Foods to Avoid

Foods to Avoid:

An average teenager in America exposed to many different foods, healthy and unhealthy. Living in Hawaii, we are introduced to cuisines from around the world. Yet as high school students, we have a tendency to choose the most damaging foods. The media poisons our minds with pictures of kings, white castles, and golden arches serving fast food to happy, young adults living picture perfect lives. Yet this serene life is far from the truth. Many of the meals that we enjoy the most can be leading us to a premature death.

Many of the worst foods are the ones we like the best. Generally, it is best to avoid foods high in saturated fat, sugar, sodium, nasty additives, or full of empty calories (foods that contain high calories but minimal nutritional value). Here is a list of some common foods to cut out from your diet or at least eat in moderation to lead a healthier life:

French Fries: Yes they taste good but they are soaked in oil and some have preservatives like here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-ljW5YEdao

Potato Chips: The same reasons as French fries.

Sodas: Soda is bad for you on many levels. It usually offers tons of sugar and caffeine, not to mention it isn’t so great on your teeth. Even "diet" sodas are bad with many of them using artificial sweeteners that are known to have unpleasant, long term side effects including being linked to certain types of cancers.

Processed Meats: This includes spam, hotdogs, and many other breakfast meats that come from a factory. They contain highly processed meat “byproducts", and preservatives to help them last longer. Generally it is bad to eat anything that has mystery ingredients.

Instant Ramen Noodles: An essential food for college these packets of goodness are empty calories and filled with sodium.

White Starches: Breads and pasta that are white all contain white processed flour that contributes only empty calories and carbohydrates. White rice is also processed and has a healthier alternative of brown rice.

Energy Drinks: Monster, Amp, and Red Bull all have crazy amounts of carbohydrates, sugar, and caffeine. Red Bull has even been linked to some deaths around the world and France even banned the drink.