To be able to live a full life that boasts of good health, vitality and lots of energy, we seriously need to control our food choices. They seem innocent – after all isn’t popcorn and meat supposed to be good for you?

But the truth is that many packaged foods we now buy include a lot of artificial chemicals and additives, which can disrupt hormones, lead to weight gain and can also cause cancer, besides many other serious health issues.

So here is a list of 7 foods that you should breakup with and for good!

White Bread

White bread is nothing but simple carbohydrate and lacks in fiber, vitamins and minerals. Once you eat white bread, it is readily digested by the body and gets converted in to calories. And if your lifestyle doesn’t require you to use up those calories instantly, they get converted in to fats.

This holds true for anything made with refined flour – pizza base, burger buns, pita breads etc too. Instead of eating white, choose brown!

Multigrain breads or even whole wheat breads are a far healthier choice. The extra fiber in these makes them digest more slowly, releasing a sustained source of calories to be used up by the body at a slower, more natural pace.

Processed Meats

If you love sausages and salamis and often buy frozen processed meats, here is an eye opener for you. These meats come from animals that are given many drugs – antibiotics and growth hormones included.

They live in filthy conditions and hence are more prone to diseases; and these disease causing parasites they pass on to you, especially because processed meat is usually not cooked but rather eaten raw.

Many of these meats are treated with a chemical called sodium nitrite for both flavor and color, and what you don’t know is that the body breaks down this chemical in to nitrosamines, which have been proven to be carcinogens. Also, deli meats also include PAHs, AGEs and HCAs which have all been linked to cancer as well.

It’s best to opt for lean meat that comes from grass-fed animals, even if it may not be so readily available at grocery stores and slightly more expensive to buy.

Margarine

You have seen advertisements that promote margarine as a ‘healthier’ substitute to butter as it has fewer calories. Don’t be fooled – not only are healthy fats ESSENTIAL for your body as cells are made with fat, these so called ‘fake’ butters include emulsifiers, free radicals, trans fats, and even preservatives.

Together, they increase risk of hormonal imbalances, heart disease, bone problems, cancer, infertility, skin diseases and many other health issues.

Portion control is the key here, because regular butter made from cow’s milk contains healthy conjugated linoleic acid your body needs, even if it may be higher in calories.

Microwave Popcorn

Bags of buttered popcorn are extremely unhealthy as they contain a chemical called as Perfluoroalkyls to keep the butter from leaking through the bag. This terrible chemical disrupts the functioning of the endocrine system and studies have linked it to cancer as well. So say No to packaged microwave popcorn and buy fresh popcorn that you can air-pop on your own. Add real butter if you want

These also increase risk to diseases like thyroid malfunctioning, immunological issues, infertility and cancerous tumors.  And if that wasn’t enough, the butter flavoring used in most popcorn brands includes Diacetyl, which affects optimum lung functioning.

Canned Tomatoes

These might make it easier to whip up an instant red sauce, but tin cans containing canned tomatoes have a chemical resin lining that is made with a synthetic estrogen named Bisphenol-A or BPA. Now BPA is extremely toxic – it can increase potential risk to health issues like Diabetes, Heart diseases and Obesity. Especially if you are young and within the child bearing age, you should know that BPA can damage eggs, cause chromosomal disorders and can even reduce sperm production.

So if you want to be a parent someday, choose to blanch tomatoes over the weekend and keep them in a box stored in the fridge to make a quick red sauce on weekdays, or buy tomatoes that come in glass bottles and not cans.

White Chocolates

Unlike dark chocolate that comes with many nutritional benefits, the health profile of white chocolate is blank. It’s just pure calories, too much sugar, and not much else. Instead, opt for dark chocolate that comes loaded with phytonutrients that can boost mental health, promote heart health and also protect the blood vessels.

They are advertised to have Zero calories and yet possess a very sweet taste, and that is primarily why more and more people use them regularly. In reality, these are artificial chemicals which will not help you lose weight in the long run, but rather make you gain weight.

Sadly, most of the weight gained is around the tummy area, and this increases risk factor for diseases like Diabetes, Hypertension, Stroke and many other heart diseases.

Give it up – these are nonorganic and unnatural and in all earnestness, even regular full calorie sugar is better than artificial sweeteners. However, if you are on a diet, try honey, molasses and maple syrup for sweetening tea, coffee and even occasional desserts.