Healthy living is on the rise! America has changed their so called slogan from the “Big Mac” to juice cleanses. Healthy foods and living styles are endorsed by many industries, spokes-perons, and universities. Since healthy foods are becoming so popular, many foods, even if not healthy, will claim the title of it. The following list are foods that claim to be “healthy” but aren’t:
- Granola
- Fruit Juices
- Veggie Chips
- Gluten-Free Foods
- Frozen Yogurt
Granola– granola is a healthy snack alternative compared to eating pretzels or chips, but once a person eats more than the reccemended serving size, it could be a huge no-no. The good parts of granola are packed with fiber and iron, but the bad side is that the nuts lead to a high number in saturated fats. Making your 120-calorie bar contain 12g of fat. Granola bars contain lots of oils and artificial flavors. Don’t get me wrong, granola is a good food compared to most, but if you’re gonna eat it make it a meal replacer, since it does contain most of the ingredients a meal would give you.
Fruit Juices– (the supermarket kinds) Most juices have small amounts of real fruit in them. They are filled with artificial flavors, A LOT of sugar, and water. Juice strips the healthy parts out of the fruit and leaves immense amounts of sugar. Fruit is high in sugar alone so by taking away everything else in it, it leads to one big sugary drink.
Veggie Chips– The only appeal to these are because they have the word veggie in them. These chips are still made of potatoes and many other ingredients that are used to make actual chips. The veggie taste people taste is from the pounds of artificial flavors they pack onto these CHIPS. There’s a reason they kept the title chip.
Gluten-Free Foods– Gluten-free always sounds healthier than the alternative. Many people have said that cutting gluten, which is found in grains, wheat, and rye, has made them loose a
lot of weight. That is true but eating a gluten-free muffin isn’t the same. Instead of using gluten, manufactures fill the foods up with potatoes or some sort of starch. They are loaded with artificial flavors and many other fake ingredients.
Frozen Yogurt– Frozen yogurt is healthier than traditional ice cream. It doesn’t have the same amount of calories or fat but it is loaded with sugar.
The foods listed above share one ingredient, SUGAR. Sugars new reputation is it’s considered to be a toxin. It creates fat, gives a higher chance to get diabetes, harms the heart, on top of many other non-beneficial effects. It is also extremely addictive. It is believed that the average person eats 32 teaspoons of suga
r a day. Even when looking at the nutrition facts, most people focus on the calories and fat when they should be focusing on the sugar as well!
Sugar is addictive because the energy it gives our bodies. Our bodies almost rely on the sugar in take we eat each day. Glucose must be regulated in the blood and our bodies do a great job of doing so by releasing insulin. This takes away any extra glucose floating around in the blood. By eating too many sugary foods, our bodies develop a tolerance and can’t break it down on it’s own anymore. This is also known as diabetes and people start to inject themselves with insulin.
A meta-analysis was performed by Sam Sun, a nutritionist scientist at Archer Daniels Midland (food corporation), where he analyzed the sugar consumption of more than 25,000 individuals. He found no correlation in positive attributes for the body from the ingredients found in sugar.
What to eat:
If a person wants to be on a healthy diet they should stick to foods with not a lot of sugar. Fruits are okay in moderation. Salmon, chicken and all vegetables are the healthiest things that a person could eat. They are loaded with good fats and will give the body healthy and necessary nutrition instead of the toxin, sugar.
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