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This weeks Ask the Trainer will focus on the 5 foods you should avoid if you are trying to get in shape. So clean out your cabinets, hit the grocery store and replace some of the items below with foods from last weeks list of foods to include and you will be well on your way to achieving the lean body you are looking for. Here are the 5 foods I believe you should avoid:

#1 Soft drinks.
Most soft drinks contain loads of sugar carbs. They have no practical value and are a very poor source of energy. They start off giving you a quick sugar buzz and then bring you crashing back to earth feeling sluggish and tired. Most of the sugar is then converted to fat and stored by your body. Drink 3-4 of these babies a day and by the end of the week you’ve consumed enough sugar to sweeten a case of candy bars. Soft drinks include products such as artificially flavored ice tea, soda, lemonade and fruit juices.

#2 White bread
Have you ever wondered how they make white bread? Its simple white bread is made by taking grain, removing the most nutritious part and then grinding it up so much that it loses most of its fiber. The end result is white flour that can be made into bread, wraps, bagels and a variety of other products. These foods may taste good but they wreak havoc on your metabolism. Eating too many of them will cause you to be gain unwanted pounds.

#3 Processed meats
Processed meats are made by taking the fat undesirable parts of the animal and grinding them up into little pieces and adding large amounts of sodium. These pieces are then slapped together to form a patty that resembles a chicken breast or steak. Many restaurants serve processed meats because it’s a cheaper alternative to leaner cuts of meat. They are also more convenient and have a longer shelf life. However processed meats contain a much higher fat content as well as heart stopping levels of cholesterol and some chemicals that have been linked to causing cancer.

#4 Sugar coated cereals
Most grocery store cereals are about as nutritious as a bowl of Halloween candy. Food manufacturers know all they have to do to sell their product is add enough sugar to make it taste good. They’re more than willing to sacrifice quality for profit.

It’s also important to beware of marketing scams that are designed to mislead you. Manufactures sometimes use words to disguise the presence of sugar such as sucrose, fructose, corn syrup, and dextrose. If the primary ingredience includes one or more of these words they probably spend more time and money on marketing than producing a healthy choice.

#5 French Fries
White potatoes are bad enough in their raw state because once eaten they quickly change to glucose causing your insulin levels to spike and your body to retain fat. However once you cook them in oil you have reached an unprecedented level of unhealthiness. Add a little cheese and you may possibly have the worst food on planet earth.

In closing getting lean takes commitment. Eliminating the above foods from your diet’s a good start.

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