We’ve all heard the expression, “You are what you eat.” But most people don’t want to be made of synthetically processed chemicals. Let’s take a closer look at the most common foods that make you gain weight and age, and replace them with Beauty Foods that will make you look and feel your best!
Foods To Avoid That Cause Aging & Weight Gain
Sadly, certain foods stumble into positions they don’t deserve. Positions that place them front and center as health foods and good on-the-go choices. These are the foods that are making you gain weight and destroying your skin.
#1 Most Common Food To Avoid – Soy Milk
Most soy products in the US are GMO and are heavily sprayed with pesticides. In addition, eating too much soy can contribute to digestive problems and can affect the health of your thyroid.
The phytoestrogens in soy can also disrupt the endocrine system, wreaking havoc on your hormones. Hormone trouble alone can cause acne and weight gain, and depressed thyroid function can also cause dry skin, unexplained weight gain, and a puffy appearance to the face.
The toxins (pesticides) in soy encourage the body to hold onto fat. Fat cells expand in order to house the toxins and acidic waste so they’ll stay away from your organs. However, because these toxins are still being stored in your body, you’ll age faster and have more trouble losing weight. Beauty Detox helps you get rid of those toxins, acidic waste, and other chemicals so the excess fat can disappear and you can look younger.
Organic soy milk is always a better option than any type of dairy milk, so if it is a choice go for that. Occasionally it isn’t the absolute worst, but go for the much better choices below, which are far better to stock at home and consume on a regular basis.
Delicious Soy Milk Alternatives:
- Almond milk
- Coconut milk
- Hemp milk
Taking digestive enzymes can help alleviate stomach discomfort and will allow your body to absorb more nutrients. Check out my Feel Good Digestive Enzymes!
#2 Most Common Food To Avoid – Dairy Yogurt
Yogurt, and all dairy products, are the biggest culprits. The dairy, sugars and artificial sweeteners in yogurt are very acidic, causing bloating, acne and digestive issues.
First of all, dairy was not intended by nature for human consumption. When dairy is digested, it leaves an acidic residue. Not only can an overly acidic body detrimentally affect your health, but it can have a direct effect on your skin, resulting in wrinkles, premature lines, acne, and under-eye circles.
Sugar is also highly acidic and high in empty calories, causing inflammation, premature aging, and weight gain.
Lastly, artificial sweeteners can actually make you eat more and store more fat. Aspartame, for example, increases the release of insulin and leptin, which in turn makes your body store more fat. Aspartame also reduces serotonin levels, making it harder to notice when you’re full and may even cause cravings.
Delicious Dairy Yogurt Alternatives:
- Almond yogurt
- Coconut yogurt
- Banana “nice cream” from frozen bananas
Also try my Green Chia & Moringa Smoothie Bowl for a delicious and healthy treat.
If you’re eating yogurt because you want the benefits of probiotics, Soil Based Organisms or SBO Probiotics are a great alternative to the dairy options on the market. Learn about my feel good sbo+ probiotics, which also contain prebiotics and postbiotics for a more complete probiotic formula to improve your digestion, immunity and your skin too!
#3 Most Common Food To Avoid – Whole Wheat Bread & Pasta
Whole wheat has maintained a sparkling reputation over the past few years, but it’s hardly the knight in shining armor carb lovers have been looking for. In fact, it can make you gain weight because the more wheat you eat, the more you want to eat (of everything you shouldn’t have, like refined sugars and carbs).
Did you know you can actually get addicted to wheat? It’s possible, so even if you wanted to consume whole wheat products in small quantities, the wheat itself would make it difficult to keep that in check. Most wheat bread and products may also be made up of a high amount of refined and white flours and other fillers, and be dyed to look brown. Sneaky!
Wheat is also commonly associated with inflammation all over the body, allergies (which can make your skin look dull, splotchy, or red). Not to mention, some products that say “whole wheat” on the label actually contain sub-par ingredients, like enriched flour, that drain your Beauty Energy because they need to be digested, but are nutrient-free.
Delicious Whole Wheat Alternatives:
- Quinoa (or quinoa pasta)
- Amaranth, millet, or gluten-free bread
- Brown rice past
#4 Most Common Food To Avoid – Protein Bars
Ugh! It bugs me that I see so many people everywhere eating these processed foods as if they were good for them. First, they’re popular because of the high protein craze going on today, but they’re also chock-full of things you really shouldn’t need to be putting into your body. They are not whole foods. Let me say it again, processed protein bars are not whole foods!!
If you’re not very careful, you’ll be consuming whey (a dairy protein) or soy (highly GMO, contaminated with pesticides),artificial sweeteners, peanuts or peanut butter, polyunsaturated vegetable oils and tons of other sub-par ingredients and fillers.
Delicious Protein Bar Alternatives:
- Power Protein Smoothie with vegan protein powder
- A handful of nuts or seeds like walnuts, almonds, Brazil nuts, pumpkin seeds
- Sprinkle chia seeds onto non-dairy yogurt
#5 Most Common Food To Avoid – Trail Mix
Trail mix you make yourself is fine as long as you’re choosing dried fruits without added sugar and raw nuts that aren’t covered in salt. It’s when you pick it up in the grocery or convenience store that it begins to veer into not-so-healthy territory. Milk chocolate chips, candy, peanuts, salt, and sugar.
Delicious Homemade Trail Mix Alternatives to Store Bought Trail Mix:
Trail mix you make at home so you can control the ingredients. Use items like pumpkin and sunflower seeds, a few organic golden raisins, etc.
#6 Most Common Food To Avoid – Veggie Chips
It’s so easy to make your own snack with healthy trail mix ingredients. Making it home lets you control the ingredients and avoid overly salted and sugar ingredients that aren’t good for you at all! Here are just a few healthy trail mix ingredients that are delicious alternatives I recommend adding to your next batch:
- Pumpkin seeds
- Sunflower seeds
- Organic golden raisins (not too many)
- Goji berries
- Organic coconut
- Dark cacao chips
Delicious Alternatives to Veggie Chips:
- Kale chips made at home with very little oil and some nutritional yeast
- Raw veggies and hummus (to get the crunch the chips provide)
Try my refreshing raw sprouted hummus recipe!
#7 Most Common Food To Avoid – Smoothies You Didn’t Make At Home
Unless you’re getting your smoothie from a place that uses all organic, fresh ingredients, your chances of getting something that’s actually healthy are slim to none.
Most fast food smoothie chains are deceitfully unhealthy and often load up their beverages with sugar, chemicals, powders, and dairy. For example, a 20 oz. smoothie at Smoothie King designed to build up your immune system contains a total of 380 calories, 77 grams of sugar, and 57 mg of sodium, and is made up of ingredients such as refined turbinado sugar and soy protein.
Jamba Juice and Planet Smoothie have options that probably sound innocent enough if you judge it by what most people think is healthy, like peanut butter, strawberries, bananas, low-fat milk, vanilla, and yogurt, but you could be taking in aflatoxins from the peanuts, pesticides from the strawberries, and all of the downsides that come from yogurt and milk.
And definitely don’t reach for Naked or other shelved smoothies, which are often made of powdered greens, fruit puree and are pasteurized. Save your money and go for real foods!
Delicious Homemade Alternatives to Restaurant & Store Bought Smoothies:
- The Glowing Green Smoothie
- Immunity boosting citrus spice smoothie
- The best non-dairy weight loss smoothie recipes
Always use whole fruits and vegetables and non-dairy protein in your homemade smoothies.
#8 Most Common Food To Avoid – Granola Bars
Granola bars have a reputation as a great health food when you’re on the go or looking for a light snack or meal replacement, but they can actually be full of sugar and sodium.
They may also contain peanuts, which tend to harbor mold and fungus, along with highly processed ingredients, like puffed rice, chocolate chips (which are different from cacao), syrup, oil, GMO soy, and rolled oats.
Delicious Granola Bar Alternatives:
- Homemade trail mix
- A bowl of oat groats or at least steel cut oats
- Whole fruit
- A square of dark chocolate (if you’re using granola bars to tackle your craving for something sweet)
Lara Bars are acceptable, but you can make your own version with dates, dried fruit & your choice of nuts blended in the food processor.
#9 Most Common Food To Avoid – Sushi
Potential contamination issues related to the fish aside, sushi’s not as good of a choice as people seem to think it is.
The rice is often mixed with refined sugar, and many rolls contain deep-fried tempura, the potential for cream cheese and fatty sauces with mayonnaise, and the pairing of a protein with a starch (which results in less than optimal digestion, bloating, gas, and discomfort), etc.
Bad news all around. It’s possible that the only healthy thing there is the seaweed wrap.
Delicious Sushi Alternative:
- Pair fish with steamed vegetables instead of rice and all the other sauces that come with sushi.
- Order veggie rolls with no mayo or cream cheese. Some places will even make brown rice sushi rolls.
- You make your own sushi (sans-fish) at home with a Beauty Grain like quinoa, nori sheets, a little avocado, and your choice of thinly sliced vegetables.
- Try my Chickpea “Tuna” Nori Wraps! They’re tasty and easy to make!
Are you surprised that some of the most common health advice and some of the foods generally accepted as “healthy” really aren’t that healthy for you at all? By making actual healthy replacements in your diet, you’ll see weight fall off and your skin will begin to glow.
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I agree whole heartedly with the above. I didn’t know about the veggie chips though. I don’t do soy, dairy, gluten, peanut, and sugar. I haven’t done dairy in more than 10 years because when I ingested I felt like I was in labor for the rest of the day “pushing” until there was nothing left to push. Gross I know — but it’s the truth. Then my holistic nutritionist and naturopathy suggested I eliminate gluten, soy, & peanut. I’ve done away with sugar (including the nasty artificial sweeteners, i.e., Stevia, Splenda, etc.) and now feel so much better over the past 4 years from the above elimination. Love your new book! Thanks so much for the article too!
I am pleased to see that I have eliminated ALL of the 9 items on your list!
I recently bought a VitaMix and now make my own “freezes” to replace both youghurt AND ice cream. I make “freezes” from (one of ) frozen pineapple slices , frozen mango, frozen grapes, frozen berries, etc. and coconut or flax milk. They’re yummy. And each morning starts out with a smoothie made from fresh/frozen fruits and vegetables. GREAT way to start the day.
I use Paleo Wraps stuffed with greens and other veggies as a substitute for sandwiches. I also have an occasional gluten free bagel (half) spread with home-made hummus for a hearty lunch treat. Fresh veggie stix or gluten-free pretzels serve as a good substitute for chips of any kind.
Beans of ALL types take care of my protein needs. I eat a cup a day. I like lentils or black beans and garbanzo beans make that all-time favorite, Hummus. And a handful of nuts ( almonds, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, hazelnuts, etc.) are a healthy, crunchy snack, loaded with protein and good fats!
A favorite for a lite dinner is a broiled filet of salmon and a BIG salad with lots of fresh veggies.
Thanks for all your tips and guidelines to help us stay fit and trim.
I have two questions:
1. Do you know if starbucks uses soy milk? I do my best not to drink coffee although as a college student it is sometimes necessary when I have lots of studying to do and papers to write to get that extra boost to power through the day
and
2. I loooove lara bars. I usually eat the apple pie flavor. What other flavors would you recommend?
Thanks!
Could you tell me where I can find a non-dairy yoghurt that does not have some sort of sugar?
All of them, almond, coconut, soy, seem to have evaporated cane sugar in them.
And I also find that most non-dairy milks (even the organic ones) have all sorts of additives, like carageenan, which some studies have shown causes inflammation in the stomach, and possibly linked to tumor growth. They also often contain sugar/evaporated cane juice. The only ones I have found without are the Eden Foods Organic Soy MIlk and Pacific Organic Oat Milk.
So unless you’re advocating making all the non-dairy milks oneself, I would be careful.
Gluten-free breads are another culprit that you can’t be sure of buying. They often use some sort of sweetener (like agave syrup!) and ad all sort of things that we might not want to put in our bodies.
so, always read the label, or make it yourself:-)
What’s wrong with Agave Nectar anyone…?
Excellent article.
Many thanks.
Thank you Kim for all your sound advice and nutritional expertise and awareness. Little by little I am making the change one step at a time. Already the little changes are noticeable. Thank you so much for sharing your research and knowledge. BTW Loved your beauty detox book. Thank you for keeping it simple to understand and and enjoyment to read and refer to as needed.
Oh great, I just came home from eating sushi…it can’t be that bad, I just eat vegetarian rolls with cucumber and avocado?!?
Thank you for sharing.
PLEASE I NEED TO KNOW : Is organic Honey a good sweetener option ?
I cannot find any info on honey on your blog.
I am wondering why the Greek yogurt is such a positive food for a person taking antibiotics ? I will have more questions when I reread the article. But some of the foods listed I still cannot agree that they are harmful. I could see if huge portions were eaten but everything in moderation .
I am wondering why the Greek yogurt is such a positive food for a person taking antibiotics ? I will have more questions when I reread the article. But some of the foods listed I still cannot agree that they are harmful. I could see if huge portions were eaten but everything in moderation .
Kim,
I have been doing the detox for about a month, have lost 10 pounds! But have started to have abdominal cramping, bloating and some diarrhea. I went to the doctor and he has literally taken me off so many of the detox foods for what he has diagnosed as “sensitive stomach” no salads , cabbage , celery, high fiber vegetables etc.
Help
I have similar questions and wonder if KS responded to you? For me, add tree nuts, many raw veggies and fruits, all the milk alternatives… I’d love to hear substitutes for unique allergies and GERD sufferers.
this video is way too long
I think this list is great. I’ve been trying to explain to people I love that they need to make a few changes in their pantry and fridge and this article really helps explain why. I love the suggested alternatives also. I would love to see peanut products added to this list too. Great information!
AMEN!! i totally agree with you about these foods! Thanks for publishing this.
That’s sad how the food industry got thinking and eating . Thanks for the great information !!!
Hey Kim!!
So, in terms of condiments, what do you think of honey mustard? Do you have alternative suggestions? I use a veryyy tiny bit with squeezed lime on salad before a meal to give it little flavor. Just wondering your thoughts on honey mustard!
Thanks!
I signed up and paid for the Glowing Lean System on October 6th, 2013.
I have not received anything or any instructions.???
Maybe i misunderstood. I see books, dvd’s above in the advertisement???
I think i might have done something wrong as i am not receiving anything.
Could i have instructions as to how to start this system???
Thank you so much
Kathi Woodard
Order No 8DMS4EM7
Kathleen I will have one our customer service reps contact you directly by email.
Thanks for the info, Kimberly! I love your inclusion of good alternatives! I really trust your recommendations! Please add more to your Kimberly’s Picks soon!
Thanks for your advice it really helps me when I have cravings I have problems when I have my mouthy I was wondering if decaf coffee is worse then regular coffee
I tend to eat my sushi without the rice. As in “sashimi”. This is also an alternative to the popular sushi rolls w/ rice and added ingredients, if what you really want is the fish. If you just want a roll of something, then I guess your suggestions works too!
Aha! Soy is sinister! I knew it!
Thank you for validating the notion that corn and soy fatten livestock, so why not people?
Soy was hidden in my daily vitamins and other things, and my boobies got huge! Drinking 96oz of water daily now ( I live in the mountains) and am easily dropping weight. DRINK MORE WATER and walk 30 min every day! It is magic and vital!
Thank you for sharing your personal experience and so happy you’re well on your way to better health and wellness. Keep up the great work. Lots of love! 😉
I am 65 and have been drinking soy milk for about 15 years. The last time I had a check-up, the doctors were amazed at how much healthier my LDLs, triglycerides, bone density and cellular health were. Everything had improved in that time period. It was 15 years earlier that I had had a check-up. I also started using nattokinase and that may have contributed to better health. I have a very sedentary job but I had exercised intensely, most of my life, until the past 10 years. I had gained quite a bit of weight and that was part of what surprised my doctors. I did find that walking dropped my weight fast though. “They marked on my file, “you obviously eat well.” My brother commented, “that is obvious.” because of my weight gain. I think it is important too always eat organic and non-GMO, as much as possible. I have been a vegetarian all my life and I don’t appear to have any lack of protein or nutritional deficiencies. My advice, drink your soy milk, if you want too and I don’t think it is going to adversely effect your health, unless you are allergic to it. I read there are a list of rules to follow if you are going to drink soy milk. Don’t eat it on an empty stomach, don’t drink it if you are taking antibiotics, don’t let it sit un-refrigerated for more than a few hours and make sure you have enough iodine
Thanks so much Bonnie, for sharing your personal story…goes to show, we need to listen to our own bodies and do what works best for you personally. Keep up the great work and lots of love and support to you! 😉
Thanks for the tip. I am on the fence about soy, so I am doing my research to see if I should soy from my diet. I think I will.
Sounds like a good plan Katie. Always listen to your body and what’s best for you. Sending you lots of love! Xo