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Why Processed Foods Wreck Your Oral Health

Processed foods are something that have led to various health and wellness conditions, such as obesity, high blood pressure, and even type 2 diabetes, with some research showing that some processed foods may double the risk of developing colon cancer. However, in many cases, it’s kept as a staple in one’s diet, but it actually is something that you need to watch out for.

Now, in essence this is something that is altered prior to you eating it. anything that’s cooked, canned, preserved, or even packaged is considered processed. Obviously, there are some that are minimally processed such as bagged lettuce or veggies that are simply cut, but less processed, frozen fruit, and tuna aren’t obviously the best options, they can be bad, so long as you have something with fresh or organic ingredients. Obviously, deli meats, crackers, frozen pizza, and granola can be considered moderate to heavily processed, depending on the ingredients used and the brand. But, this is something that you need to watch out for.

We eat way too many of these, and they should be ousted from your diet. Why is that? Well, there are a few factors.

Hidden sugars for example such as high fructose corn syrup will start to make you become insulin resistance, boost the triglycerides, and also increase the risk of heart disease. Many processed foods contain these, and they metabolize directly into fat. if you have a lot of this, especially in terms of your oral health, you can create dental decay, cavities, weakened enamel, tooth loss, and even worse. Even unexpected foods, such as pasta sauce, contain them. Don’t just think about the ice cream that you’re having. Even organic and those with low fat contain sugars, so look at what you’re buying before you put them into your body.

Then there is the salt factor. Canned veggies and soups are infamous for this, especially since it’s used to help improve the shelf life, but if you have too much salt, it dries out the mouth, which then causes other oral health issues. The daily recommendation is 2300 milligrams per day. whenever possible, use fresh veggies, and try to have the least number of salty additives to it. Use different spices to help flavor your food, and it can certainly help. if you want to make soup, make it on your own in a crockpot. it tastes way better anyways.

Then there are the artificial ingredients and chemicals. For many of these processed foods, they need to have a shelf life that’s at least longer than the kitchen to the manufacturing center, which could be weeks on end. So, you’re getting a lot of preservatives, artificial colors and flavorings, and also chemicals. A lot of these are surreptitious though, in that they can cause allergic reactions, but you won’t even know. Some might even cause Alzheimer’s, and cancers as well. Artificial ingredients are so bad for you, and they should be avoided whenever possible.

But, there are a few upsides to this, in that they can occasionally have extra vitamins and minerals in them, and it can help to truly enhance some various factors. Added fiber is also good for digestive health. So, when it comes to having processed foods, it’s not always looking at the bad sugars and chemicals, but also look at the good things in there. Essentially, you should be looking at the nutrition labels to determine what you should and shouldn’t get.

At the end of the day, what you put into your body is important, and many people take this for granted. But, with the advent of new means to watch your health, and various tools to help with this, you’ll be able to truly witness for yourself the benefits of avoiding processed foods. it’s something that is possible to do, you just have to watch what you’re eating, and avoid the processed foods. it’s not just for dental health, but really for overall health, since the easiest way to improve your bodily health, is to actually improve the diet that you have and the various factors surrounding it as well to make it even better for you.