Dr. William Li – Foods to Avoid

Dr. William Li has dedicated his life to researching the effects of food on the human body. The physician, scientist and author believes we should eat seafood, fruits, vegetables, nuts and grains – but what are the foods we should avoid?

The author of Eat to Beat Disease: The New Science of How Your Body Can Heal Itself says we need to be aware of marketing messages when it comes to food. Many new creations are ultra-processed while being advertised as “healthy”. They contain ingredients that don’t nourish our gut microbiome and can in fact damage it and cause health issues.

Many new food products are made purely to make money. Your health and wellbeing is of little concern to these corporations. However, marketing techniques are very effective at convincing us that certain products are healthy. Dr. Li says: “This is where I think we all get confused by the surround sound of marketing of things that are supposedly healthy.”

He continues: “Be careful about not being misled by the marketing messages that are out there. Understand what we're looking for in terms of healthy foods and exclude everything that's not.”

Check the Ingredients

The easiest way for you to analyze whether a food product is healthy or not is by looking at the ingredients. Dr. William Li states: “Reading the ingredient label is something we don't do enough. Honestly, it's not a big deal to pick up something that you might put in your shopping cart, but just take a moment before it goes in to turn the box to the side and look at what's actually inside it.”

Alarm bells should ring when there are over five or six ingredients on a label. To preserve food for longer (and to maximize profits) a multitude of preservatives and additives that can be damaging to your health are added to many food products.

Dr. Li recommends checking all the ingredients as you do your weekly shop. He says: “If you don't recognize those ingredients or can't pronounce them, think about whether these ingredients could potentially impact your gut health and microbiome. If so, could that have an adverse effect on your metabolism? That is something we should all be thinking about as we cruise through the supermarket putting things into our cart.”

Dr. Li’s Foods to Avoid

Dr. William Li has spoken at length in interviews and videos regarding the foods we should avoid. Below is a series of quotes from the nutrition expert on some of the foods he recommends staying away from and the negative effects they can have on your health.

Ultra-Processed Foods

“Ultra-processed foods, which are often high in unhealthy fats, sugars, and additives, can disrupt our gut health and metabolism. They are linked to a higher risk of chronic diseases, including cancer."

Diet Sodas

“Diet sodas being better than regular sugar-sweetened sodas? Not true. Diet sodas with artificial sweeteners damage our gut health, which then damages our metabolism, which can actually have a tremendous impact on our body's metabolism.”

Fruit Juices

“Another one is fruit juice. Look, I enjoy drinking the taste of fruit juice, but when you guzzle fruit juice, which many people do, it's a problem. I'll give you an example. I love oranges, especially when they're in season during the winter. I love eating a regular juicy sweet orange. I love all the fiber that's in it, and I love the taste of the whole orange. It's very sweet but nutrient-dense. It would take me a few minutes to eat an orange, but I could guzzle down a tall glass of orange juice, which would take eight oranges to make, in 30 seconds. That's an example of where you can easily overload on the fruit sugars by having a tall glass of juice instead of eating the whole fruit. Lots of fruit juices, and some of the fruit juices you get in a store, are also sweetened. People don't check the ingredients, so look at all those other additives that are in there.”

Plant-Based Meats

“Another example would be plant-based foods. You know, the plant-based burgers that everyone says are a healthier version than a regular burger. Well, we know that ultra-processed foods that you buy anywhere are not good for our overall health. In fact, they compromise our metabolism. We eat too many ultra-processed foods. Although something might be plant-based and sound healthy, when it's ultra-processed, it winds up being something less than healthy and falls squarely in the category of ultra-processed foods.”

Health Bars

“Food that is supposed to be healthy that I stay away from are health bars like granola bars and other "healthy" bars sold in gyms, fitness centers, airports, and grocery stores near the checkout counter. Sometimes, even flight attendants will offer a free health bar as a snack. While they may look healthy—like granola bars with oats, nuts, and dried fruit—all those ingredients are good for you. However, if you look at the ingredient label, you'll see added sugars, high fructose corn syrup, preservatives, and emulsifiers. These are pro-inflammatory and can harm your gut microbiome. When you injure your gut microbiome, you prevent your body from effectively combating inflammation. This can lead to increased inflammation, harming your metabolism and immune system. Therefore, these health bars are really just another type of ultra-processed food to be cautious of.”

Flavored Yogurt

“One more so-called healthy food that I avoid is yogurt from the grocery store that comes pre-loaded with fruit. You know the kind of yogurt I'm talking about—the one with a layer of fruit jelly or some kind of fruit-like substance at the bottom. While plain, whole yogurt is a healthy food, as it is a fermented product with probiotic benefits that supports gut health, lowers inflammation, and can promote longevity, the addition of fruit in these yogurts often means a highly processed mix with added sugar, artificial coloring, artificial flavoring, and preservatives. These flavored yogurts take something healthy and turn it into something less beneficial, so I stay away from prepackaged fruit-flavored yogurts. Just check the ingredients label.”

Bread

“The least expensive, softest, longest-lasting breads that you can buy in the grocery store or supermarkets are the ones that are made with the lowest quality flour and that have lots of other preservatives added to allow them to survive. Some of these breads probably could stay intact in a pyramid for thousands of years.”

“Sourdough, which in fact has a microbiome probiotic starter that is good for our gut health, for example, like Lactobacillus reuteri. It happens to be one of the starters found in our gut bacteria.”

What Should We Eat?

Dr. William Li recommends incorporating seafood, fruit, vegetables, nuts and healthy grains into your daily food intake. He believes eating healthily should become a “lifestyle” rather than a diet that only lasts a few weeks.

He explains: “Society is obsessed with weight loss, whether it's prescription drugs for weight loss or sucking out fat from your cheeks. There's lots and lots of intense things that people do. The problem is they don't last. For me, a healthy diet is something that is sustainable, you can enjoy it, and it can become second nature.”

If you want to add some healthier options to your weekly shopping list – check out Dr. Li’s Approved Food List to Live Longer. By gradually removing processed foods from your diet and replacing them with healthier options your health and wellbeing will gradually reap the benefits.

Luckily, Mother Earth is blessed with a plethora of tasty natural fruits, vegetables, nuts and grains. Experiment with new things and see which you enjoy – the process can be highly enjoyable.

Dr. Li says: “If we were to have a conversation about foods that can activate and elevate our body's natural processes to help us become healthier, and we can pick among those food ingredients and combine them in ways that are delicious and bring us joy, that's something that would be wonderful to adopt. That, to me, is what's important.”