WHAT THE HECK ARE PROCESSED FOODS AND WHY AVOID THEM?

WHAT THE HECK ARE PROCESSED FOODS AND WHY AVOID THEM? BLOG #79
Dr. Spiker Davis D.D.S.  713-781-2800    Dr. Matt Guerre D.D.S. 713-781-2800
In collaboration with Dr. John Seger M.D. Cardiologist 713-791-9444
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I believe the mouth is the WINDOW TO YOUR HEALTH. I also believe that as individuals we need to take care of our health-nobody else is going to do it for us. I like to look at health and nutrition from a simple common-sense approach and that is why I like the PALEO DIET so much. You have heard me cuss and discuss and gripe about all the bad foods that my patients eat. Of course, I think SUGAR IS POISON AND TOXIC AND WE SHOULD AVOID IT! But today I want to talk about PROCESSED FOODS. WHAT ARE THEY AND WHY SHOULD WE AVOID THEM?

There is no question that SAD (Standard American Diet) is a huge problem for our health! Ask any physician, dentist, dietician, or nutritionist. SAD is creating a lot of health issues and everyone should address it. One of the many foods that are considered really bad and make up a lot of the SAD is called Processed Foods. What they Heck are processed foods and how do they harm our health?

Processed foods are convenient, cheap, tasty and they are everywhere like fast food restaurants and all grocery stores. My simple definition of processed foods refers to any food that is in a container (bag, box, can, bottle etc.). It is more involved than that but basically, anything that is in a container is almost always filled with additives, preservatives and of course salt and SUGAR. The other day my wife asked me to get her some Sea Salt at the grocery store. The first one I came to was the one in the Blue and White box. Just out of habit, I picked up the container turned it around to read the ingredients, and guess what? The second or third ingredient in salt was DEXTROSE! Almost any word that ends in “OSE” is a SUGAR. There is Fructose, Maltose, Sucrose, Glucose and Dextrose etc. So, the Salt container had sugar in it. I was livid and called the company to complain. They said it was to prevent “CLUMPING”. Well, I live in Houston (one of the most humid cities in the country) and I have never had clumping of my salt. So I accused them of putting sugar because sugar is addictive and this would probably make more people buy this brand and use it more often in their foods. Of course, I did not get anywhere.

The word processed is a general term and it can mean lots of things. Not all processed foods are bad for you but how do we know? It is my experience that about 80% of anything in a package of any kind will have SUGAR or chemicals that in my mind cannot be good for you for any reason. What good are chemicals and preservatives and additives??? So, for my family, I choose to do my best not to eat anything that is processed. In my mind the more you cut back on processed foods the healthier you will be. Here are some examples:

1. Crackers, pretzels tortillas and Chips
2. Cookies
3. Candy of any kind
4. Frozen dinners (including chicken nuggets, hamburger patties, fish sticks, pizza
5. Breakfast cereals-most of them are loaded to the hilt with sugar and additives
6. Deli meats and Hot dogs-many of these are linked to colon cancer
7. Sausage
8. Soft drinks and energy drinks-most of these have a minimum of 10 tablespoons of Sugar-The American Heart Association says that we should all limit sugar to 6 tablespoons per day. As a dentist, I think it should be limited to 0 but at the most 2 tablespoons.
9. Bottled premade liquid coffee
10. Breads of many kinds

Most processed foods will alter the bacterial growth in your mouth and all the way down. Our immune system is based on the bacteria that live in our gut and when you feed the bacteria all of these processed foods it can really make changes to your immune systems.

So here are some hints to help you avoid processed foods.

1. Stay to the outer perimeter of the grocery store. That is where the fresh vegetables, fruits and meats are located. The inner part of the store is everything in a package
2. Always read the ingredients before you buy. If it has anything with an “OSE” or any big chemical words that you don’t know what they are-THEN DON’T BUY IT!
3. Look for the expiration date-Fresh foods will not last for months on your shelf or in your refrigerator. When it says, “USE BY DATE” and that date is months or years from now, that means that there are tons of chemicals and preservatives, etc. in this container that will prevent the food from spoiling. I don’t want to eat all those chemicals!
4. When in doubt, the fewer ingredients the better. Fresh foods won’t have a label, but everything packaged and processed will.
5. Don’t let the words “ORGANIC OR NATURAL” fool you for ingredients in a container.

SUMMARY-It is obvious that your mouth is the window to your health. In my opinion, we need to eliminate sugar and processed foods from our diet. Sugar, along with lots of chemicals and additives is in almost anything in a container. Please switch to fresh foods and unprocessed foods and in my opinion, avoid fast food restaurants as they are loaded to the gills. And guess what, we all have to do it once in a while, or at least it is very difficult to avoid all processed foods. Just do the best you can and learn to read the labels.

“THE MOUTH IS THE WINDOW TO YOUR HEALTH”. BRUSH AND FLOSS TWICE DAILY, AVOID SUGAR
AND PROCESSED FOOD FOR 2023 AND SEE YOUR DENTIST AND PHYSICIAN ON A REGULAR BASIS.
Spiker Davis D.D.S. spiker@thepaleodentist.com John Seger M.D. Matt Guerre D.D.S.
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