Foods to Avoid Alert!

5 Foods You Need to Stop Eating Now

If you want to live longer and healthier, it could be
as simple as changing your diet. And in this case, it's
not so much what you eat as what you don't eat that
is most important.

Columbia University cardiologist Dr. Mehmet Oz,
co-author of "You: The Owner's Manual," told Oprah
Winfrey on a recent show that learning to read food
labels is like looking at a prescription for your health
and your life.

These are the red-flag ingredients. If you see any of
these listed on food packaging, STOP! Do not eat it.

1. Sugar

Sugar--be it in food or drinks--gives you a
sudden boost of energy that is quickly followed by
an insulin surge that causes your blood sugar level
to plummet.

The result? Two hours after eating, you feel famished
and even tired. Replace simple carbohydrates, such
as white bread or cookies, with complex carbohydrates,
such as whole grains or fruit. "Sugar is supposed to
be eaten, of course," Oz told Oprah, "but it should
come together with fat or some element like fiber--as
you would find in fruit--so you can absorb it a bit more
slowly."

2. High fructose corn syrup

This additive makes food tastes sweet, but it doesn't
work like natural cane or beet sugar. It actually affects
your body's normal ability to control your appetite.
"It blocks the ability of a chemical called leptin, which
is the way your fat tells your brain it's there," Oz
explained to Oprah. "It's not so much the 150 calories
in the soda pop--it's the fact at that same meal you will
normally consume an extra hundred calories of food than
you would have."

3. White flour (also called enriched wheat flour)

Even though white flour is "enriched," don't be fooled. It's
enriched because most of its healthy nutrients were
destroyed when it was refined. The enrichment process
puts some of those nutrients back in. "The reason
they enrich it is because they already stripped out
anything that was worth a darn in it, and they add
a little bit back so it doesn't look so bad," says Oz.
Instead, look for products made with whole grains
and whole grain flours.

4. Saturated fat

When saturated fats, which are found
primarily in animal products, are placed at room
temperature, they become solid--like lard. While
it's great to use as furniture polish and even lotion
for your skin, you don't want to eat it. Think what
it will do to your arteries!

5. Hydrogenated oil

When oil is hydrogenated it turns
into a solid at room temperature, allowing for a longer
shelf life. Basically, it won't go bad. But that makes
the oil unhealthy to eat. Products that contain
hydrogenated oil are labeled as "trans fats."
What can you eat? Dr. Oz encourages you to cook
with healthy oils, such as olive, sesame seed, flaxseed,
grape seed and canola. The best foods you can eat are
garlic, tomato sauce, spinach, raw nuts and pomegranates.