Nutrition

11 Fake Healthy Foods You Should Avoid

Fake healthy foods

Last updated: April 13, 2019 at 19:01 pm
 

If you put a ‘superfood’ or ‘healthy ingredients’ label on products, sales will increase for 50% at least, which proves there’s a trend of eating healthier, organic, and more quality food nowadays.

But don’t believe every commercial or every food label.

Why?

Some studies show that every other organic or healthy product actually isn’t.

They are full of additives and hidden sugars.

Eating fake healthy foods is one of the most common reasons why you are not losing weight even if you are trying.

Turns out, eating healthier means cutting out these 10 fake healthy foods.

So, here is the list of ‘healthy’ foods that are actually bad for you.

Fake healthy foods you should avoid:

1. Wheat flakes

You hear people saying they are the best choice for breakfast, good for your health and figure, as well.

But, they are far from the truth.

In industrial production, they enhance the taste of wheat flakes by adding salt and so-called E- additives which are actually sodium salts.

Food experts have been warning us for a while that muesli and corn flakes can be loaded with calories because they have a lot of sugar, salt (sodium), and fat.

If you read the food labels carefully, you will find out that nearly all wheat flakes in the supermarkets contain about 20-30 % of sugar per 100g.

Tip: Oat flakes and other raw cereals which you can eat with yogurt, fruit, honey, etc. are a much better alternative for breakfast.

2. Bread

White, whole wheat, with olives, chia seeds, garlic, gluten-free and so on. Basically, any kind of bread is something that we should enjoy rarely, not daily.

It’s because bread is difficult to digest, full of trans fats, sugar, and salt and it’s usually blamed for high cholesterol, inflammation, and heart diseases.

Don’t think gluten-free bread is better because gluten is replaced with other chemicals that improve taste.

Bread has a high glycemic index and a bunch of calories responsible for obesity.

So, what should you do?

It’s unreal to stop eating bread at all, but try to cut down as much as possible.

Tip: You should not eat these foods too often, and if you can’t resist them then you should replace them with products made of whole wheat flour. If you can’t imagine your meal without bread try to eat it at least every other day.

3. Margarine

You must’ve heard that margarine is healthy for your heart, it lowers cholesterol and blood pressure, helps you lose weight and it improves your health in every way.

It sounds good, it’s just that it’s not true.

Margarine is made from vegetable oils which are obtained by the chemical separation process which involves chemical solvents.

The high temperature during processing the oils destroys vitamins and antioxidants allowing free radicals, which can produce big damage to the cells and increase the risk of cancer, to appear.

Then, in the hydrogenation process, the liquid oils change by using nickel as a catalyst, and the rest of the chemicals used in the process stay in the product.

A solution?

The old, good, organic butter with good fats for you.

That of course if you don’t have any heart disease. In that case, eat fats as little as possible.

Tip: If you can’t imagine breakfast without butter, try to find an organic one.

4. Fruit yogurt (from the supermarket)

Fruit yogurt is tasty, but not friendly food for weight loss.

The level of sugar, additives, and preservatives is high, and the amount of fruit is very low.

It is one of the high-carb foods you should avoid.

They contain artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, cyclamin acid, and saccharin which are bad for your health.

Also, they contain artificial colors which are dangerous, especially for pregnant women and children.

Tip: Make fruit yogurt at home. Buy a low-fat Greek yogurt, put it in the blender with 100g of strawberries and enjoy the nutritious, healthy meal.

5. Fruit juices (also from the supermarkets)

Fruit juice

Most fruit juices from the local supermarkets have no nutritious value.

Basically, the main ingredients are water, a lot of sugar, additives and artificial colors. The percent of the fruit is low and they don’t have fibers.

Also, fruit juice is on our list of foods to avoid when trying to lose weight.

Tip: The best thing to do is to make juice at home because then you know what exactly you are drinking. Squeeze lemon, grapefruit, and orange and you have the perfect drink which will improve your health. Don’t throw the pulp, mix it with the juice because it’s high in fibers – component of plant cells very important for weight loss.

6. Herb cheese

Herb cheese

Herb cheese is an alternative for people with lactose intolerance.

This product contains casein (protein from milk), water, starch, aromas, and artificial colors.

But, the main problem is that this type of cheese contains up to 50% of fat.

Hydrogenated vegetable fat has trans-fatty acids which may cause atherosclerosis, so better try to avoid these products.

Tip: If you are lactose tolerant, you should eat dairy products.

7. Dried fruit

Although you think you can’t go wrong with dried fruit, cranberries, plums, dates, and grapes are usually candied, so in the end, they are sugar coated and no longer healthy.

Dried fruit contains 3 times more sugar than fresh fruit and much fewer fibers, which isn’t a good source of nutrients.

Many people eat dried fruit thinking it’s good for them since fruit is healthy.

Tip: Avoid dried fruit- fresh is always better.

8. Cereals

If you take a look at food labels, you will notice that nearly all wheat flakes in the supermarkets contain about 20-30 % of sugar per 100g, i.e. 4-5 spoonfuls of sugar.

While processing cereals a lot of nutrients disappear, and the product is as tasty as paper.

In order to make it tastier, they add sugar.

Tip: Oatmeal with low-fat yogurt and a handful of nuts is a much better solution for breakfast.

9. Energy bars

Cereal bars with honey and dried fruit and the inevitable hydrogenated vegetable fat are sweets, not healthy food.

Many of them contain chocolate, caramel, or other similar coatings which makes it impossible to say they are healthy ingredients.

Tip: Look at the ingredients. If bars have a lot of sugar or corn syrup, avoid them. Eat a banana instead.

10. Diet cookies

Even though they are made from whole-wheat flour, integral crackers and cookies are still crackers and cookies, so they have minimal benefits for you compared to other ingredients which contain less fat and no added sugar.

The healthy food shelves are full with different kinds of cookies.

Some of them have the ‘diet food’ label, some of them have ‘integral’, or even ‘healthy’ label.

However, all of them contain hydrogenated vegetable fat which is sometimes mentioned on the food label as monoglycerides or diglycerides and they contain sugars that can be hidden under 50 different names.

Tip: Eat an apple instead of this unhealthy food.

11. Diet soda

It is never enough to emphasize this: diet sodas are nothing better than regular sodas full of sugars.

Artificial sweeteners will do no good for your health, nor for your waist in the long run.

Moreover, many studies show that obese people drink diet sodas more often and because they are diet they drink them more than regular sodas and drinking more sodas sometimes makes them eat more.

Tip: Freshly squeezed juice is a much better solution than diet sodas.

READ MORE: BEST FOODS FOR WEIGHT LOSS

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