5 Foods You Should Stop Eating (and What to Eat Instead)

There are many foods in this world you would have been better off never eating.

This is especially true for junk/processed foods. While undeniably tasty and addicting, most of these foods have detrimental effects on your body.

In addition, they fail to provide your body with the necessary micronutrients to function optimally.

Here are five foods you should consider staying away from.

1. Do Not Eat: Fried Food

Fried food is loaded with fat and calories while offering zero nutritional value. It’s a lose-lose! Sure, fries and chips TASTE good, but healthier items also taste good. Just say no to the deep fried items on your menu. You’ll be thinner, healthier and won’t have greasy fingers.

Try This Instead: Broiled

If you simply must have a French fry, then make them at home in your oven. Use sweet potatoes, as these are a more complex carbohydrate. Cut into matchsticks, drizzle with a tablespoon of olive oil along with a dash of salt, then place in your oven on broil. Turn every five minutes until the fries are tender on the inside and crispy on the outside.

2. Do Not Eat: White Bread

White bread products have minimal nutritional value and are quickly converted by your body into sugar. So you may as well eat a cupcake. Even breads that are technically wheat, but are as soft and smooth as white bread, should be avoided. Don’t be afraid to discard the bread from your sandwich or to push away that bread basket. Your waist will shrink and you’ll lose that bloated feeling that high carbohydrate meals give you.

Try This Instead: Sprouted Grain Bread

If you must have bread, then stick with sprouted. Sprouted grain bread is a lot easier on your digestion and is packed full of nutrients. Two delicious brands are Food For Life’s Ezekiel bread, and Manna Organics. Sprouted grain breads are often kept in the freezer section since they don’t contain preservatives to prolong shelf life.

3. Do Not Eat: Creamy Salad Dressing

You were so good to order a salad, but then canceled out the low-cal benefits by drenching the salad in fattening creamy dressing. Just a few tablespoons of creamy dressing contain more than 20 grams of fat and hundreds of calories.

Try This Instead: Vinegar Dressing

Vinegar-based dressings pack amazing flavor in with minimal fat and calories. You can even mix your own dressing at home. Take high quality vinegar, fresh lemon juice, salt and pepper, your choice of dried herbs, and a bit of olive oil.

4. Do Not Eat: White Sugar

Sugar and high fructose corn syrup are the epitome of anti-fitness food. Nothing will destroy your progress, expand your waist and plummet your energy levels like sugar. If you only take away one do-not-eat food from this slideshow, please let it be sugar.

Try This Instead: Fruit

Don’t turn to artificial sweeteners to get your sweet fix, instead turn to nature’s wholesome source of sugar: fruit. Eat organic fruit that is seasonal and locally grown. Stay away from dried fruit and fruit juices, as these are high in simple calories.

5. Do Not Eat: Frozen Meals

These babies are convenient (Hello, dinner in five minutes or less!) but are often heavily processed and filled with fat and salt. Not only are they stripped of life’s most important nutrients (minerals and phytonutrients) but they’re often time filled with preservatives that are harmful to your body.

Try This Instead: Whole Foods

Instead of going this route, make a big meal (like a yummy soup or stew) at home when you have some downtime, portion it out, and freeze the servings. Frozen fruits and veggies are OK, too, as long as you look for options without added sauces or salt.

The Training Tip That Keeps You Injury Free

Endurance athletes were 5 times more likely to get injured when they avoided this part of their regimen

BY BRIAN DALEK

A regular rest day may be just as important as your long run. Endurance athletes who took less than two days off per week were 5 times more likely to have an overuse injury while training, reports new research from Finland.

In the study, top-level Finnish athletes—from runners to swimmers to cross-country skiiers—tallied their injuries over the course of a year. Along with inadequate rest, overuse injuries in spots like the Achilles tendon, knee, and shoulder sidelined athletes when training volumes eclipsed a massive 700 hours a year.

While you’re not likely training two hours every day, you may be just as susceptive to overuse injuries if you ramp up training too fast. “People often have an end goal in place, and every day of training seems crucial, so you override it,” says Lee Troop, a former Olympic marathoner for Australia and head coach of the Boulder Track Club.

Troop points to himself as an example of overtraining. Heading into the 2004 Athens Olympics, Troop says he ran almost 1,000 straight days, and pushed the envelope too hard. Three weeks before the games, he was drained. “I normally have five gears, but only four gears were working,” he says. Troop placed 27th.

That’s how an overuse injury gets you: Pain and fatigue gradually get worse the more you repetitively exercise the same muscles despite not having anything traumatic—like a rolled ankle—happen. The discomfort can get to the point where you either have to stop training or see a doctor.

Troop advises his beginning athletes to rest two days a week and watch for subtle signs of overtraining. You won’t always feel an oncoming pain while working out because your body is warmed up. But if you’re at work with an aching knee or lower back, consider scheduling a massage or get on a foam roller more often, he says.