6 Hidden Signs You're Getting Sick From Your Food

The food we eat can either poison us or give us life, and we each make the choice every day as to how we want our bodies to feel. In general, whole, raw fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, will give us the most energy, while processed, refined foods and meat and dairy products will make us sluggish. Unfortunately, many people don’t make the connection between how they eat and how they feel, and that may explain why we have so many food-related illnesses and diseases today. If you have been feeling less than optimal lately, you might want to turn to what you put in your mouth for the answers.

Here are 6 hidden signs you’re getting sick from your food:

1. You have no appetite

Surprisingly, many people actually skip breakfast in the mornings due to being strained for time, and usually end up eating highly processed foods that they can get quickly and easily. In fact, according to a survey done by The NPD Group, a marketing research company, 31 million Americans skip breakfast every single day.

Skipping meals leads to bingeing later in the day, as your body will want a quick source of calories to make up for the food you didn’t eat earlier. Snack foods, such as cookies and chips, have a high amount of calories, but very little nutrition. In addition to reaching for unhealthy foods, skipping meals will also lead to a huge drop in energy, as your body requires a certain amount of calories to function properly. If you don’t feel hungry at mealtimes, specifically breakfast, you might not be burning enough calories during the day.

In order to maintain energy levels and blood sugar, as well as keep a clear mind, try to eat small meals throughout the day so that you won’t end up eating unhealthy snacks for a quick energy boost.

2. You have high blood pressure

Eating the wrong foods can cause a spike in blood pressure, which can lead to other problems like heart disease or stroke. Eating certain foods, like meat and dairy products, can clog our arteries and send our blood pressure soaring. You can also get high blood pressure from eating too much salt, sugar, or highly processed foods.

Make sure to keep your diet fairly alkaline, meaning you eat lots of fresh fruits, veggies and starches in order to keep your blood pressure at a healthy level.

3. You have high blood sugar

Sugar in the right form does a body good, but unfortunately, most people eat sugar from all the wrong sources. Processed sugar does absolutely nothing productive for the body, as it spikes your blood sugar and makes your liver work extremely hard to process these empty calories. We’ve all heard of the term “sugar rush,” which most people get after eating large amounts of sugar, but just like coffee, your energy levels drop off fairly quickly. The increase in energy is due to your insulin levels spiking, but once your liver processes the sugar, you won’t have any energy left.

Much research has been done on the health risks of eating processed sugar, and some studies have found it to increase the chances of getting heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and even cancer.

If you have sugar cravings, try to eat fresh fruits instead of the processed foods with added sugar; your body will deal with this sugar much better since it will have fiber to help digest it properly.

4. You avoid certain foods

Contrary to what the media likes to tell us, we absolutely need carbs in order to sustain ourselves. Without carbs, we wouldn’t have the energy we need to make it through each day. However, like with sugar, you need to go to the right carbohydrate sources. Many people think of carbs as sugary cereals, cakes, and breads that don’t give the body the right nutrients, but if you eat carbs from whole foods, such as fruits, starches, and vegetables, you will get the exact nutrition you need.

Make sure you go to whole foods first for nutrition, as opposed to the processed, refined foods.

5. You feel tired frequently

If you feel tired more often than not, that probably means that you don’t eat the correct foods, or enough of them. Our foods can either energize us or deplete our energy, and we choose each day what we want to feel like. Feeling tired may mean many different things, but if you don’t eat correctly, your foods can literally drain the life out of you.

Make sure you eat enough throughout the day, and opt for as much fresh food as you can get.

6. You don’t have energy

Our foods should give us enough energy that we actually WANT to get up and move our bodies. If you don’t feel energized from your foods, you will want to just sit around and not expend any energy. However, by eating foods full of life, you will have so much energy that your body will almost force you to get up and move. Not exercising usually means you aren’t fueling your body with the right nutrients, as we are wired to move our bodies naturally.

Many people don’t enjoy exercise, and if you’re one of them, just make sure to eat plenty of nutritious foods. This way, you’ll actually want to get up and move your body, despite how you might feel about certain exercises.