The 5 "Dead" Foods

There are 5 major "dead" foods that fuel the major diseases and health problems, including high blood pressure, obesity, chronic fatigue, Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, cancer, arthritis, osteoporosis, and other systemic diseases.

When consumed in excess with a sedentary lifestyle, these "dead" foods turn the body acidic, cause inflammation, and slowly damage or kill the body’s cells and create biochemical, neurochemical and hormonal imbalances that trigger unhealthy food cravings.

These chemical imbalances, in turn, devastate your health physically, biochemically, hormonally, emotionally and spiritually. Over a period of years, the body breaks down and becomes susceptible to the aforementioned major diseases and health problems.

 

You must avoid these foods if you want to live a healthier life with less financial woes.

If you're diabetic or overweight, you need to avoid most of these foods like the plague -- unless you like being diabetic, fat and taking a lot of drugs.

For those of you who are familiar with superior nutrition, there should be no surprises with the following list.

1: Refined flour, starches includes all foods made with refined flour or starch such as white bread, enriched bread, wheat bread, white pasta, white potatoes, white rice,  macaroni, cereals, crackers, donuts, pancakes, pastries, biscuits, spaghetti, cakes, pies, and other processed flour-based starchy foods.

Warning: Avoid potatoes, corn, and soybeans, which are the most common genetically-modified (GMO) foods. Other common GMO-foods to avoid include canola oil, vegetable oils, margarine (cottonseed oil), cereals, sugar beets, farmed salmon, other farmed fish, cow's milk, baby formula, and artificial sweeteners (i.e. aspartame). Unfortunately, many processed foods and some restaurant foods are now GMOs, so be careful.

2: Refined sugar includes all foods made with high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, refined sugar, sucrose, maltose, dextrose, brown sugar, artificial sweeteners, and processed honey.

Some examples of sugar-based foods/beverages include soda, diet soda, bottled juice, soft drinks, candy, jams, jellies, cookies, cakes, pies, pastries, some cereals, and some condiments. Stay way from artificial sweeteners such as aspartame and Splenda!

3: Trans fats include all processed foods made with partially hydrogenated oil, such as stick margarines, French fries, bread, potato chips, pretzels, cookies, fried foods, donuts, crackers, store-bought baked goods, packaged foods, and fast foods.

The process of creating hydrogenated oil destroys the essential fatty acids in the oil and replaces them with deformed trans fatty acids.

4: Saturated fats, which are solid at room temperature, are found in animal meat, organ meats, processed meats, lunch meats, fried foods and some dairy products (cow’s milk,
cheese, butter, and ice cream).

Saturated fats are also found in coconut oil, palm oil and other tropical oils. Some of the Omega-6 poly-unsaturated fats in vegetable oils such as soybean, corn, sunflower and safflower can also be destructive to your health. In addition, canola oil is also unhealthy for you.
Note: Not all saturated fats are unhealthy for you, i..e. extra virgin coconut oil, free-range chicken breast, venison, bison.

5: Drugs include alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, over-the-counter (OTC) drugs, prescription drugs, and recreational drugs. Prescription drugs don't cure anything! They give you a false sense of security as the disease spreads causing more damage, and leading to even more drugs!

Author's Sidebar: The terms "live" and "dead" may sound a little melodramatic, but I believe that they get the point across without having to explain the rationale of each term in detail. In addition, I found these terms to be very effective in making specific points during my lectures and workshops. Also, these terms tie nicely into the book’s title and the photograph on the front cover of the book.

“Live” food (pronounced l i v e as in "I'm alive") helps the body to heal, fight disease and stay alive. “Live” foods are primarily raw, unprocessed, lightly-cooked or partially processed foods that contain most of the seven nutrient factors. The term “live” does not necessarily mean that the food is alive, but it does contain the nutrients that keep the body alive. Coincidentally, these foods are connected with the prevention and reversal of many of the major systemic diseases and ailments.

“Dead” food inhibits the body from healing and leads to disease and early death. “Dead” food is man-made, processed food that lacks most of the seven nutrient factors. Coincidentally, these foods, along with a sedentary lifestyle, are connected with the development of many of the major systemic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

Author's Note: During my recovery, I had come up with a list of about 100 foods and beverages that I had to avoid. Then, based on common attributes, I was able to fit these foods into several categories that I eventually reduced to the above 5 groups.

Note: There is a subset of these 5 "dead" foods that fuels diabetes and heart disease faster than other typical "dead" foods. I refer to these foods as "The Triple-Killers".

Note: For a complete list of "dead" foods (and "live" foods), refer to Chapters 5 and 6 of the Death to Diabetes book.

Website Reference: Death to Diabetes Web Page: The 5 Dead Foods