When planning a healthy meal, you might be surprised to learn that you should avoid wheat, corn, and soy. It turns out that our bodies weren’t meant to process the large amounts of wheat, soy, and corn that many people ingest on a daily basis.
In his book, In Defence of Food: The Myth of Nutrition and the Pleasures of Eating, author Michael Pollan states that most people take in about 60 percent of their calories from these unhealthy foods, as opposed to the one-to-five percent that we should be aiming for.
Wheat
While it’s a main food ingredient used all over the world, wheat can actually cause health problems. A simple piece of bread contains a number of chemicals and wheat derivatives that can cause a host of problems in people who eat it.
The main problem with wheat is something you’ve likely already heard about: gluten. Many people are actually gluten intolerant and this intolerance can lead to all sorts of problems, including digestive problems, joint pain, and even extra weight gain and inflammation.
Beyond gluten, there’s also concern over other components of wheat that can cause problems when eaten. One example is starch. Thanks to the starches in modified wheat, two slices of whole bread can raise a person’s blood sugar more than two tablespoons of sugar. Basically, eating bread can put you on a path towards diabetes.
Digesting wheat can also produce exorphins, a sort of hunger-based endorphin that increases appetite and makes you hungry for more. Obviously, this is less-than-ideal for the weight-conscious.
Soy
Though marketed as a healthy alternative to many other foods, soy itself might actually be bad for you. Some soy products contain chemicals call phyto-estrogens, which signal your body to store extra fat, leading to weight gain. While soy is often cited as a great food to lower cancer risks, it can cause problems the thyroid, digestive, and reproductive systems in the human body.