Are noodles easy to digest?
Is this a question that is worth answering? Sure, it is.
And what about your stomach digesting ramen noodles? Are these really healthy?
I mean the instant pack noodles that you buy at your local shop because they are cheap and you have no time to cook.
Why do we eat instant noodles?
There are three main reasons why one would consider eating instant noodles
- They are cheap. So, you can have a meal that does not cost you the earth and keep your stomach happy.
- They are tasty. Yes, they are fairly tasty, especially if you add some of the spices that they provide you with the pack.
- They are quick to cook. You just need literally 5 minutes and you are ready to eat. So if you are a student, these come handy during exams time.
But there is a lot of research being undertaken at the moment, which says that these noodles may not be that healthy for our digestion system.
But scientists have not categorically said that they consider them unhealthy So what do we have to do?
Are noodles easy to digest?
Noodles should be easy to digest if they are freshly cooked.
However, instant noodles that have been produced from what we call processed food are not easy to digest. And this has been demonstrated by a video that has gone viral. Please see below.
However, the video you will see below will make you change your mind. It was taken by Dr. Braden Cuo from the Massachusetts General Hospital, who was trying to find out what happens in your body when you consume noodles. Check out the video to see the shocking results!
Why Ramen noodles are so bad for you?
Ramen noodles are very tasty. But, if they are processed ramen noodles, then you need to know that they are very unhealthy.
They contain a food additive called Tertiary-butyl hydroquinone (TBHQ) (1). TBHQ is a well-known preservative. And it is a petroleum industry byproduct.
This byproduct contains a lot of sodium (salt), calories and plenty of saturated fat.
Now, the worse is probably in the packaging of the container the noodles come with. These contain a dreaded chemical called bisphenol-A (BPA) (2).
BPA is a substance that is used in the styrofoam cups where they pour our noodle lunches.
BPA is known to be carcinogenic.
At the same time, it is one of the worse hormone disruptors. In fact, it does negatively affect our natural hormones such as estrogen.
Non -exhaustive list why you should not buy instant noodles again
Here are 7 reasons why I would not buy instant noodles ever again.
1- Too much sodium
When you eat instant noodles, you are basically eating salt.
These are simply full of sodium, and sodium is salt.
Most processed food companies load any of their products with sodium so that you become addicted to the taste.
Unfortunately, too much sodium is bad for your health.
Too much of it and you increase your blood pressure.
By increasing your blood pressure, you also increase the risk of heart disease and stroke.
Now, if you are suffering from hypertension, I would advise you to avoid instant noodles.
In fact, I would go as far as saying that I would avoid eating any sodium types of food to reduce blood pressure.
2- High in saturated fat
Saturated fats are bad for you. And instant noodles have plenty of them to increase your dependence on the product.
Unfortunately, there is a real difference between healthy and unhealthy saturated fats.
Regrettably, instant noodles have no healthy fats, which are a good source of energy for your body. It only has saturated fat, which is bad for you as it leads to obesity and clogged arteries.
Basically, the fats that you find in noodles are rich in low-density lipoproteins.
And this type of lipoproteins dramatically increases your cholesterol and, as such, the risk of heart disease.
3- Too many preservatives
Apart from the bad fat, you’ll also find that instant noodles have plenty of bad preservatives.
They contain a substance called butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA). And they are also loaded with T- butylhydroquinone (TBHQ).
The aim of these two substances is to prolong the shelf life of the noodles.
Unfortunately, the FDA approves the consumption of these. But they carefully mention that we need to consume them moderately.
Any consumption of these preservatives should be minimal. The reason is simple. If you eat them for a long period of time, then you are at risk of developing cancer.
4- Are noodles easy to digest?
The answer is No, instant noodles are pretty hard to digest for our stomachs.
The difficult bit that is really annoying is that instant noodles are allowed on our supermarket shelves.
If you think of it, how can a product that can strain your digestive track be allowed on the shelves?
The only reason for that is that the authorities advise us not to eat too much of them.
But what about the poor student who does not have time or money to cook proper food?
The issue I have with these instant noodles is that if we have difficulties to digest the food, then all of the bad toxins that are inside the food will be absorbed by our body.
And this includes preservatives. Scientists keep demonstrating that the absorption of preservatives can lead to severe illness.
For instance, you can contract asthma, diarrhea, harm the reproductive organs and cause cancer.
5- Contain monosodium glutamate
Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is one of the substances that I do not like at all.
And some of the instant noodles have this substance inserted in it.
Do you know why? To make you want more noodles as monosodium glutamate enhance the flavor.
Scientists do warn us that regular consumption of MSG does lead to suffering from severe headaches.
But you can also suffer from chest pain and numbness in the neck as well as on the mouth.
Finally, if you eat too much of MSG, you may end up with excessive sweating and flushing episodes.
6- Produced from hard to digest refined flour
This is an interesting one.
The vast majority of noodles are produced using ultra-white refined flour.
When making this type of flour, producers remove off all the healthy nutrients in it.
The bits they leave in the flour are the carbohydrates in the form of starch.
And refined flour is not good for you as it increases your blood sugar levels.
By increasing your sugar in your blood, you increase the risk of high blood sugar and diabetes.
In addition to this, because this is bad sugar, you’ll definitely increase the potential for obesity.
In turn, this could lead to high cholesterol levels.
7- Contain harmful toxins
Now, this is the last negative point I like to make and then you can make your own decision about instant noodles.
If you investigate these, you’ll find that they are full of harmful toxins.
And now that we know instant noodles takes a lot of time to be digested by our body, it is clear that we will keep these toxins in our bloodstream and cells.
Do we really want these?
Any toxin that is left in your body as bad as it may damage your organism.
Think about it. Do you really think that the manufacturers that produce instant noodles will change the oil often?
Do you think that this oil is a good oil or is it palm oil that causes heart disease?
As the manufacturer fry the noodle in the oil, this oil will produce an oxidizing agent, which, in turn, will develop bad toxins.
So, when the manufacturer is done with the production of noodles, it just packs them along with the degraded oil and fat as well as the toxins.
Conclusion
In this article, you learned that your stomach has difficulties to digest instant noodles.
And as a consequence, you increase the risk for your body to absorb bad substances including toxin.
I have summarised 7 reasons why I would not like to eat instant noodles.
Now it is up to you do decide if they are good or bad. You have to make a difficult choice between cheap food and health.
Back to you
I think by now you have taken the right decision of not consuming instant noodles.
And I believe it is the right one.
I am proud that you have taken that decision as it is not an easy one to make.
Especially that we all got used to eating instant noodles because they are addictive due to the sodium and saturated fat.
So, I am also proud of your courage for having moved away from sodium, etc.
Speak soon in another Omigy article.