• From yoghurts filled with sugar-coated fruit chunks to the common belief that "fat-free"actually means anything, we count 15 food marketed as healthy when that simply isn'ttrue 15 - Cereal,• Most people on this Earth always start their breakfast off with cereal, and eventhough most proclaim it's the best way to start your day - that's simply not true• Obviously the sugary cereal aimed at kids is generally unhealthy, but even the healthy-brandedones like Raisin Bran and Honey Flakes contain an equal amount of sugar since the manufacturersdestroy the original vitamins and minerals to add their own preservatives• Even when you find a brand of cereal that retains as much of their original ingredientsas possible - the reality is you're still much better off with whole foods for breakfast14 - Multigrain and Wheat Breads, • People generally know that white breadisn't the healthiest thing in the world, but fewer realise that the supposed "healthy"alternatives aren't that much better • Whole wheat bread is good for you, butthe ones you'll find on the shelf at your supermarket are hardly ever whole wheat - they'regenerally made of enriched flour which are the same ones that have had their nutrientsstripped during processing • Your risk of blood sugar problems, diabetesand heart disease may rise unless you incorporate more whole grains in your diet, while alsohelping you maintain a healthy weight 13 - Reduced Fat Peanut Butter,• This is a classic marketing trick - to pretend like there's a healthy alternativeto a product considered fatty by removing the fat and replacing it with things justas unhealthy • If you get a topping with reduced fat,it just means they've added in sugar and fillings to retain most of the taste while retainingall the calories • Even though checking the dietary informationon the back is a confusing, indecipherable mess - you're better off checking it to makesure you know what you're putting in your body than get a slightly worse tasting productfor absolutely no reason 12 - Muffins,• Many consider these a nice bread-like snack, blueberry and bran flavoured ones providingas much nutrition as fruit • In reality, muffins, no matter what styleor flavour, are miniature cakes loaded with calorie, unhealthy fats, sugars and the samenutritionless refined flour found in some supermarket bread• If you feel like buying muffins next time you're at the market, consider sharing onewith a friend or even make your own at home but load them up fresh, healthy ingredients11 - Trail Mix, • Certain nuts and seeds are actually verygood for you, and you can even get ones that include dark chocolate and dried apricotsstill just as healthy, but trail mix is not that• Most supermarket versions come with candy pieces, yogurt chunks and deep friend fruitpieces - all loaded with calories, sugars, trans fat and refined carbs• From just a couple of handfuls of trail mix, you're getting almost a third of yourdaily calorie intake along with all kinds of salted nonsense - if you're looking fora quick snack, consider more basic nut and seed varieties10 - Sport Drinks, • If it isn't already obvious, this productis aimed at athletes and olympians, those who push their bodies beyond breaking point- it wasn't aimed at guys who do 5 sit-ups and call it a day• These drinks contain heavy salts and liquid sugar, and while they're generally consideredslightly less unhealthy than soft drinks, there really isn't much difference - electrolyteswill help you regain lost salts in your body, but most people don't need this• Something you should consider is, if you're sweating all the water from your body, maybeyou should try drinking, I don't know, water 9 - Pre-made Salads,• It's amazing what some salads can get away with, to the point where they end upwith more calories than the meatiest, heart-attack inducing fast food hamburger on this planet• There are those that have some lettuce covered in ham, turkey, cheese, bacon, friedchicken and drenched in mayo claiming itself to be a salad in the longest word-stretchingtechnicality ever • Most restaurants aren't guilty of thisif they prepare the salads fresh, and you can easily prepare a salad at home yourself,add in a little tasty meat without going crazy and all the salads you feel like eating8 - Fish, • As unbelievable as it sounds, there area couple of reasons fish contain all sorts of harmful toxins and actually have a slightrisk of ending your life • Farmed fish, unlike those caught wildand fresh, are kept in horrifyingly bad conditions and prone to disease and parasites - farmerscombat this by pumping them full of antibiotics and chemicals, then feed them gluten, soyand junk grain meals until they end up dead and on your plate• Fish also naturally contain mercury known as one of the most toxic elements in the world- but luckily not a huge amount, though if you're getting mercury from other methodsthen you'll end up dead a lot faster - all because you can't get enough of those prawns7 - Fruit Juice, • This one is mixed, because while it doescontain some nutritious fruit vitamins - the amount of empty calories and sugar it containsjust outright destroys all the benefits • Even if you were to drink cans of cokeday after day, you wouldn't be filling your body with anywhere near the amount of calories,carbs and grams of sugar found in fruit juice • Not even all-natural preservative freejuice can escape the downsides - those make up for the lack of calories and sugar by loadingit with high fructose corn syrup and additives 6 - Pretzels,• Now, not all pretzels are bad - you can actually get whole wheat ones that containa good deal of fiber, and especially when mixed with protein from cheese or peanut butter• Pretzels are better for you than potato chips, but don't be fooled - they don't giveyour body anything but empty calories - so no vitamins, fiber, minerals or protein tospeak of • And if you're eating salted pretzels youmight aswell be injecting salt directly into your bloodstream - you get almost half yourrecommended daily intake from one small packet 5 - Energy Bar,• Like with energy drinks, you're obviously only supposed to eat these if you're intoheavy workouts, especially if they contain a huge amount of protein• But most energy bars are souped up candy bars - they contain an equal amount of calories,fats, sugar and oil, just as bad for you • Energy bars are meant to be effectivelymeal replacements so your body has something to draw on when it gets exhausted, so if youare planning to eat these, stick with ones that have a low sugar and carb reading, asmake sure they pack on the protein 4 - Margarine,• Many don't understand the difference between butter and margarine, and since butter gota bad rap back in the day because of the high saturated fat content, most stick with margarine• But here's a news flash: margarine isn't real food, it's a Frankenstein creation ofchemicals and oils made to look and taste like butter - studies have shown you're morelikely to get a heart attack from eating toast with margarine than you do with butter• Real butter, preferably grass-fed is the way to go - just read the information on theback of the product and make sure it isn't processed3 - Dried Fruit, • This one sounds amazing because, well,it's fruit - fruit is supposed to be healthy, but there's something very basic that shouldbe understood • If you're going to have a fresh productsit on the shelf for weeks on end, you're gonna need to add something that will keepit from spoiling, hence preservatives, the most common item found in any supermarketand one of the worst for your body • Dried fruit is loaded with sugar and sulfarto keep them going, which jacks up their calorie count to insane degrees - a few banana chipscan give you over a hundred calories all at once2 - Subway, • We all remember the marketing campaigns,how they make the food right in front of you, that guy who lost a bajillion pounds by eatingnothing but subway • And to a degree it is true - the foodis fresher than most other fast food restaurants, but you have to understand: healthy food dependson your point of view • The meat is processed, everything is filledwith preservatives the sauces riddled with sugar, the extras like cookies and soft drinksessentially junk food bundled with the sandwiches • You might aswell go to McDonalds and ordera prepackaged salad alongside your big mac - that's pretty much what you're doing withSubway 1 - Fruit Yogurt• Even low and fat-free yoghurts can't escape the reality that in order to retain anythingresembling taste, it needs to be drenched in corn syrup, starch and sugar• Some include artificial sweeteners which, if you're diabetic, might set you off andspike up your insulin • If you do get a yoghurt though, and believeme you could do much worse for a snack, don't get ones with fruit chunks - they generallycontain sugar and preservatives - just add your own fresh fruit to a vanilla flavour
Sign up here with your email
ConversionConversion EmoticonEmoticon