An unhealthy diet does not necessarily lead to overweight or obesity. Your health can suffer from the wrong foods, even without gaining weight. The following 5 warning signs and consequences can occur.
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Diet: 5 warning signs that you are eating unhealthily
1. Fatigue
Do you regularly fall into the notorious midday slump and can only stay awake in the afternoon in the office with one coffee after the next? This could be due to your diet – more specifically, the macronutrients you get in your meals. While by no means all carbs are as bad as they are made out to be, most of us should be cutting down on short-chain carbs a lot take in than we do. These are mainly found in polished rice, sweets and pasta, white bread and other products made from refined white flour such as cookies or cakes. The short-chain carbohydrates it contains have an enormously high glycemic load, causing your blood sugar levels to shoot up quickly. Due to the subsequent insulin response, the blood sugar sinks back down into the basement just as quickly, which leads to severe tiredness, listlessness and difficulty concentrating.
Tip: Therefore, always reach for whole grain products, brown rice or filling legumes and swap some of the carbohydrates for water-rich vegetables such as aubergines, zucchini or tomatoes.
2. Impure skin or skin irritations
While acne is partly genetic and dependent on other environmental factors, various blemishes such as pimples, rashes and dry skin can also result from poor diet. In addition to alcohol and cigarettes, sugary foods such as sweets, lemonade or white bread also damage your skin. In addition, even slight intolerance, eg to dairy products, can lead to you noticing a rash or itching after consumption.
Tip: Since heavily processed convenience products, fast food, sweets and white flour are particularly harmful to your skin, you should cook yourself and use fresh ingredients whenever possible and reduce your sugar consumption.
3. Constipation
Does each and every one of your meals include digestive fiber from flaxseeds, whole grains, vegetables, or fruits? No? Then you are like most people in Germany, since the majority of us consume far too little fiber. It should be at least 30 grams per day – significantly more would be even better. Because a lack of fiber causes unpleasant symptoms such as constipation, flatulence and can even cause damage to the intestinal mucosa.
Tip: It is therefore best to drastically increase your daily portion of vegetables and always replace your white bread with wholemeal bread, pasta with wholemeal pasta, white rice with brown rice and garnish your yoghurt with several tablespoons of flaxseed. However, do not increase the dose too quickly to avoid overwhelming your intestines.
4. Your weight changes unintentionally
Even if an unhealthy, one-sided diet does not necessarily have to go hand in hand with a change in weight, for many people an unwanted weight gain or loss is the first clear signal that something is wrong. For example, if you don’t get enough calories and protein in your body for weeks or months, it breaks down muscle mass for energy. However, the much more common problem is unwanted weight gain, which can occur either gradually over the years or suddenly as a result of strokes of fate or changed life situations. A simple calorie surplus is often responsible for building up too much body fatdue to the constant availability of high-calorie foods. Likewise, most processed and ready meals contain too much sugar, fat and salt – three common factors that make us gain weight.
5. You have constant cravings
Do you quickly feel hungry again after your main meals or do you have a craving for sweets? This could be due to the nutrient profile of your food. The prime suspects include sugar and white flour — two ingredients that send your blood sugar levels skyrocketing, only to elicit an excessive insulin response that sends them below baseline. Even though you’ve only recently eaten, your body is craving energy to compensate for low blood sugar. A lack of protein and fiber in your meals can also be to blame for hunger and cravings , since both nutrients cause severe satiety and our body only rests when it has had enough protein.
Tip: If possible, replace sugar and white flour with whole grains. Also, get enough protein from low-fat dairy products, legumes, and nuts, and fiber from vegetables, flaxseed, and fruit.
Also interesting: 3 signs that you are eating healthily >>
