5 White Poisons That You Should Start Avoiding Immediately

The key to good health lies in eating less, exercising more, and most importantly in good nutrition. Not only does this involve incorporating healthy foods in the diet, but also in eliminating a few harmful ones too.

Keeping that in mind, begin by reducing the intake of white harmful food.

5 white foods which can harm your body if not taken in proper consideration-

• Sugar
• Salt
• White flour (Maida)
• White rice
• White potatoes

#1 SUGAR

Sugar contains no essential nutrients and is one of the worst ingredients in your diet. It is high in calories and is present in almost every processed food (Tamasic food).

Why Sugar Is Called White Poison?

It is the leading cause of obesity and type 2 diabetes. The high fructose level of sugar can affect your liver. Not just that, sugar immobilizes the immune system, making one prone to illness and disease.

Processed items high in sugar like soft drinks, mocktails & cocktails, ketchups, biscuits, ice-cream, chocolates, desserts should be avoided if you are targeting a healthier diet.

Tip:

Check for hidden sugar sources on the food label. Sugar may be mentioned on the labels by different names like malt sugar, invert sugar, honey, jaggery or terms ending with ‘ose’ (maltose, dextrose, glucose, sucrose, and fructose), or corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup.

You may also like: Palm sugar- Nature's Alternative Sweetner

#2 SALT

Food without salt doesn’t taste good at all. You might never want to eat tasteless food. Some foods may not taste salty, but they are actually loaded with salt. They contain other ingredients that balance the taste. However, excess salt is associated with numerous health hazards.

Why to avoid salt?

Not only does salt contribute to water retention and bloating, it also causes an imbalance in the blood pressure. Salty dishes contribute to impairment of kidney function, resulting in less water and toxins to be expelled from the body. Excessive intake of salt can also affect your bones, thus causing bone thinning.

High sodium foods like ready to eat foods, papads, pickles, sauces, chips, salted biscuits, cheese and salted butter have the highest salt content.

Tip:

Read the food labels to catch sodium in the form of preservatives like sodium benzoate, monosodium glutamate, baking powder and baking soda.

You may also like: Low sodium salt substitutes. Are they safe?

#3 WHITE FLOUR (MAIDA)

White flour is highly refined and acts more or less like sugar in the body. It is digested almost immediately and contributes to sugar spikes in the body.

Why to avoid white flour?

Foods made with a high proportion of white flour like bread, pasta, pizzas and puffs are associated with health risks that are-

• Obesity
• Constipation
• Type 2 Diabetes

The refining process of white flour eradicates all of its nutrients, so it does not offer any additional nutritional benefits. Moreover, white flour is also bleached using highly toxic chlorine bleach, which creates toxic chemicals that destroy the insulin producing cells of the pancreas.

Tip:

To make sure a food is made with whole grains, look on the food label for words like "whole grain".

#4 WHITE RICE

If you are a rice lover, it might break your heart looking at this grain in this list. No doubt, rice is rich in minerals, vitamins and iron but it’s high glycemic index (effect on blood sugar levels) and heavy carbohydrate content make it a villain in the healthy lifestyle. Brown rice is a good alternative as it has fewer calories.

Why to avoid white rice?

High glycemic index leads to diabetes and the starch content in rice (specially white rice) doesn’t break easily which is a big trouble for heart patients and weight watchers. Rice can also contain arsenic, which may increase the risk of cancer and strokes. Arsenic is bad for health as it has a negative effect on nerves and brain functionality.

Tip:

Choose a healthier variety of rice in antioxidants like brown rice (whole grain), red rice, black rice or wild rice over white rice.

You may also like: Why choose brown rice over white rice?

#5 WHITE POTATOES

Potatoes are a rich source of fiber and also contain healthy minerals,  nutrients and high quality protein. Despite these benefits, they are categorized harmful if over consumed.

Why to avoid white potatoes?

They get converted to glucose and increase the sugar and insulin levels in the blood. They also contain glycoalkaloids that disturb the digestive system, cause gut inflammation and lead to joint pain in some people.

Tip:

Instead of eating white potatoes, one should consider healthy alternatives like red potatoes, russet baked potatoes and corn baked potatoes.

Wrapping it up…

You might not be able to eliminate these 5 ‘White Poisons’ from your diet initially and it may seem particularly hard in the beginning. But believe it or not, once you actually go about doing it, you will never look back or regret your decision. You can try other delicious things instead and consult nutritionists and dietitians at The Wellness Corner to help you plan personalized, healthy plus delicious diet plans.

What you eat matters. Find millions of items from the food database on The Wellness Corner app and let the AI-enabled platform give you instant insights on your macronutrient breakdown and calories. Log your meals, save them if the intake is regular, analyze the findings and alter your ideal diet accordingly.