We all know at this point that the best kind of regular diet is one that is filled with fresh ingredients and balanced nutrition. That’s no surprise to anyone in 2018, but what be surprising is just how much processed food you eat without really even thinking about it. Processed foods are absolutely everywhere these days, and too many of them in your diet can be the cause of things like weight gain and more serious health problems down the line. Here are fifteen signs that you might be eating too much processed food.
This is a classic sign that you are overloading your body with sodium, something that is extremely abundant in most packaged foods.
Another consequence of excess salt intake is bloating and water retention, pooling in your hands, ankles, and feet.
Salty foods pull water from your cells, and the more dehydrated your body is, the more likely you are to experience headaches.
Simple sugars in processed foods will cause your blood sugar to spike and then subsequently crash, which means that you will go through periods of extreme tiredness in the day.
The unstable energy flows that processed foods provides can start to cause mood swings, which might leave you feeling low a lot of the time.
Even if you have cut back on your food, if the bulk of it is still processed, there won’t be enough nutrients in it to affect good weight loss.
Foods packed with simple carbs and sugar and always going to be bad for your teeth, you’ve probably got more than one processed food-induced cavity.
Processed foods lack the calcium and vitamins of their fresh alternatives, which can in some cases lead to having much more brittle bones than you should.
The high sugar content of processed foods can lead in many cases to skin outbreaks and minor to major irritations.
Processed foods might be easier to prepare, but they are also much more expensive. You can cut your grocery bill drastically if you incorporate more fresh ingredients.
If your doctor has told you that you have high cholesterol, it’s a pretty big indicator that you are eating too many processed foods high in trans fats.
Similarly, the added sugars in processed carbs particularly can raise your glucose levels.
Your hair might be thinning because you are not eating enough fresh foods that contain beneficial omega 3 fatty acids.
You might be experiencing drastic mood swings, just because you are not eating foods that help to sustain you.
Genes play a big role in cellulite, but water retention through excess sodium can also have the same dimpled effect on your body.