1. Crackers, chips, and store-bought pastries and baked goods
Muffins, doughnuts, chips, crackers, and many other baked goods are high in trans fats, which are hydrogenated oils popular with commercial bakeries because they stay solid at room temperature, so the products don't require refrigeration. Also listed on labels as "partially hydrogenated" or hydrogenated oils, trans fats are found in all kinds of snack foods, frozen foods, and baked goods, including salad dressings, microwave popcorn, stuffing mixes, frozen tater tots and French fries, cake mixes, and whipped toppings. They're also what makes margarine stay in a solid cube. The worst offenders are fried fast foods such as onion rings, French fries, and fried chicken.
2. Smoked and processed meats
Whether your weakness is pastrami, sausage, hot dogs, bacon, or a smoked turkey sandwich, the word from the experts is: Watch out.
3. Diet soda
Although replacing sugary drinks with diet soda seems like a smart solution for keeping weight down -- a heart-healthy goal -- it turns out diet soda is likely a major bad guy when it comes to stroke.
4. Red meat-- I cut red meat out a while back...only on occasion if I am eating out will I indulge
This winter, when the respected journal Stroke published a study showing that women who consumed a large portion of red meat each day had a 42-percent higher incidence of stroke, it got nutrition experts talking. The information that red meat, with its high saturated fat content, isn't healthy for those looking to prevent heart disease and stroke wasn't exactly news. But the percentage increase (almost 50 percent!) was both startling and solid; the researchers arrived at their finding after following 35,000 Swedish women for ten years.
5. Canned soup and prepared foods
Whether it's canned soup, canned spaghetti, or healthy-sounding frozen dinners, prepared foods and mixes rely on sodium to increase flavor and make processed foods taste fresher. Canned soup is cited by nutritionists as the worst offender; one can of canned chicken noodle soup contains more than 1,100 mg of sodium, while many other varieties, from clam chowder to simple tomato, have between 450 and 800 mg per serving. Compare that to the American Heart and Stroke Association's recommendation of less than1,500 mg of sodium daily and you'll see the problem. In fact, a nutritionist-led campaign, the National Salt Reduction Initiative, calls on food companies to reduce the salt content in canned soup and other products by 20 percent in the next two years.
sighs.........
So after reading this list, I wasn't too surprised, considering I am still eating as clean as possible (when possible). It did reinforce my plan to stay on track, and I am not going to lie, it has been hard lately. Especially since I have gone back to my old work place, and unfortunately with old places sometimes bad habits resurface. For instance, the university I work at has a SCRUMPTIOUS chicken eatery at the entrance of the campus. Since I know I still have that "2 piece and biscuit" spirit <Shame the devil!>, I make it a point to go ALL the way around the university so that I won't have to pass by the sign, because once I see the sign and then the specials...it is a wrap from there! Before I know it the next voice I will hear is "Welcome to Frenchy's can I take your order" LOL Help me Lord!No seriously, this list did bring to surface a couple of other issues for me as well. I thought about my deceased mother. You see right before having her first heart attack she was eating Long John Silvers which is full of TRANS FAT and HYDROGENATED OILS. Then when I think back to the life ending stroke that she had, I recall her last meal we had which was being Timmy Chans. Again, inferior food made with inferior ingredients. This inspires me to keep going and to continue to pass up the brightly lit chicken eatery signs <TUESDAY SPECIALS INCLUDED> and opt for my own backed chicken or what ever else I have a taste for, but the key is that I cook it MYSELF with the healthy ingredients.
P.S. The title is just that, a title. I can not honestly say that I have had my VERY last 2 piece just yet, although I don't eat it as often. Keep praying for me, hear?!
Eating To LIVE and not the other way around.
