5 Breakfast Ingredients To Avoid

You should never skip breakfast; doing so can leave you lethargic the entire day. Preparing a healthy breakfast can be hard, though, because of the following five unhealthy ingredients.

1. Sodium nitrate – this ingredient colors, flavors and preserves ham, hotdogs, and bacon. You might want to cross it off your breakfast menu as it has been linked to many forms of cancer.
Tip: use roasted chicken.

2. High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) – this has been identified as a cause of obesity in Americans. HFCS can increase inflammation, oxidative stress and provoke an aggressive insulin response. The liver also reacts to it as though it were a toxin! Despite this, it’s present in syrups used to flavor your daily cuppa.
Tip: try honey.

3. White sugar – consuming surplus sugar leads to excessive insulin release. The result is hypoglycemia, an acute decrease in blood sugar levels that impairs mental and physical capabilities. White sugar is also linked to attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and collagen damage.
Tip: switch to brown or cane sugar.

4. Partially hydrogenated oil – contributes to heart disease and obesity. Avoiding it is challenging as it’s present in breakfast cereals and fast food. It’s important to reduce or eliminate intake as it contains trans-fatty acids that interfere with the ability to learn, and the neurological and visual development of a fetus.

Like HFCS, trans-fats increase inflammation while decreasing immune function. It has also been linked to arthritis, diabetes, liver damage, increased blood pressure, free radical production, osteoporosis, and scarily, cancer.
Tip: try muesli; skip the drive-through run.

5. Refined wheat/rye/barley products – refined foods are stripped of their original nutrients to make them look more “presentable”. The tradeoff is a product that disrupts insulin levels and is poorly tolerated by many people, usually due to the gluten content.

Symptoms of gluten intolerance include stomach upsets, increased nasal and oral mucus, bloating, flatulence, diarrhea followed by constipation, and dermatitis. Gluten intolerance or allergies are different from celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder of the small intestine triggered by gluten.
Tip: consider corn or rice products.

Switching to healthier alternatives can take some time, but the effort is worthwhile when you see the difference it makes to your health.