1. The Impossible Burger—and Any Other Highly Processed Meal Replacer
“The food you should avoid is anything that you can’t imagine growing and that your great-great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize,” says Natalie Forester, RDN. “If there’s a packaged product you want to consume, first check the ingredients and ask yourself, can I imagine this ingredient growing? Then ask your ever-so-wise great-great-grandmother’s spirit if she knows what each ingredient is—and move forward from there.”
As an example, Forester highlights the Impossible Burger. “Would it pass the test? No, no it would not. As a matter of fact, let’s go ahead and add the meal replacement, Soylent, to this list. We should be working with the body versus tricking the body, shall we?” Well-stated.
2. Packaged Cookies, Pies, Pastries, and Biscuits
They may be convenient and tasty, but stick to the homemade variety. Why? According to Mia Syn, MS, RDN, it’s likely that these grocery store delicacies contain trans fats. “They’re added to help prolong shelf life and enhance taste and texture of products in a cost-effective way by manufacturers,” she explains. “There is no safe level of trans fat consumption because it can increase your risk of many chronic diseases such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes.”1 This is why they’re technically banned in the United States and many other countries. However, it is important to note that even if a package lists 0 grams of trans fat, it is not always the case. In the U.S., if a food has less than 0.5 grams of trans fat in a serving, the food label can read 0 grams trans fat. Therefore, it is important to recognize and avoid foods that may contain it regardless.