As quick note, I am not approaching this, or any of my blog posts, as the ultimate authority an anything pertaining to nutrition and food. Just an average guy with an above average passion for researching nutritional health issues. If you are consistently using something on this list, look at it more as some friendly advice to at least keep in the back of your mind that you may want to look into that food a little deeper because it "may not" necessarily be as healthy as marketed and advertised. Opposing opinions are always welcome here. That's how we all learn from each other 
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
# 10 Agave Syrup
I have to admit, this one had me fooled for a couple of years, but I started hearing and reading that Agave was not the 'Real Deal'
As a precaution I suspended intake of Agave until further research could be done in my busy schedule. Mostly being used as a tea sweeter, I easily found acceptable replacements. My prevailing theory on food is, if it has been eaten for thousands of years, then it's probably OK. I mistakenly though this is the same agave that the Native Mexicans prepared, called miel de agave, but I confirmed it is not. The current Agave is a modern knockoff of the ancient concept. It seems, from my research, to be as bad or worse than high fructose corn syrup.
A case is never made to me from just one web posting, but a good reference article to modern day agave not being a good sweetener for me can be found here .
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
# 9 Conventional Milk (I'm not talking about raw and grass fed milks, those two are thumbs up for me)
I don't consume a lot of dairy, perhaps some cheese, and some milk or cream in hot breakfast drinks or recipes. But I have accumulated a lot of research notes on this subject.
I try to deal with raw milk and/or grass fed milk, even though I have to wait for the farmer's markets to come around in the warm weather.
I advise (once again not as an authority but as a researcher), all my friends and family to avoid conventional milk, because all my research points to a myriad of health issues that could evolve from it's consistent consumption.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
# 8 Protein Bars and Health Bars
I used to depend on these, being very active and always at the gym. However the more I got into reading labels, I eventually stopped consuming all of them because none seemed satisfactory to my personal nutritional criteria.
Note that I said I wasn't happy with any of them. Including all the ones at my beloved Whole Foods.
They all have several poor or unhealthy ingredients, bad sweeteners, poor quality proteins, or questionable oils. One or two were acceptable, but are made with dates, which don't agree with my digestive track, if you know what I mean.
There were a few I consumed recently, but after my research agave nectar , I had to let them all go. Now, I stick to fruit and my own Paleo Style trail mixes with nuts, Hunza raisins, goji berries, and so forth for a quick snack. I welcome anyone's suggestions or recommendations.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
# 7 So called "healthy" products with "mystery ingredients"
This is my "catch all category", because I hate to see so many products with implications that they are healthy or natural, but reading the label implies otherwise.
This can be anything, from high fiber breakfast cereal, bags of healthy "chips", breads, fat free foods, or anything. I even saw a candy advertised with antioxidants recently. That's so wrong. (sigh…………).
It's the ones with the unhealthy sweeteners and oils that irk me the most, and force me to fight back any way I can.
In the end, we have to read our labels, and understand what's in everything we consume on a consistent basis. The less complex the label, the easier this is to do.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
# 6 Diet Soda
Diet soda is in essence an oxymoron.
I think anyone who still drinks them might want to devote 30 minutes of their life to researching high fructose corn syrup and aspartame.
I really think diet soda is just plain "bad" for you, along with regular soda, and I think anyone on a diet would be better off without consuming diet soda.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
# 5 Genetically Modified Corn
….which is the majority of corn produced in the USA.
I'm not saying the GMO corn industry is overtly marketing or advertising their product as safe and healthy, it's more like when they are pressed on the question, they will passionately show claims and research that say it is healthy. It's still false perception and true deception.
I decided to not make my blog a place to present dozens upon dozens of studies that prove something like GMO corn is bad for you. That's because, you could go out to the corn industry's website, they will show their dozens of studies that say the opposite. (They have a very nice website by the way).
The only practical approach is to take GMO corn products and all GMO out of your diet for 60 days and watch what happens. Become your own scientific study. And think of your kids and how they are consuming this stuff every day from cradle to grave.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
# 4 Genetically Modify Soy
…which is the majority of soy produced in the USA
I don't eat a lot of soy, so I have no pony in the soy race.
However, I did notice it was in almost everything, if I see a potentially good product such as pitas for wraps, I will notice it contains soy.
The first thing to consider is that soy is one of the most highly genetically modified crops in the USA, along with corn, canola, cotton, and a few others. I just think in general, you should knowingly never put GMO's in your body.
It seemed to me that soy implies healthy food because it is consumed in the Far East, and those consumers can have a tendency to live longer. However, it seems from my research that in the Far East they are consuming fermented soy, which is a totally different animal form the mass production soy in the USA.
I as ran across a ton of alleged health issues that can transpire from eating too much soy, enough to advise family and friends to stop using it, or at least reduce consumption as much as possible. I doubt it I will ever go back to it.
Here is very thorough breakdown of the concerns about soy .
______________________________________________________________________________________________
# 3 Artificial Sweetners
These are on that list of things I will NEVER knowingly put in my body.
Aspartame is supposedly the most complained about food to the FDA. These sweeteners were the cause of my insomnia years back. I think a myriad of health issues come from these, those health and wellness issues where you can't pinpoint the culprit. As I always say, you owe it to yourself, and your family's health, to remove them from you diet for 60 days and see if there are any changes.
Right now, I for my current sweetener needs, I use Sweet Leaf Stevia and my two favorites, Raw Organic Honey and Birch Tree Xylitol .
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
#2 Canola Oil
I expect and respect opposing opinions on this one, but I think this is one of the worst oils you can use. I could post a link or two denouncing canola, but I know someone could easily send me 20 links that say it's great.
It is marketed as a healthy oil, high in omega-3, and unfourtunately, I often see even healthy eaters using it as part of their healthy recipes. I often use the recipe, but replace the Canola. I would suggest in a passionate but friendly way that one should research this oil if they are going to use it all the time.
I suggest to all my friends that you can use organic coconut oil which does anything that canola oil can do, but better and more naturally, and even offer some great health benefits .
What the heck is a "canola" anyway? If you perused the answer to that question you might be surprised and/or shocked and possibly never use it again.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
#1 High Fructose Corn Syrup
I don't have the firepower to fight the corn industry, but fortunately, through the Blogosphere, I can at least throw a punch.
HFCS is kinda like this nemesis that plagues anything and everything. I think many of us know it's bad, but we can't prove it.
My research showed that many of these modern day issues such as obesity, diabetes, and such, got out of control around the time when HFCS came on the scene. You have to be the judge.
I personally don't trust any foods "invented" in the last 25 years.
However, I make the same challenge I have to family and friends that if you take it our of your diet for 60 days, you will find that you might start dropping unwanted fat, you will feel better, have better skin, and have many other benefits. I think it's really an important experiment if you have kids, because parents shape kids eating habits, and they are growing up on this unnatural stuff.
As quick note, I am not approaching this, or any of my blog posts, as the ultimate authority an anything pertaining to nutrition and food. Just an average guy with an above average passion for researching nutritional health issues. If you are consistently using something on this list, look at it more as some friendly advice to at least keep in the back of your mind that you may want to look into that food a little deeper because it "may not" necessarily be as healthy as marketed and advertised. Opposing opinions are always welcome here. That's how we all learn from each other
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
I have to admit, this one had me fooled for a couple of years, but I started hearing and reading that Agave was not the 'Real Deal'
As a precaution I suspended intake of Agave until further research could be done in my busy schedule. Mostly being used as a tea sweeter, I easily found acceptable replacements. My prevailing theory on food is, if it has been eaten for thousands of years, then it's probably OK. I mistakenly though this is the same agave that the Native Mexicans prepared, called miel de agave, but I confirmed it is not. The current Agave is a modern knockoff of the ancient concept. It seems, from my research, to be as bad or worse than high fructose corn syrup.
A case is never made to me from just one web posting, but a good reference article to modern day agave not being a good sweetener for me can be found here .
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
I don't consume a lot of dairy, perhaps some cheese, and some milk or cream in hot breakfast drinks or recipes. But I have accumulated a lot of research notes on this subject.
I try to deal with raw milk and/or grass fed milk, even though I have to wait for the farmer's markets to come around in the warm weather.
I advise (once again not as an authority but as a researcher), all my friends and family to avoid conventional milk, because all my research points to a myriad of health issues that could evolve from it's consistent consumption.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
I used to depend on these, being very active and always at the gym. However the more I got into reading labels, I eventually stopped consuming all of them because none seemed satisfactory to my personal nutritional criteria.
Note that I said I wasn't happy with any of them. Including all the ones at my beloved Whole Foods.
They all have several poor or unhealthy ingredients, bad sweeteners, poor quality proteins, or questionable oils. One or two were acceptable, but are made with dates, which don't agree with my digestive track, if you know what I mean.
There were a few I consumed recently, but after my research agave nectar , I had to let them all go. Now, I stick to fruit and my own Paleo Style trail mixes with nuts, Hunza raisins, goji berries, and so forth for a quick snack. I welcome anyone's suggestions or recommendations.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
This is my "catch all category", because I hate to see so many products with implications that they are healthy or natural, but reading the label implies otherwise.
This can be anything, from high fiber breakfast cereal, bags of healthy "chips", breads, fat free foods, or anything. I even saw a candy advertised with antioxidants recently. That's so wrong. (sigh…………).
It's the ones with the unhealthy sweeteners and oils that irk me the most, and force me to fight back any way I can.
In the end, we have to read our labels, and understand what's in everything we consume on a consistent basis. The less complex the label, the easier this is to do.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Diet soda is in essence an oxymoron.
I think anyone who still drinks them might want to devote 30 minutes of their life to researching high fructose corn syrup and aspartame.
I really think diet soda is just plain "bad" for you, along with regular soda, and I think anyone on a diet would be better off without consuming diet soda.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
….which is the majority of corn produced in the USA.
I'm not saying the GMO corn industry is overtly marketing or advertising their product as safe and healthy, it's more like when they are pressed on the question, they will passionately show claims and research that say it is healthy. It's still false perception and true deception.
I decided to not make my blog a place to present dozens upon dozens of studies that prove something like GMO corn is bad for you. That's because, you could go out to the corn industry's website, they will show their dozens of studies that say the opposite. (They have a very nice website by the way).
The only practical approach is to take GMO corn products and all GMO out of your diet for 60 days and watch what happens. Become your own scientific study. And think of your kids and how they are consuming this stuff every day from cradle to grave.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
…which is the majority of soy produced in the USA
I don't eat a lot of soy, so I have no pony in the soy race.
However, I did notice it was in almost everything, if I see a potentially good product such as pitas for wraps, I will notice it contains soy.
The first thing to consider is that soy is one of the most highly genetically modified crops in the USA, along with corn, canola, cotton, and a few others. I just think in general, you should knowingly never put GMO's in your body.
It seemed to me that soy implies healthy food because it is consumed in the Far East, and those consumers can have a tendency to live longer. However, it seems from my research that in the Far East they are consuming fermented soy, which is a totally different animal form the mass production soy in the USA.
I as ran across a ton of alleged health issues that can transpire from eating too much soy, enough to advise family and friends to stop using it, or at least reduce consumption as much as possible. I doubt it I will ever go back to it.
Here is very thorough breakdown of the concerns about soy .
______________________________________________________________________________________________
These are on that list of things I will NEVER knowingly put in my body.
Aspartame is supposedly the most complained about food to the FDA. These sweeteners were the cause of my insomnia years back. I think a myriad of health issues come from these, those health and wellness issues where you can't pinpoint the culprit. As I always say, you owe it to yourself, and your family's health, to remove them from you diet for 60 days and see if there are any changes.
Right now, I for my current sweetener needs, I use Sweet Leaf Stevia and my two favorites, Raw Organic Honey and Birch Tree Xylitol .
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
I expect and respect opposing opinions on this one, but I think this is one of the worst oils you can use. I could post a link or two denouncing canola, but I know someone could easily send me 20 links that say it's great.
It is marketed as a healthy oil, high in omega-3, and unfourtunately, I often see even healthy eaters using it as part of their healthy recipes. I often use the recipe, but replace the Canola. I would suggest in a passionate but friendly way that one should research this oil if they are going to use it all the time.
I suggest to all my friends that you can use organic coconut oil which does anything that canola oil can do, but better and more naturally, and even offer some great health benefits .
What the heck is a "canola" anyway? If you perused the answer to that question you might be surprised and/or shocked and possibly never use it again.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
I don't have the firepower to fight the corn industry, but fortunately, through the Blogosphere, I can at least throw a punch.
HFCS is kinda like this nemesis that plagues anything and everything. I think many of us know it's bad, but we can't prove it.
My research showed that many of these modern day issues such as obesity, diabetes, and such, got out of control around the time when HFCS came on the scene. You have to be the judge.
I personally don't trust any foods "invented" in the last 25 years.
However, I make the same challenge I have to family and friends that if you take it our of your diet for 60 days, you will find that you might start dropping unwanted fat, you will feel better, have better skin, and have many other benefits. I think it's really an important experiment if you have kids, because parents shape kids eating habits, and they are growing up on this unnatural stuff.