Home is Where the Heart is…

February flew by! We are just a few days away from starting March. I’m still trying to wrap my head around that. As a final farewell to 2019’s heart month, let’s talk about home. That’s where they say the heart is, right?

Are we bringing foods into our homes that are harmful to our dear hearts? It’s time to reevaluate what we’re bringing home from the grocery store, having delivered or picking up in a drive-thru.

Here are 5 foods you may love but your heart definitely doesn’t:

1. Fast food burgers

I know this hits home for many a junk food lover (my former self included) but this one is a no-brainer.

There are 17 ingredients in just the cheese on a Big Mac. 17!!!!! The longer the list of ingredients, the further away something is from being actual food.

While I used to love McDonald’s growing up, into my college years and as an adult after a night out, I’m still not convinced their burgers are actually beef. I mean have you looked at them lately? The absolutely amazing Impossible Burger made from plants looks more like beef than McDonald’s actual beef. Smh.

Sub-par ingredients + unhealthy cooking methods = a disaster for your heart.

Stay away or consume in extreme moderation if you must.

Side note: To all my people who don’t eat beef, are plant-based, vegan or gluten intolerant, McDonalds fries contain “natural beef flavor,” “hydrolyzed milk” and “hydrolyzed wheat” so you should stay away from those too.

2. Processed meat

Processed meat includes any meat that has been smoked, salted, cured, canned or dried. So that means bacon, hot dogs, sausage, ham, salami, beef jerky, smoked meat, cured meat, corned beef and deli/lunch meat. Eating processed meat is linked to many chronic diseases like high blood pressure, heart disease and COPD. As if that wasn’t enough, The World Health Organization has listed processed meat as carcinogenic to humans. This means that alongside tobacco, processed meat has been identified as causing cancer. The bottom line is that although processed meat might be tasty, it is super unhealthy for you.

3. Sugary drinks

Sugar-sweetened beverages like pop, sports drinks, sweetened tea, energy drinks and fruit juice are the #1 source of calories and added sugar in the American diet. Sugary drinks are a major contributor to the obesity epidemic. The problem with drinking sugar is that it doesn’t make you feel full as it should for the amount of calories you consume.

For example a 12oz can of Coke has 150 calories in it. For 150 calories you could have eaten one of the following:

• 1 3/4 cups of blueberries
• 4 3/4 cups broccoli
• 43 baby carrots
• 49 cherry tomatoes
• 6 1/2 Tbsp of hummus

You would have been way more full consuming any of those things instead of a Coke. But what happens is that you’ll drink those 150 calories in addition to eating food to get full.

Eating more calories than you should = weight gain.

4. Diet Drinks

Don’t get too hype thinking, “Oh, I don’t drink regular Coke. I only drink Coke Zero”. You aren’t faring any better. They might be fat-free and zero calories but diet drinks are definitely not healthy. There is a ton of research that links diet pop to the development of heart-disease risk factors like obesity and diabetes. Studies have shown that people who drink diet pop tend to overcompensate and consume more calories than they normally would. So basically the same effect as drinking regular sugary drinks but with way more chemicals.

5. Fried Foods

I know, I know. Fried food tastes delicious. But anything fried increases your risk of heart disease. Most conventional methods of frying food create trans fats which are a type of fat shown to raise LDL, the bad type of cholesterol. I know it’s tough to stay away from them but try your best to limit eating fried foods as much as possible to keep your heart healthy.

What foods on this list are hardest for you to give up? Which ones are you ready to say goodbye to?