7 Worst Foods to Eat and the Best Alternatives
Written by TYE Medical on Aug 9th 2024
Fad foods are everywhere. Ads and articles tell you to eat a specific food to drop five pounds instantly, or include this new “superfood” in your diet to be healthy. But most of the time, it’s more helpful to know what not to eat, and what to eat instead. Avoiding foods that sabotage your weight and your health is far more important than stocking up on the latest fad food.
Focus on throwing out the problem foods and finding the most helpful and appealing substitutes to safeguard your daily diet. The most tempting foods are both unhealthy and addictive, usually a combination of unhealthy fats and carbs. Throw some salt or sugar into the mix, and you’ve got a villainous food that will keep you coming back for more.
Here are 7 common foods to avoid and what to eat instead.
Are These Forbidden Foods? Not Really
Keep in mind that no foods are “forbidden”. It’s like you can’t ever have a handful of chips. But it’s best to decrease or minimize consumption of these foods and find healthier replacements that become your go-to food, even if you occasionally indulge in your unhealthy favorites.
Consider posting a list on your refrigerator that includes your favorite “bad” foods and their most satisfying alternative. Make sure these alternates make it to your grocery list so you can keep them handy. Refer to the list when a craving strikes to help you remember your options.
1. Processed Meats
Ham, bologna, bacon, and similar processed meats are high in calories, unhealthy fats, and salt. For your cardiovascular system, this is a deadly combination. These foods increase cholesterol and blood pressure, making them a cause of heart disease. Processed meats significantly raise your risk of heart disease and death compared to unprocessed chicken or red meat.
And researchers have found evidence of cancer-causing chemicals that form during meat processing, which is why the World Health Organization classifies processed meats as carcinogens.
This is how things stack up nutritionally:
| FOOD | CALORIES | SATURATED FAT | PROTEIN | SODIUM |
| Bacon (cooked) | 501 | 12.6 g | 40.9 g | 1830 mg |
| Hot Dogs | 310 | 11.4 g | 11.7 g | 872 mg |
| Grilled Chicken Breast (skinless) | 151 | 1 g | 30.5 g | 52 mg |
| Tofu (91 g) | 130 | 1.5 g | 14 g | 10 mg |
What to Eat Instead of Processed Meats
Choose lean protein like grilled chicken, turkey, or unprocessed lean red meats. If you haven’t given tofu a try, consider preparing it according to a recipe. Tofu takes on the flavor of what it’s cooked in and is a protein with little saturated fat.
2. Sodas
Soda drinkers will tell you that it’s tough to give up. You probably know soda is unhealthy. Its bad rap comes from its enormous sugar content. Liquids deliver sugar to your bloodstream more quickly and all at once. This dramatically spikes and crashes blood sugar levels, causing a host of problems, including contributing to the onset of diabetes. Soda and other sugary drinks are known to cause weight gain, obesity, type 2 diabetes, cavities, and tooth decay.
The best answer isn’t to switch to diet sodas, because even a no-calorie version isn’t very healthy. While it may be sugar free, researchers have raised red flags about the sugar substitutes contained in diet sodas and the dyes and other chemicals they contain.
It’s best to decrease the amount of soda you drink overall. Again, an occasional diet or regular soda isn’t out of the question. But if it’s a long-standing, daily habit, you should consider avoiding it completely for a while.
What to Drink Instead of Soda
You might be surprised at the number of soda alternatives. Find the ones that satisfy your taste the most.
- Water
- Herbal tea (hot or cold)
- Sparkling water (plain or flavored)
- Water flavor (liquid or powder)
- Fruit-infused water
If it’s the carbonation you crave, find a brand of sparkling water you like best. Generally speaking, the name brands have more “fizz” and can be more satisfying. Experiment with flavors too. Just be sure there is no added sugar or artificial sweeteners.
3. White Bread
It’s tough to toss bread from your diet. Afterall, it’s bread, and in one form or another, has been feeding us for millennia. The problem with “white” bread is the refined flour used to make it. Refined flour has been stripped of its fiber and nutrients during extensive processing. Fiber is healthy and beneficial, but also slows digestion in a good way.
When you eat whole grain bread, carbs are slowly broken down into sugars and gradually released into your bloodstream. This doesn’t spike blood sugar or overwhelm your system. But when you eat white bread (and other highly processed carbs), the refined, fibreless carbs are quickly digested and released all at once as sugar into your bloodstream. In other words, the processed carbs quickly turn to sugar and spike glucose levels.
Quick spikes in blood sugar levels cause weight gain and insulin resistance which can lead to type 2 diabetes.
What to Eat Instead of White Bread
Choose whole-grain bread as much as you can. It’s less processed and still contains much of its original wheat fiber. It also has more vitamins, minerals, and keeps your blood sugar more stable. If you struggle with whole-grain varieties, try different brands. You may find one that works best for you.
4. French Fries
Yes, we love them. It’s that amazing combo of rich fats and tasty salt that keeps us reaching for another bite of goodness. But those fries are hazardous! They’re high in saturated fats, calories, and sodium. While you may occasionally indulge, avoid eating them regularly or often. When you eat fried foods regularly, it can increase your risk of heart disease, obesity, and other chronic health conditions.
What to Eat Instead of Fries
Try oven-baking potato wedges or home-cut fries seasoned with salt and other spices. However you cut the potatoes, make sure they are dry, and then spray with some healthy oil to make them crispy. You can purchase a manual french fry cutter if you prefer fries to wedges.
5. Fast Food Burgers
If you’re concerned about your health, it’s best to avoid fast food. Hamburgers are the quintessential fast item, and American love ‘em. But fast food is typically high in saturated fats, salt, and sugar. And this unhealthy trio contributes to obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
What to Eat Instead of Fast Food Burgers
Skip the drive and find a place where you can grab a salmon burger or bean burger, or a veggie burger. Salmon give you a dose of healthy fats and quality protein, while bean and veggie burgers provide the fiber and nutrients you need without the saturated fat.
6. Donuts
Who doesn’t love a good donut? But sadly, they are a big zero in terms of health. They’re basically empty calories. Donuts are made with highly refined, bleached white flour and contain a mega ton of sugar. Just one donut can spike your blood sugar so high that it leads to a big crash. The combo of saturated fat and sugar leads to weight gain, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
What to Eat Instead of a Donut
Home-baked goods typically have less saturated fat and sugar than what you buy at the store. So, if you’re craving a donut, try baking a muffin or scone instead. This can kill your craving while salvaging your health. And when you bake at home, you choose healthier ingredients like avocado oil and whole grain flour. You can even reduce the sugar or substitute all or part of the sugar with prunes, dates, or applesauce.
7. Alcohol
Alcohol is a complex topic, because not only does it impact health, but also can lead to overuse and dependence. It contains empty calories, which means you get no nutritional value for the calories. It makes it easy to pack on the pounds but doesn’t give your body anything that it needs. (Ever hear the term, “beer belly”.) Health problems can occur with excessive use. But keep in mind that “excessive” refers to more than one or two drinks per day. This kind of alcohol use leads to high blood pressure, heart disease, and even stroke.
What to Drink Instead of Alcohol
You can replace your usual alcoholic drink with options like mocktails, non-alcoholic beer or wine, or sparkling water with fruit. These alternatives keep your liver and pancreas healthy and are lower in calories.
Focus on the Better Alternatives
As you deny yourself your favorite foods and beverages, remember that it’s for a healthier you. And occasional indulgence is perfectly okay, but you don’t want these foods to be part of your everyday life or routine. Choose to eat (or drink) them sparingly. Instead of thinking about what you can’t have, focus on the alternatives you can have. If you regularly consume several items on this list, choose one or two to begin phasing out of your diet. And then continue as you successfully nix foods from your usual diet. Be sure to keep your alternative food and beverage choices on hand.
