frustrated; even after following his diet, I cannot lose weight.”
I looked at her diet and see what she eats. It was a fantastic diet, and I saw that she was given so many options and alternatives, and even foods were easy to make. At first, I thought that the reason for her weight was the food she is eating. However, she should lose weight if she follows such a healthy and balanced diet; It is surprising that she still gains weight.
Then I opened her fridge, and to my surprise, I found so many packs for almost everything, be it oats, upma, chapatis, parantha, tiki, chicken nuggets, cup noodles, juices, and whatnot.
I asked her how she followed her diet; she told me: “I have kept all the packets and ate as she has advised, like for breakfast poha, upma, paratha, idli, and dosa. For lunch, I eat anything given in the office, the evening is mostly outing (street junk foods), and dinner has to be light, so I mostly have these hot soups, which are again the instant one, and yes, if I feel starving, then I have some cup noodles. “
She was focusing more on the foods rather than the word instant or packed, and I was like, seriously, this is how you follow your diet? and she told me: “I do not have time to cook.”; I was shocked, She naively thought she can lose weight by eating processed foods. She did not realize that home-cooked foods are important to her diet.
Sorry if this feels like your story, But I shared this whole instance to make you aware that we are inviting so many health problems in our daily life and pretend as we are so unaware of it.
For example, as we all know, oats are perfect for health so we could have them for our breakfast, but nowadays there are instant oats and masala oats and as it has been advertised in a healthy way that we buy them without thinking twice.
People tend to follow brands endorsed by celebrities without thinking that they are not using them. They approve it for money, and we must act smartly without falling into these marketing traps. I am not here to support or speak against any brand so let us talk about processed foods.
Processed Foods Are Not Healthy
If you ever go to the supermarket, you could get many instant and processed foods, but they are not healthy. Let me tell you few reasons as to why these processed foods are unhealthy:
High Trans Fat In Processed Foods
It is recommended to keep our trans fat as low as possible as it increases the chance of heart diseases, high cholesterol, and stroke. When a food undergoes processing, it is high in trans fat, and almost every other junk food is high on that.
Nutrition Loss With Processed foods
Foods that are processed can never meet your daily nutritional requirement, and for that, you need to rely on other sources to fulfill your body’s nutrition needs. These foods are processed; they help our taste buds grow more robust, not our body. So go easy on it and try avoiding them as they can never be your whole meal.
Synthetic Colors In Processed Foods
When we look at these foods, we are so pleased just because of their colors, but we do not even think about where they get these colors. These are synthetic or additional coloring agents that enhance their look, not the nutritional value, and taking so much synthetic colors is not suitable for health.
High Sodium In Processed Foods
To increase the shelf life of these foods, they are loaded with preservatives that are none other than sodium. Taking too much sodium is the cause of many underlying health problems.
Always Prefer Home-Cooked Foods
I know working people do not get much time to cook their food, at least not all the five meals in a day. I would suggest you plan your weekly meal and try to prepare your food at home. For that, wake up early and cook your food and keep the leftover in the fridge so that you can have it at night for dinner.
It’s always good to have home-cooked food as they are high on their nutritional value and low on health risk. If you cannot manage everything on your own, take a help who will prepare food for you. It’s not only about your attempts to lose weight. It’s about you and your health, and you will be the one who needs to look after yourself. I hope you would bring the change now because it’s never too late.
