Healthy Habits: These Five Foods Are Making You Fat. Stop Eating Them.

I could not get a six pack until I cut these five foods out of my diet. Trust me, I worked really hard to get lean. I have been exercising since I was 13. When I was in my early 20’s, I competed in full contact kickboxing. I trained and worked out so much that I needed 6000 calories/day or I would lose weight, and I still didn't have much of a six pack. Then I stopped eating these five foods, and I got shredded in a few months.

#1 Food That Make Us Fat: Processed (Refined) Sugar

Before buying anything in a box, bag, or bottle, read the label. If sugar is listed in the first 3 ingredients, don’t touch it, it will make you fat guaranteed. Sugar digests almost instantly and goes directly into your bloodstream. Your pancreas responds by secreting massive amounts of insulin into your blood stream. Insulin makes your body to convert the sugar into fat.

The Bottom Line: Eating refined sugar forces your body to store fat. Stop eating it!

Like most super villains, sugar goes by many aliases. Don’t be fooled. All of these will make you fat:

·       Sugar

·       Brown Sugar

·       High Fructose Corn Syrup or Corn Syrup

·       Dextrose (if it ends in "ose" it's bad)

·       Artificial Sweeteners - They don’t contain any calories, but they still trick your pancreas into dumping insulin in your bloodstream which will make you fat.

I LOVE SWEETS.  WHAT CAN I EAT INSTEAD OF SUGAR?

The sugar that occurs naturally in fruit digests much more slowly and won't make you fat. I Personally love honey; it's fantastically sweet and has a low glycemic index.  Another one of my favorites, ripe Mangos have a low glycemic index and taste absolutely decadent. 

GLYCEMIC INDEX: WHAT IS THAT?

The glycemic index measures how quickly carbohydrates digest to sugar. Besides a few exceptions, foods with a high glycemic index will cause a large insulin response and make you fat.

Look up the glycemic index of a food here.  

#2 Food That Make Us Fat: White Flour

This includes white bread, crackers, pasta, and cereals. Read the label.  If “unbleached flour,” “bleached four,” “enriched flour,” or any other type of "flour" is listed in the first 3 ingredients, don’t touch it unless you want to get fat. White flour digests to sugar just as fast as table sugar and produces a similar insulin response.

The Bottom Line: Eating white flour forces your body to store fat. Stop eating it!

But I love bread & pasta!  What can I eat instead?

Best Option: Eat whole rolled oats and brown rice - they are super foods. They are loaded with nutrients and digest slowly giving you a steady supply of nutrition and energy for hours. Bread an is best avoided all together as even 100% whole wheat or 100% whole grain bread still have a relatively high glycemic index, but if you must have bread, crackers, or pasta definitely get the 100% whole grain version.

LOVE MEXICAN FOOD?  CHOOSE THE CORN TORTILLAS

When ordering or cooking Mexican food, always go with the soft corn tortillas.  They are made from coarsely ground corn and have a low glycemic index.  Don’t touch the flour tortillas unless you‘re trying to get fat.

#3 Food That Makes Us Fat: "White" Potatoes

Is the potato white on the inside?  Don't eat it.  Potatoes have an ultra high glycemic index meaning they digest to sugar very quickly and cause an insulin spike. You guessed it:

Eating "white" potatoes forces your body to store fat. Stop eating them!

No Potatoes?  What can I eat instead?

Sweet potatoes and yams are delicious and are another super food. They are bursting with vitamins and minerals and are a very slow digesting carbohydrate. Please don’t put sugar on them, it insults one of nature's most awesome foods (and it will make you fat).

#4 Food That Makes Us Fat: Anything Deep Fried

Most deep fried foods are breaded with white flour, or they are potatoes (french fries).  White flour and potatoes quickly digest to sugar which causes your pancreas to dump insulin in your blood turning your body into a fat storing machine. If that weren't bad enough, the food is also dripping in high calorie saturated fats.

Eating Deep Fried Food turns your body into a fat storing machine while supplying it with gobs of calories to turn into fat.

Eating deep friend food is probably the most effective way to get fat as quickly as possible.  Unless you’re trying to get fat in record time, stay away from it.

But I love French Fries!  What can I eat instead?

Don't deep fry; bake or grill instead.  For a french fry substitute, slice sweet potatoes into fries and bake or grill them.  Brush on some olive oil, sprinkle on some Parmesan cheese, and bon appetite.  These fries are both good for you and delicious.

#5 Food That Makes Us Fat: White Rice

Just like white bread, white rice is another refined grain that digests to sugar very quickly. Eat too much, and you will get fat.

No White Rice?  What do I eat instead?

Why brown rice of course! It’s one of our super foods; it’s delicious, and it’s inexpensive.  I buy my brown rice at Costco, 25 pounds at a time, and I'm single.  That whole bag is for me.  Brown rice is that awesome.

So That's Why Americans Are So Fat...

By now you've probably realized that most Americans eat A LOT of these 5 foods, and this is precisely why 74% of Americans are overweight or obese!  74 percent - that's insane!  If you are part of the 74%, you now know exactly what you are eating that is making you fat and exactly what you need to stop eating to get your normal, healthy body back.

When you stop eating these foods, you will notice that you start losing fat like crazy (it's almost scary).  You will also notice that you can eat A LOT of good unprocessed food (as much as you want, anytime you want), and you will still be losing weight.

Maybe you know these foods are bad for you, but they taste too good, and it's hard to stop eating them.  It's hard to change.  You need an action plan to change your habits.  You need to start small and change progressively because changing everything all at once is extremely difficult.  ​

This article was written by Kurt Boyd, fitness fanatic, and director of Strength Stack 52.  We have recently developed Weight Loss Stack 52, a game that helps you break bad eating habits and replace them with healthy ones.