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Junk foods are loved by children since they are delicious and flavorful. However these foods are prepared industrially using food additives, some of them being harmful to your child's health.
If you want to improve your child's lifestyle and health, we bring you the list of junk foods bad for you and your child's health.
List of junk foods bad for you and your child
Look to avoid these ten foods for better health:
1) Potato chips
Chips are delicious snacks loved by most children. They're either made with thinly sliced potatoes or potato powder.
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They're available in various flavors and seasonings. but they might contain harmful substances like acrylamide, linked to cancer. Potato chips are fried in seed oils, including palm oil, cottonseed oil and soybean oil which can cause high blood pressure and heart disease.
2) Chicken nuggets
Chicken nuggets are made using processed meats and the coating contains food additives. They're among harmful ultra-processed foods and should be avoided. Home-cooked chicken is the best way to get high-quality protein.
3) Instant noodles
Instant noodles are among the worst junk foods for your child. They're industrially processed and contain harmful food additives, including artificial flavoring agents, colors, and other chemicals.
Refined carbs are used to make instant noodles and can cause childhood obesity and diabetes.
4) Burgers
The fillings inside burgers are often fried using harmful seed oils that can cause high blood pressure and heart disease. The breads used are made of refined flour and hence should be avoided.
5) Sugary beverages
Carbonated and sugary beverages should be considered among the harmful junk foods for your child's health.
They contain added sugar, artificial sweeteners, artificial food coloring and artificial flavoring agents. These beverages can cause tooth decay and might cause childhood obesity and diabetes.
6) Candies
Children love candies and sweets which are among the most popular junk foods. Sweets are exclusively made out of refined sugar, glucose, and fructose syrup and are extremely harmful to overall health and cause tooth decay.
7) Processed meats
Processed meats like sausages and salamis might contain food additives used while processing. It is better to make your child eat freshly sourced meat cooked at home for improved health. Meats provide high-quality protein and processed ones aren't a good choice.
8) Packaged cereals
Most of the commercially available breakfast cereals contain added sugar and artificial food colorings.
They're among the highly processed foods and might cause long-term harm to your child's health, including childhood diabetes. They can definitely be considered among junk foods.
9) Cakes
Cakes are among the popular junk foods and contain excessive amounts of sugar and high-fructose corn syrup.
For your child's health, it's best to avoid cakes and similar desserts. The high amount of refined flour used in cakes is also harmful.
10) Ice cream
It could be said that ice cream and other similar sugary desserts are among the worst junk foods for your child's health. Apart from sugar, they also contain glucose and fructose syrup, which are more harmful than regular sugar.
Indranil Biswas is a nutritionist and personal trainer with a diploma in dietetics and personal training with a specialization in sports nutrition and strength training.
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