The Top 3 Foods Women Should Avoid for Better Health

Our culture is rife with fad diets and quick solutions that promise the best body. While some advice can be helpful, there are often many vital aspects of health that are overlooked. There are a whole host of different diets, but too often, people forget that some items are consistently bad for your health.

Here you will learn about 3 foods that can be detrimental to women’s health.

Wheat

When you have a gluten intolerance, your body attacks it. Gluten produces a molecule structure called gliadin (which is found in gluten), and when it breaches the gut barrier, it is attacked.

This gluten intolerance affects your health because gliadin stimulates thyroid tissue and causes confusion in the body, resulting in the body not only attacking gliadin, but also your thyroid.

It can be hard to determine gluten sensitivity or intolerance, so it is recommended that individuals cut out gluten altogether. Some individuals support the idea of an 80/20 rule, where you cut gluten out of 80% of your diet.  This approach is not effective because when you eat gluten, it can stay in your system for as long as 6 months.

Gluten impacts your thyroid substantially if you have a sensitivity to gluten. This is especially true for individuals with Hashimoto’s Disease (a hypothyroid autoimmune condition that can lead to weight gain). Many symptoms of gluten intolerance go undiagnosed, including joint pain, bowel issues, fatigue, skin irritation, and anxiety.

Although it is suggested to eliminate gluten altogether for better health, many people struggle with the implementation. If you aren’t quite ready to give up gluten, perhaps go to a well-respected medical provider for testing.

When you review your labs, you will be able to better determine your body’s strengths and weaknesses, and hopefully be able to ascertain if your body can effectively process gluten.

Soda (Including Diet)

It is well known that in order to be healthy and maintain a healthy weight, you shouldn’t drink your calories. Many individuals love soda, however, either due to the taste, the way it stimulates blood sugar levels or the positive effects of caffeine. Unfortunately, soda’s high volume of sugar contributes to weight gain, diabetes, and poor cardiovascular health.

Soda’s impact on your weight is just the start of the problems it creates. It has also been found that the phosphoric acid in soda makes it more difficult to absorb calcium. This negatively affects your bones, increasing the potential for osteoporosis.

In order to combat the negative effects of the high sugar content in soda, many have turned to diet sodas. Diet sodas are considered to be even worse than regular sodas. The sweetener that is used in diet sodas is called aspartame.

Aspartame has been linked to a variety of negative health outcomes including cancer, epilepsy, poor eyesight, premature birth, and even an increased risk of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Alcohol

The CDC has done extensive research on alcohol and its negative effect on the body. Through their research, they discovered that alcohol has an even bigger negative impact on women than on men.

Not only do women have a higher intolerance for alcohol, but they also have an increased risk of liver disease, shrinking of the brain and cognitive function, increased risk of heart damage, a 40% increase in cancer, and are at greater risk for sexual violence.

All of these negative effects are bad, but nothing compares to the impact alcohol has on a developing fetus. There is no safe amount of alcohol found for pregnant women. Armed with this knowledge, it is pretty evident that alcohol consumption leads to an overall poor health outlook.

Conclusion

In addition to these three foods, there are obviously a host of other foods that can be detrimental to a woman’s health. By eliminating these three, however, you can create a positive impact on your life in a very immediate way.

Although the negative impact these foods have on the health of women is very obvious and quantifiable, it is still difficult for many women to completely give them up.