UNHEALTHY FOODS THAT WE CONSUME REGULARLY

Most of us are familiar with the saying; “one man’s meat is another man’s poison” but what if I told you that there are foods we eat frequently that are quite toxic to us?

Here are some foods that we eat regularly but are toxic and occasionally fatal to us.

FRUIT JUICES

I know that most of you are asking yourself how fruit juice made it up the list.

“I thought most, if not all the fruits processed into juices are healthy for the body?”, Some of you are asking.

Well, the fruits that are processed into juices are healthy but their juices are not. This is because most fruits contain a compound known as fructose that causes the brain to switch into an eating frenzy mode, making us overeat to quench our appetite whenever we consume fruit juices.

This overeating caused by fruit juices can lead to obesity and other health-related risks and in worst-case scenarios, death.

The fruits however solve this “fructose” problem with their fiber, as it helps to fill you up while you enjoy the juice of the fruit.

So when you want the goodness of any fruit in a fluid form, a smoothie should be your best bet as it still contains the fruit’s fiber, not juices.

The next on the list is;

SODA

We might be conversant with the detrimental effects of consuming a lot of soda drinks but not enough to cut our consumption of the sweet fizzy drink, so let me help you with more…

The high quantity of sugars in these drinks has been reported to cause cell damage and recent studies have shown that excessive drinking of soda can cause a change in our telomeres; the part of our chromosomes responsible for aging.

This means that excessive drinking of soda makes us look older than we are and subsequent uncontrolled consumption of soda might prove fatal in the long run.

Also, diet soda drinks are not of any help either.

This is because although they don’t contain as many calories as their ordinary counterparts, they trick our brains into thinking that we have just consumed sugar, leading to overeating as in the case of fruit juices.

The blows have been thrown toward the drinks section since the beginning of this article.

Let’s take our fight into the kitchen and talk about;

NUTMEG

Yh, you heard that right.

Nutmeg contains a substance called myristicin that affects the central nervous system, causing vomiting, hallucinations, and in extreme cases, death.

When this myristicin is absorbed by the body, it causes the body to produce a protein called cytochrome-C and this protein causes cell death.

When present in large quantities, cytochrome-C leads to organ failure and eventually death.

So while many food recipes require minute quantities of this spice, a teaspoon is enough to cause the effects of myristicin and two spoons could spell a “spicy” doom for its consumer.

I’m shaking a lot of tables in this article but you’ll be fine as long as you abide by the rules.

Still in the kitchen, we have;

PASTA/RICE

Contained in raw rice and pasta are the spores of a bacteria called Bacillus cereus.

This bacteria can survive the cooking process and will develop into bacteria when cooked rice or pasta is left to stand for some hours at room temperature.

These bacteria multiply and secrete a toxin called enterotoxin which attacks organs and can cause liver failure when ingested.

Note that these toxins can’t be eliminated by reheating or recooking the already infected food and these bacteria can even survive the sub-zero temperatures of a freezer.

Your best bet against this bacteria is to eat your pasta/rice once cooked or immediately dump the leftovers into the freezer to prevent the spores from developing.

Because of time and space constraints, I’ll talk about one more food but before I do that, I want to ask…

Have you experienced any of the side effects of the foods mentioned here?

If you have, please share your experience in the comments section below.

Our last food on this list is;

EGG

Now you may argue that eggs contain a lot of vitamins and beneficial nutrients but in the mix of all these vitamins and nutrients is one compound that in large quantities is very bad for the heart – cholesterol.

Cholesterol is needed in cell development but when in large quantities, it clogs blood vessels and increases the risk of heart disease.

The immense benefits of nutrients in eggs haven’t gone unnoticed by health experts and nutritionists but because of its high cholesterol content, they advise that only a maximum of seven eggs be consumed weekly.

Adding to the problems of eggs is salmonella; a bacteria responsible for severe food poisoning.

This bacteria can be found in raw and undercooked eggs so when next you want to slurp your egg raw or eat your eggs softly boiled, remember that you stand a chance of getting food poisoning.

I promised that I would end this article after exposing the health hazard of eggs but there is one more set of food that is known to cause depression and sadness and I’d like to talk about it for a short while.

It is;

FAST FOODS

The sweet and highly addictive nature of fast foods makes the brains of its consumers secrete dopamine; the “feel-good” hormone.

When fast foods are eaten regularly, it causes the brain to develop tolerance to the effects of dopamine.

This means that fast food eaters would have to consume larger amounts of fast food to get the same level of dopamine release they had before and when this much fast food is not available, it makes the consumer unhappy and can lead to depression.

This alongside the conventional cons of consuming fast food is enough reason why everyone should cut down on their fast food consumption levels.

We have come to the end of this enlightening and quite bizarre compilation.

Which food discovery stunned you the most? Let’s know in the comments section below.

Also, don’t forget to like this post if you enjoyed it, and stick to this space for other “enlightening” posts like this, alongside other helpful and educational content.

See you later, and have a “healthy” day.