Weight Management: 3 Foods That Increase Your Cancer Risks

A number of studies and articles have tackled the relationship between belly fat and various cancers in men and women. It has been said that belly fat is linked to ovarian and colon cancer, and even breast cancer (because it effects changes in hormones). For most of us, this may be the motivation for getting on a weight management plan in the first place. 

What we don't seem to realize is there are certain things lurking in our kitchens that can be contributing to the risk of life threatening diseases such as cancers, heart disease and diabetes because they are marketed under the guise of another benefit - like being fat free. For someone seeking weight management, yes, it's wise to monitor fat intake, but fat isn't really the issue here since many foods contain healthy fats that are essential for our bodily functions, weight management and fat loss.

The foods that I'm talking about may contain trans-fats. Without sounding too nerdy, this is basically a chemical process that attempts to break down one type of fat and change it to another. It is not a natural process and this could be why this type of fat has been linked to a reversing effect of the body's cholesterol; that is, raising bad cholesterol and lowering good cholesterol. This poses high risk for coronary heart disease.

So what are every day foods that can contain trans-fats? Let's take a look at them below because you may be unassumingly consuming trans-fat and increasing your risks right now.

1. Frozen Dinners

I want you to (a) walk over to your refrigerator right now, (b) gather up all those boxes of frozen dinners, and (c) throw them in the trash. The chemicals in trans-fats are some of the additives used to stabilize the product and make the consistency more like real food. Sounds like a science experiment waiting to go wrong. Coupled with the sodium levels, frozen dinners are recipes for disaster.

2. Non-Dairy Creamers

Stroll over to your cupboard if you're a non-dairy creamer consumer, or whenever you're in the grocery store, peruse the label of the various non-dairy creamers. What you'll see as one of the top 3 listed ingredients is a "partially hydrogenated" oil. Now I know I said I wasn't going to get scientific and I still won't, I just had to point out that hydrogenation is the process of making trans-fats - the process I was talking about earlier. So guess what? Your fat-free or sugar-free non-dairy creamer has you fooled. Get rid of it as soon as possible.

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3. Margarine

Simply put, margarine includes hydrogenated oils. So if you're presented with a food that's fried in some form of margarine, put it down and step away. Margarine also contains mono- and di-glycerides. These chemicals basically increase the shelf life of food, and work together to combine substances that don't naturally blend together (like oil and water). 

Through the magic of chemistry, these substances - which are derived from triglycerides (fat) - can be categorized as emulsifiers (a blending substance). So as a manufacturer, I can label my food with monoglycerides and diglycerides and still probably call it FAT FREE! And I just got off on a technicality.

So don't put yourself at added risk. Eat natural foods that are rich in vitamins and minerals - not foods that were made in a laboratory. For anyone who is on a weight management plan, as a rule of thumb, any food that you can't pronounce stay away from... especially fried foods and anything that has trans-fat.