TGtB Recommends - Foods to Avoid

Eating healthy starts in the supermarket. What you put in your shopping trolley will effect how well you perform during a workout and whether or not you stick to your diet.

So leave the sodium, fat, and sugar-filled junk food on shelves, and start bringing home fruits, vegetables, and foods that are full of nutients and fibre.

Allthough most foods are fine in moderation, we run down some of the most unhealthy culrpits lurking in your kitchen cupboards:

1. Pork scratchings

Heavy and hard, we're talking fatty pig skin deep fried and then doused in salt. If you're lucky you might even get one sporting a few hairs; pig hair is usually removed by quickly burning the skin before it is cut into pieces and cooked in the hot fat. Yum!

2. Cheesy Fries

Fries feature as a bad food on their own, but taking a plate of fried potato and layering it in cheese, well, that takes them up a notch in the bad food stakes. Cheese typically contains over 10 times as much saturated fat as fish and white meat and coupled with deep fried carbs, a serving of cheesy chips can be pretty bad.

3. Fizzy Drinks

Pop and soda are bad, mainly because they pack massive amounts of calories, so you're adding to your daily calorie quota and getting little nutritional value in return. Studies have also linked fizzy drink consumption to osteoporosis, tooth decay and heart disease. And diet drinks are not recommended either, granted they are lower in calories, but they contribute to dental erosion due to the acidic bubbles in the drink.

4. Coloured Alcopops

Alcopops are again big calorie culprits as they're packed with sugar and calorific alcohol. Plus they're full of colours and flavourings that all contribute to making them a pretty toxic tipple. The brighter the colour of the alcopop, potentially the worse it is for you. Instead opt for clear spirits with soda, tonic or fruit juice and steer clear of the technicolour stuff.

5. Doughnuts

If there's one food that epitomises 21st century junk food, it's the doughnut. Coated, filled, glazed, sugared, jam crammed or plain old ring, they are not great for your body. And it's not only the refined flour, refined sugar and then the frying in the refined oil that makes them bad for you. Doughnuts will upset blood-sugar balance and give a quick high followed by a 'crash and burn' low, then you guessed it, you're hungry again and reaching for another one — that's why they generally come in boxes of 10!

6. Frosted Breakfast Cereals

If you’re reaching for the sugar coated corn flakes then a sugar overload is well on its way! So let’s rule it out for breakfast and snacking too. Instead get some protein down you instead.

7. Crisps

Some potato snacks are so unhealthy that they can’t even be called crisps so avoid the tubes of potato slices with all your might. Heavily seasoned and flavoured crisps may taste good but with no nutritional value and benefit on the body so if the crisps are a fix you can’t miss make a grab for the old faithful finger linking hoops they are our best in class!

8. Cheese Slices

Poor quality and processed it’s not what you would want to power your body into 2013 so cut out the unnecessary calories and clean up your pallet with salad to add depth to your lunch.

9. Party Food

Pork Pies & Sausage Rolls might be easy to prepare but with poor quality meat and the outer casing the only party your be heading too is a wake. The grease is never a good sign all over you fingers and it’s likely to clog up your insides.

10. Sweets

Sugar isn’t enough for some addicts so throw some gelatine in there, it’s derived from collagen obtained from various animal by-products. It is commonly used as a gelling agent in food so if you’re a vegetarian you may want to consider your pick’n’mix choices.

11. Take Aways

Well we know you can’t live on them but if it features in next year’s weekly food plan regularly then your habits might not of improved that much. We often get asked “what should I eat instead?” If you must have a takeaway, a Chicken Skewer with peppers and salad is probably the best choice.

12. Chocolate Spread

Sugar loaded sandwiches are not going to help your kids packed lunch. They will have a rumbling tummy soon after and a sugar rush, so be careful. Get some protein in at lunchtime and stabilise the energy in the afternoon.