Harmful Foods (Essay Sample)

10 FOODS THAT ARE HARMFUL TO YOUR HEALTH
As we eat foods we love I pray that it may enjoy good health and go well with you if not let’s see how some foods we dearly love can be harmful to our health. Knowledge is power and let that power be a change to our eating habits, not only impact on our health but also know other foods are harmful.
Ice-cream the chemicals which make ice-cream are stabilizers emulsifiers, surfactants, artificial flavors, preservatives, buffers and synthetic colors. Ice-cream is addictives and is harmful and some of them even cause cancer. Other addictions are sugar, saturated fat of milk which also further adds to the harmful effects. Most children are comforted with ice-cream, be aware of what it does to your child and to yourself.
Cakes, these are harmful because of white sugar, saturated fat and high cholesterol because of a lot of eggs. Others are jams and jellies, biscuits (cookies) because of white flour, saturated excess fat, deep flying. The margarine or butter used in making the cakes may raise your blood cholesterol levels. Cakes have a very high content of carbohydrates and fats and this make you put weight. Rapid weight increase may lead to obesity and dangers associated with obesity are very dangerous to your health. Also the sugars in cake may increase your glucose level and these in the long run may lead you to become diabetic. Cakes with chocolates and nuts have high serotonin content and so may make you feel excited and happy. This can have a psychological impact of cakes is undesirable since serotonin is stimulated by an external source. Other cakes dyes are used for coloring purposes, this may cause digestion related problems and to some people they even be allergic.
Soft drinks: soft drinks are charged with carbon dioxide, sugar, citric acid (preservatives) coloring agent, flavoring agent, caffeine and baking soda (sodium bicarbonate). All these substances are harmful to your health. Soda contains phosphoric acid, which interfere with the body’s ability to absorb calcium and cavities and bone softening. Phosphoric acid also interferes with stomach acid, slow digestion and blocking nutrient absorption. A single soda contains sugar, this amount of sugar especially in liquid form, increases the blood sugar and causes insulin reaction in the body. Over time gradually can lead to diabetics or insulin resistance, also weight gain and the dangers associated with weight gain. Diet sodas also increase the risk of metabolic syndrome, which causes belly fat, high blood sugar and sometimes raised cholesterol. Because of the high sugar, sodium and caffeine in the sodas it dehydrates the body and over a long period of time can cause chronic dehydration. Drinking sodas regularly causes plaque to build up on the teeth and can lead to cavities and gum disease. Therefore there is no nutritional value in taking sodas whatsoever. Not only are there many harmful effects of soft drinks but they are unnatural substances that harms the body.
Refined cereals: these are most devoid of vitamins, minerals and fibers. They get lost when the outer husks are removed during refining process. Such cereals are white flour or refined flour or grade one flour, white rice or polished rice. The outer husks major source of vitamins, minerals and fibers are extracted during refining process these are harmful due to lack of essential vitamins, minerals and fibers.
Fried foods; these foods includes chips, omelet’s, cutlets chicken meat, steak mutton among others. They cause harm in our body demands, chemical changes in oil and oil formation of harmful chemicals leads to undesirable alteration in chemical composition of oils. The chemical changes are more when the oils are exposed to intense heat during deep frying, formation of trans-fatty acid, loss of nutrients and difficult to digest and delayed stomach empting
Acidic foods: our body is basically alkaline in nature. To maintain alkalinity we need at least 75% foods and 25% acid forming foods. Generally the acids produced by the metabolic activities react with alkalis in the blood thus neutralized. But if the diet is flooded with acid genes foods, the body cannot cope with all the resulting acids and the symptoms of fatigue, headaches, insomnia, nervous tension, hyperacidity begin to appear. Chronic acidity is unhealthy condition and causes faster degeneration and ageing of the body. All the toxic substances in the body are in the form of acids in the body and we must take foods which are alkaline in nature. Alkaline foods include fruits and vegetables, seeds such as sunflower, peas and grains.
Table salt: table salt is an inorganic material and a strong ionic bonded material resists being separated into sodium and chloride ions that are usable by the body. The function of salt in the body is maintenance of red blood cells and helps proteins to dissolve. Our bodies without red blood cells are very harmful. Salt should be taken in measurement for instance, maximum of 5grams for an adult without family history of blood pressure, intake of 2grams per day.
Excess intake of salt stimulates sympathetic nervous system and adrenal glands and creates stress arousal, causes high blood pressure weakening of bones. This is because it robs calcium, affects kidneys, puts a heavy burden on kidneys and hence they may gradually weaken, increase weight, edema, hardening of arteries, increase of uric acid and bronchial and lung problems. However salts in fruits and vegetables is organic in nature and can easily be utilized in the body. Such foods are as follows onion, pumpkins, potato, lemon, lentil (whole) drinking water, Bengal gram, cashew nuts carrots, spinach, guava, apples, peas, egg, and milk among many.
Coffee and tea: coffee and tea are caffeinated drinks and once you are addicted to them you become a slave to them. If you miss its regular consumption for some reason one will experience a headache about 18 hours after his last cup. The pain is likely to become more intense and may persist for a day or days. One may experience dizziness when he/she stands up because of lack of blood flow to the brain, morning fatigue and tiredness, anxiety, anger, depression and diminished concentration and mental fogginess.
The intake o of caffeine during meals interferes with iron absorption, drains energy, increases urine output, and causes calcium loss through excretion of fecal and urinary resulting in calcium deficiency and minerals. This loss may be greatest when caffeine is taken with sugar. It raises cholesterol, hinders assimilation of food in the intestines, robs your body vitamins Bs, has effect on your heart, causes sleep disturbances, have effects on kidney and liver. This is because the kidneys and liver have to overwork in the body of caffeine victim, and these may suffer after sometime. People with kidney and liver disorders are advised to refrain from coffee and tea. Caffeine also aggravat...