Why You NEED to Quit The Poor 4 Foods to be Healthy

1. Gluten

Gluten is a gluey protein that cakes up the villi of your intestines. Have you ever seen a baker rolling out dough? It’s tough, stretchy, and resembles gum—very hard to digest. That’s gluten.

It’s found in wheat, barley, and rye. Oats are often contaminated with gluten because they’re processed in the same factories. While breathing in trace amounts of gluten isn’t likely to harm you, eating it can. Gluten has no nutritional value, and it inflames your gut, damages your skin, and, most importantly, clogs the villi in your intestines. This prevents proper nutrient absorption, even if you’re eating healthy foods or taking supplements.

Think of gluten as a seven-foot center in the NBA, blocking every shot. That’s why we take people off gluten immediately—whether or not they have celiac disease. Gluten simply isn’t meant for human consumption, especially in America, where pesticides and GMOs are prevalent.

2. Oils

This is the most controversial one. Social media critics often say, “What about the Mediterranean diet? People in Italy and Greece live to 100, and they consume olive oil!”

Here’s the truth: it’s not the oil itself that’s harmful but the chemical reaction between the oil and oxygen. All fats, when exposed to air for extended periods, oxidize and become rancid.

For proof, cut open an avocado and leave it on the counter for a few hours. It turns brown and eventually black. The same happens to oil. When oil is bottled, the space at the top of the bottle is filled with oxygen. By the time it reaches your home, the oil is already rancid and full of free radicals. Consuming rancid oil leads to oxidative stress—a major cause of heart disease and cancer.

Even the healthiest oils, like olive or avocado oil, turn harmful after prolonged exposure to air. The same applies to the oil at the top of a peanut butter jar. Oil is oil. If exposed to oxygen for more than 10–15 minutes, its chemistry changes, turning it into a weapon of mass destruction.

3. Fried Foods

Fried food is oil to the tenth degree, creating carcinogens. Think fried doughnuts, fried chicken, french fries, onion rings, and chicken fingers. These crispy foods are loaded with harmful compounds.

Have you ever noticed that Southern states, known for their fried foods, have alarmingly high rates of heart disease and cancer? This isn’t a coincidence. Eating fried foods is akin to smoking packs of cigarettes daily.

4. Fake Foods

Also known as junk food, fake foods include soda, cookies, cakes, and candies. They’re full of artificial dyes, such as red, yellow, and blue, and loaded with sugar to keep you hooked. Many of these products contain ingredients with names so long you can’t pronounce them.

Fake foods also include carbonated beverages like seltzer water. Think about it: no deer ever found a stream of carbonated water in the wild. These products are unnatural and bad for you—simple as that.

The Solution

We call these the “Poor Four” foods: gluten, oils, fried foods, and fake foods. Remove them from your diet for one month, and you’ll see a significant improvement in your health.

You might wonder, “What’s left to eat?” Plenty! Focus on one-ingredient, wholesome foods: fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, meat, eggs, and fish. You can also add beans and rice. These foods are simple and nutritious, with no need for a list of ingredients on the package.

Take Action

I challenge you to cut out the Poor Four foods for 30 days. If you need guidance, check out my book Dinner with Dr. Reese, a special cookbook with 100 recipes free from the Poor Four foods.