Have You Been Fooled by These
10 "Healthy" Foods?
You’re trying to eat healthier and make good decisions for you and
your family, but have you been fooled by so called “healthy” foods? Is
false advertising keeping you from reaching your health goals?
Here are 10 foods that claim to be healthy and “diet-friendly.” Don’t let
them fool you. Foods either harm or heal. When you have the
knowledge you can make smarter food choices.
1. Granola and Granola Bars
You might think that granola is the poster child for healthy food, but in
less you’re making it yourself and your recipe is very basic, with little
sweetener, the complete opposite is true.
For just a small amount granola and granola bars are very high in
calories and sugar. The most basic granola is made from toasted
oats, sweetener (high fructose corn syrup, honey or sugar) and oil.
More commonly seeds, nuts, dried fruit or chocolate is added. This
make granola loaded with sugar and calories.
Many brands contain 16 grams or more of sugar per serving, almost
as much as the 18 grams of sugar found in a chocolate candy bar with
almonds.
If you have to have granola, carefully read the nutrition label. Look for
a short list of ingredients that contain whole foods and words that you
recognize like oats. It should contain no partially hydrogenated oils or
trans fat, 8 grams or less of sugar, no high fructose corn syrup (or any
syrup), at least 3 grams of fiber, less than 2 grams of saturated fat, 0
trans fat and no more than 150 calories per serving.
Better Option:
Health Warrior Chia Bar
This healthy bar is only 100-calories. It's vegan, gluten-free, and is
made from nutrient loaded chia seeds! The flavor comes from real
apples and cinnamon. As a bonus, not only does cinnamon taste
great, but it also helps to reduce a blood sugar spike.
The bar contains:
Calories: 100
Fiber: 4g
Protein: 3g
Sugar: 5g
2. Yogurt
The majority of yogurt is not a health food. In fact it is a food to
avoid it you want to look better, feel better and live better. You might
be thinking, but they are a good source of probiotics. Guess what?
Most yogurts that state they have probiotics had them when they were
manufactured but have very little by the time you consume them. By
the time you put that spoonful into your mouth they don’t have
enough to legally state they have probiotics. In fact many yogurts
might not even be yogurt. The Cornucopia Institute (if you don’t know
what they do Google it) filed a formal complaint with the FDA,
asking them to investigate many yogurts in your grocery store
because they don’t appear to meet the legal definition of yogurt.
On average yogurt has 7 – 29 grams of sugar most of it in the form
of high fructose corn syrup. If it's sugar free it contains artificial
sweeteners. If it's fat free, it contains more sugar. The Greek Yogurt
with Berries Parfait at Starbucks has 19 grams of sugar! There really is
no healthy yogurt that contain fruit. It's healthier to go with plain
yogurt and add a 1/4 cup of your own berries. A 1/4 cup of blueberries
has just 5g of sugar.
Better Option:
Photo: Traderspoint Creamery
Traderspoint Plain Yogurt
This organic, 100% grass fed milk yogurt is higher in omega-3s and
cancer-fighting CLAs than other single serve size yogurts. And with 0
sugar it's a win for yogurt lovers. It has also been chosen "America's
Best Yogurt" by the American Cheese Society and The Cornucopia
Institute gave it its highest 5-star dairy ranking. That is high praise.
This yogurt is a health food.
The yogurt contains, per 5 oz:
Calories: 90
Fiber: 0g
Protein: 5g
Sugar: 0g
3. Veggie chips
They have the word “Veggie” on the label so they must be healthy? Fat
and calorie wise they are the same as any potato chip. Remember
that a potato is also a vegetable. Compare labels and there is little to
no difference. There are a few brands that contain slightly less fat and
less sodium. Both potato and veggie chips usually contain 10 percent
of your daily dose of vitamin C, but some varieties of veggie chips (like
sweet potato) also contain 50 percent of your recommended amount
of vitamin A.
Better Option:
Photo: Way Better Snacks
Way Better Snacks Sweet Potato Corn Tortilla Chips
This company adds sprouted whole grains and seeds to their tortilla
chips. All grains and seeds are healthier and easier to digest when
they are sprouted. The ingredients are simple, organic and GMO free.
They consist of pure seas salt, sprouted chia seed, organic sprouted
quinoa, sweet potato, stone ground non GMO corn, sunflower and/or
safflower oil and 0 sugar.
The chips contain, per 1.25 oz (about 15 chips):
Calories: 170
Fiber: 3g
Protein: 3g
Sugar: 0g
4. Protein bars
Protein bars have become very popular. Although there are some good
options, many are not healthy and are no better than eating a candy
bar or a package of M&M's. In fact, many have almost as much, or
even more sugar than a candy bar. A package of M&M's has 29 grams
of sugar and a Larabar Key Lime Pie has 24g of sugar. The World
Health Organization and The American Heart Association recommend
that women consume no more than 25g of added sugar
daily. Healthy protein bars should have 8 grams of sugar or
less and remember carbs are sugar too.
Better Option:
The bar contains:
Calories: 200
Fiber: 7g
Protein: 6g
Sugar: 5g
5. Natural sugars
Sugar by any other name is still sugar! Raw sugar, molasses, maple
syrup, coconut sugar, dates and even raw honey are all just
sugar. They contain minimal nutrition and not enough to undo the
damage sugar does to your body. You can't compare these sugar to
the sugar found in fruit, there is no comparison. Fruit has enough fiber
and antioxidants to justify the sugar. That includes dates. Just one
date contains 5.26g of sugar and just 0.7g of fiber.
It's best for everyone to keep the sugar in your diet to a minimum in
order to decrease your risk for diseases caused by chronic
inflammation like diabetes, heart disease, cancer, dementia,
autoimmune disease, stroke and more. It will also help you lose
weight or prevent weight gain. If you already have a disease caused
by chronic inflammation, watching your daily sugar consumption, from
all sources, with a healthy diet could greatly improve your health, stop
it from progressing and with the right lifestyle plan could even reverse
it.
As mentioned above, the World Health Organization and The American
Heart Association recommend that women consume no more than 25g
of added sugar daily. That's about 6 teaspoons of sugar.
When sugar and other carbs are digested they are converted to
glucose, the glucose stimulates insulin, which is the fat storage
hormone. You can only use so much glucose for energy; the rest is
stored as fat. So, too much of any kind of sugar will make you fat,
cause inflammation (the root of all diseases) and leads to
insulin resistance.
Better Option:
photo: Swanson vitamin
This natural sweetener contains
Calories: 0
Fiber: 0g
Protein: 0g
Sugar: 0g
6. All commercial fruit juice and smoothies
Yes, this includes you Pom juice and every other 100% fruit juice. As
far a bottled smoothies, Odwalla, Bolthouse and Naked are a few
brands that come to mind. From a blood-sugar, inflammation and a
weight-gain perspective, the sugar in juice and bottle smoothies is
identical to the sugar in candy.
If you want to spike your blood sugar, gain belly fat and increase
inflammation drink 8 oz of 100% fruit juice it's the fastest way to
derail your health and weight. Drink it in the morning to create new
fat cells. Just 4 oz of Pom juice has 15 grams of sugar, 100
calories, 0 fiber and some antioxidants and nutrients. Most juice does
contain about 10% of your daily requirement of vitamin C. If you must
have juice do a shot. 2 oz of juice has 50 calories with 7g of
sugar...that's still high for just 2 oz.
There is little difference with bottled smoothies. Green Goodness Fruit
Smoothie sounds healthy doesn't it? One 8 oz serving contains 30g of
sugar and only 2g of fiber.
Better Option: any whole fruit or a healthy smoothie made at home
photo: cuties circus
Calories: 40
Fiber: 4g
Protein: 1g
Sugar: 6.5g
7. Gluten free food
The problem with many gluten-free foods is that it is often junk
foods with a gluten-free label. Processed food is processed food no
matter if it is gluten free or not. However, gluten free products
are almost always worse for you. They are usually higher in sugar,
unhealthy oils and refined starches like corn starch or tapioca starch.
These refined starches lead to immediate spikes in blood sugar
(hello fat storage), and are extremely low in essential nutrients. It's
much better to choose naturally occurring gluten foods.
Better Option:
The bar contains:
Calories: 200
Fiber: 7g
Protein: 6g
Sugar: 5g
(yes, I have listed this bar twice. There is just not that many
processed gluten free foods that I approve of.)
8. Frozen Diet Meals
All calories are not created equal. For a small amount of calories,
frozen diet meals pack a punch when it comes to sugar (HFCS),
sodium, bad fats, soy, starch, polysorbate 80 and more artificial
ingredients. They usually don't fill you up either. The best option is to
create your own frozen meals. I have recipes several that I give to my
clients. If you have to have a frozen meal the option below is one of
the better choices.
Better Option:
photo: cuties circus luvoinc.com
Luvo Thai Style Curry Chicken
Luvo focuses on healthy, natural ingredients. There meals are BHTfree. They use animal protein raised without antibiotics, dairy raised
without hormones, cage-free eggs, and non-GMO ingredients including
corn, soy and canola.
Each Luvo meal is cooked en papillote... it’s prepackaged in a paper
bag, not a plastic container... ensuring that chicken doesn’t get
rubbery and noodles remain al dente when microwaved. Plastic
containers contain BPA (banned in over 100 countries, it's liked to
cancer and girls getting breasts and periods as early as age 7) and 4
more toxins.
The meal contains:
Calories: 260
Fiber: 3g
Protein: 15g
Sugar: 6g
9. Dried Fruit
Dried fruit has way more sugar than fresh fruit and 60-80% less
antioxidants than fresh fruit. Which do you think has more sugar 1
serving of Craisins or a bag of M&M's? It's almost a tie. A bag of M&M's
has 30g and Craisins have 29g. That's 4 more grams of sugar than
your daily allowance!
What happens to your body when you eat one serving of dried
fruit? Your brain doesn’t know how to say no to dried fruit. You
will crave more sugar. So it’s easy to eat more than one serving of
dried fruit, because fructose doesn’t signal to your brain when you’re
full. Fructose doesn’t suppress ghrelin. Ghrelin is the hunger hormone
because it stimulates appetite, increases food intake and promotes
fat storage.
The sugar in dried fruit makes you store fat fast and causes
inflammation. Fructose can create havoc on your health. This why it
a NOT a good idea to even have 5 Craisins or any dried fruit at all.
Craisins are sprayed with sugar before they are dried. Just say no to
dried fruit. Your body will thank you.
Watch my short YouTube video for more information on dried fruit and
why it is not a health food. Don't forget to subscribe to my new
channel.
Better Option:
Fresh fruit especially berries
You save calories and sugar. Dried fruit has 2 to 3 times more calories
in the form of sugar! When you consume fresh fruit you get more
nutrients, fiber and water for less calories. Fruit heals; dried fruit
harms.
1/2 cup of raspberries contains:
Calories: 32
Fiber: 2.7
Protein: 0.74g
Sugar: 2.72g
10. Diet Pop
I think most people know that diet pop is not a health food, but it can't
be stated enough. It has 0 nutritional value. It leads to weight gain:
A University of Texas Health Science Center study found that the more
diet pop a person drank, the greater their risk of becoming
overweight. If you drink 2 or more cans a day you have a 500%
chance of gaining weight. They are sweetened with artificial
sweeteners like aspartame, saccharin, or sucralose. They contribute
to metabolic syndrome, which often leads to serious diseases.
Better Option:
Infused water
Fruit infused water contains antioxidants and can slightly boost your
metabolism. It is the true vitamin water. It's 0 calories, unless you eat
the fruit. A little water with lemon before meals may reduce hunger.
Lemon can be combined with any fruit combination and the
combinations are endless. Visit my Pinterest board for dozens of
recipes.