There are many foods which appear to be healthy but in fact they are extremely unhealthy and increase the risk of many health problems.
There are many unhealthy foods covered up with impressive labels such as “fat-free” and “100%” sugar free and make you think they are healthy and safe. Keep reading and you will find out which 10 foods are included in this category.
Vegetable Oils
Many people think that the vegetable oils are healthy and safe and that is probably due to the word “vegetable” they have. However, they are extremely unhealthy and even dangerous for your health. They cause inflammation which leads to hormone imbalance, heart attacks, diabetes and even cancer. Try to avoid vegetable oils and use coconut oil instead which is much safer variant.
Foods labeled “fat-free”
It is really important to clarify that “fat-free” doesn’t mean calorie-free. If we take the gummy bears for example, it is evident that if some food doesn’t contain any fat that doesn’t make it healthy one. There are many fat-free foods such as vegetables and fruits but it is recommended to check the nutrition when buying packaged foods. This is important so that you make sure that the product you buy is a nutritious one and not just “fat-free”. Vitamins, minerals, sodium, calories and fiber are one of the aspects you need you consider when it comes to fat.
Pasta
This side dish is one of the most common ones found in a person`s standard diet and many people consume it on daily basis. Instead of pouring your pasta sauce, pour it over a spaghetti squash. The spaghetti squash (1 cup) contains 42 calories and that is only 1.5% of the usual 2.000-calorie diet. This is actually 179 calories less than one cup of spaghetti pasta. Additionally, one cup of squash contains B vitamins, vitamin K, vitamin C, vitamin E and vitamin A. It is rich in minerals such as zinc, manganese, selenium, calcium and copper as well.
Multigrain Bread
The multigrain bread is by many people considered to be a healthy food. The words like “7 grain”, “wheat” and “multigrain” in fact don’t mean that much. The breads labeled in this way lack the fiber of the whole grains and contain refined grains. This can make you blood sugar spike faster after eating and it leads to cravings. The next time you buy bread make a good and smart choice. If the flour on the label is refined and it says something like “unbleached enriched wheat flour” or “bleached” that means that it doesn’t contain whole grains.
Peanut Butter
Most of the peanut butters are heavily processed, contaminated with pesticides and contain hydrogenated trans fats and added sugar. The natural peanut butter is not a good replacement too because it is more liable to toxic mold growth. Another important thing is that all peanut butters contain oxalates which crystallize in the body and eventually lead to some health issues. It is recommended to choose some healthier option such as natural almond, cashew butter or sunflower. It is better if they are in raw form and make sure they don’t contain any added fats or sugars.
Trail Mix
The trial mix seems to be the perfect choice for a quick snack. However, this quick snack contains many calories. If you put your hand in the bag twice, you are looking at almost 600 calories and chock-full of refined carbohydrates, simple sugars and trans fat. Even though there are some healthy trail mix, including the ones made just nuts, dried apricots and dark chocolate most of the trail mix we buy are loaded with candy-coated pieces, sesame sticks, deep-fried banana chips and yogurt-covered raisins.
Yogurt/ Frozen Yogurt
Most people think that yogurt is healthy drink due to the good bacteria and the probiotics. However, most yogurts are loaded with high-fructose corn syrup and added sugar. The same is applied to frozen yogurt too. It seems that they are low calories and low in fat, the sugar transforms to fat immediately after entering in the bloodstream. You can take Greek yogurt instead because it contains higher amount of proteins. Avoid the flavored one and choose the plain.
Multivitamins
The synthetic vitamins are not a good choice at all. They lack co-factors that help absorption and they are often stored in fat or lost through urination because the body simply cannot absorb synthetic vitamins. Fake versions are more toxic than natural ones.
Drinking Fruit Juice
It is really important to know that fruit juice is not always what it appears to be. Sometimes, it can literally be water mixed with some kind of fruit concentrate and sugar. In many cases there is actually no fruit in there but just chemicals that taste like fruit.
However, even the real 100 % fruit juice can be bad idea. Some fresh juices, including the orange juice have approximately the same amount of sugar as sodas, including Pepsi and Coca Cola. We can say that most fruit juices contain as much sugar as sugar-sweetened beverages. All the good stuff from the fruit is actually removed. There is no fiber in the juice and no chewing resistance which could stop the intake of vast amounts of sugar. Additionally, while whole fruits need longer time to digest, it is easy to consume big amounts of fruit juice in short amount of time. One glass of orange juice contains the sugar equivalent of several oranges.
As you can conclude, it is much better to eat whole fruits instead of drink fruit juices. This is not applied for the ones on a low-carb diet.
Soy Sauce
Putting soy sauce in this category can be shocking for the ones who love this sauce. It is really tasty and “fat-free” but in fact there are many good reasons why it should be put on this list.
The soy sauce is rich in antioxidants and probably that is the reason why it is often mistaken as healthy. However, it lacks isoflavones, antioxidants found in many other soy products. On the other hand, it contains huge amounts of salt and some other chemicals which according to many studies increase the risk of certain types of cancer.
Thanks to the stricter regulations on these chemicals and the relatively fresh knowledge of the dangers linked with high-salt contents, various kinds of low-sodium soy sauces and sauces free of dangerous chemicals. The bad side is that these variants are not as tasty as the real ones.
