It’s resolution time again – and the vast majority of us are hoping to eat better, lose weight, and get in shape in the New Year.
Easier said than done. We already know the drill: We certainly know we need to eat lean proteins, heart-healthy “good” fats, rich whole grains, fresh vegetables and fruit as well as drink lots and lots of water.
Related: They May Have Solved the Mystery of Weight Gain
On the flip side, there are specific foods we should stay away from in order to achieve maximum good health.
Last year cheese fries, hot dogs and microwave popcorn made our list of foods to avoid at all costs. This year, The Fiscal Times asked a few experts for their input on foods to fear - and helped us compose our new list for 2015:
Cookies, Candy Bars and Other Foods Made with Refined Sugar
“The health bogeyman of the year is sugar – and for good reason,” said Nina Teicholz, author of the noteworthy 2014 book, The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet.
Sugar is found in the obvious snack foods: cookies, donuts, candy bars and more – and sugar-drenched foods are no-brainers to avoid. But sugar is also added to many other foods, including salad dressings, canned soup and peanut butter – where we forget it’s hiding. So we need to read labels and understand ingredients.
Related: The Big Fat Lie We’ve Been Fed About Our Diet
“For decades we were told that sugar was just ‘empty calories,’ and the American Heart Association even used to recommend that people choose sugary candies like gumdrops as snacks, in order to avoid fatty foods,” said Teicholz, who spent more than eight years researching food and diet issues. “It turns out that sugar, far from benign, is a potent cause of obesity and diabetes if not also heart disease.”
“Sugar is roughly a 50-50 mix of glucose and fructose. Glucose has been far better studied to date, and its damage results mainly from spurring the body to produce insulin, which is the king of all hormones in storing fat. Glucose is therefore efficiently converted into body fat. Insulin circulating chronically in the blood eventually exhausts the body’s ability to process it, which leads to type 2 diabetes.”
As for fructose in sugar, it spikes blood markers such as triglycerides – which raises one’s cardiovascular risks. “Most people don’t realize that the 50-50 mix of glucose and fructose is also found in high-fructose corn syrup, the other major sweetener used in everything from ketchup to soda. Overall, it’s best to avoid both these refined sugars if you aim to lose weight and stay healthy in 2015.”