While there is a lot of truth to this saying, “You can eat what you want when you work hard all day,” it is not necessarily true.

A more appropriate saying is, “You are what you eat!” because it’s true.

You may be working out daily, doing plenty of cardio exercises, and drinking lots of water yet still gain weight and feel unhealthy.

If you’re not eating the right foods, progress is slower.

If you’re eating any of the eight foods on this list, you’re destroying your progress, and you need to change your habits.

We’re going to start with the most pervasive and favorite unhealthy food.

1.) Pizza

There are very few people on this planet who can deny that pizza is delicious.

The buttery bread, savory tomato sauce, and melted cheese make for a party in your mouth, every time.

Unfortunately, this party becomes a disaster by the time it hits your gut.

Though delicious, most store-bought or chain-delivered pizzas are ridiculously high in saturated fats and sodium.

A single slice of cheese pizza satisfies 50% of the average adult’s daily sodium limit.

At two slices in, you’ve nearly reached the recommended daily maximum for saturated fat.

You would have to eat nothing else during the day to keep from passing the nutritional limits and guidelines, and even then you would be doing your body a disservice.

Pizza doesn’t contain enough varied nutrients to compensate for it’s sugary, fatty, salty self.

2.) Fruit Juice

While fruit juices seem like a brilliant way to hydrate after a workout, do not be fooled!

Some fruit juices contain as much, if not more, sugar than soda.

A single cup of grape juice contains enough sugar to surpass the recommended allowance for women, and completely satisfy the daily quota for men!

Now while it is true that fruit juices contain vitamins and minerals that our bodies need to keep healthy, when you compare the number of nutrients to the amount of sugar, they don’t match up.

The small amounts of Vitamin C that most fruit juices contain cannot compete with the heaps of sugar that are also present.

As many of you know, high sugar intake can result in diabetes, liver problems, and a whole laundry list of related issues.

The bottom line?

The juice is delicious but unless you’re doing the juicing yourself, say no.

3.) Margarine

For decades margarine has been advertised and lauded as the “heart healthy” alternative to butter.

Because margarine is made from vegetable oils, it contains unsaturated fats which are better for you than saturated fats.

Butter, being made from animal fat, is chock-full of the “bad” fats.

So the choice seems easy, right?

It is until you start thinking about trans fats.

Some sticks of margarine are loaded with them.

Trans fats are one of the leading contributors to heart disease and coronary failure among American adults.

They function only to lower your HDL, the “good” cholesterol, and raise your LDL, the “bad” cholesterol.

Margarine should be avoided at all costs.

If you need butter, use butter.

Just be sure that you’re using a small amount.

4.) French Fries

Crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside, french fries are famous all over the world.

Unfortunately, they’re also one of the deadliest foods you can eat.

Consuming these oily, salty treats can significantly increase your mortality risk, doubling the chances that you will suffer from heart disease or diabetes.

There are many problems with fried potatoes.

Like margarine, french fries are high in trans fats.

And when overcooked, fries produce a chemical called acrylamide, which has been linked to instances of cancer.

In addition to this, potatoes are naturally a high-glycemic food, and foods of this nature tend to cause metabolic distress over time.

As they say in baseball, three strikes, you’re out.

5.) Candy

Every person on the face of the planet knows that candy is not healthy food.

Whether it’s a chocolate bar or a lollipop.

Chances are that the candy you like to eat is rotting your teeth and making you feel hungrier and unhappier.

Candy does not contain any viable nutrition and is typically mostly sugar.

As you know, consuming large quantities of sugar is addictive and can cause heart disease, and diabetes.

The calories you intake from sugar are the most fattening calories of any substance and positively the most dangerous.

Save your heart and save your pearly whites!

Stay away from candy.

6.) Processed Meats

Processed meat is meat that has undergone a preservation process, either by salting, smoking, curing or canning.

While this ensures that the meat takes longer to spoil, it also adds nitrites and nitrates.

These chemical compounds keep the meat red, improve the flavor, and prevent bacterial growth.

But they also have been linked to various cancers, including bowel cancer.

With the number of fresh meats available in most supermarkets today, it would be ridiculous to choose the one that might kill you.

7.) Processed Cheeses

As with processed meats, processed cheeses can kill.

Though they may claim to be “made from 100% natural dairy”, this does not mean that they are 100% dairy.

Most processed cheeses are so artificial that they are referred to as a “cheese product.”

Sprayable cheese, spreadable cheese, and string cheese are all examples of processed cheeses.

Saturated oils, sodium, sugar, preservatives, and emulsifiers are the most prevalent components to these false cheeses.

And each one of these components has a significant health risk associated with it, from diabetes and cancer to kidney disease.

Cheese is delicious, and real cheese is a great way to supplement your diet with some calcium while treating yourself to a little fat.

But processed cheese is chemical-rich and dangerous to eat.

8.) Fast Food

After a long day at work or the gym, it is easy to roll through a fast food joint, pick up some fried foods, and head home.

Don’t.

Fast food is the king of unhealthy food, containing merciless quantities of sodium, saturated fat, trans fats, cholesterol, and carbohydrates.

Eating it regularly is like buying a one-way ticket to the hospital.

High blood pressure, heart disease, acne, depression, dental problems, insulin resistance, obesity, and diabetes are all likely consequences of eating fast food often.

If you’re looking for a way to prepare meals quickly, plan and prepare your food ahead of time, and freeze or refrigerate it until you’re ready to eat.