Author: Christina Pomoni
In the quest for weight loss, calorie confusion is running wild across America. The average American reads a large amount of dietary information and eventually underestimates the power of calories, which lobbed by the nations major restaurant chains records unprecedented nutritional impact on our health.
Weve been bombarded by fat-free, sugar-free, reduced-fat, low-fat products and we are certain we consume healthy products. What we miss though is that all these fancy terms actually translate into preservatives, excessive carbs, high glycemic index and artificial sweeteners. All these seemingly-healthy foods may actually be a calorie punch to our diet.
Definitely, there are some foods that you need to keep an eye on as they are harmful to your health and overall wellness. That said, heres a relevant list:
Diet Drinks / Diet Soda
There has been quite some debate about diet drinks, and diet soda in particular. Some people think its healthy because its sugar-free. However, clinical studies have shown that sugar-free translates into artificial sweeteners. Diet soda contains high amounts of controversed aspartame, which combined with the flavours and colours of diet drinks, develops a harmful carcinogenic effect on the human body. In addition, in the absence of sugar, the effect of caffeine is intensified leading to hyperactivity, High Blood Pressure and increased levels of blood sugar. A healthy alternative is water, green tea, or a glass of milk.
Fruit Juices, Dried Fruits, and Fruit Cocktails
Eating fresh fruits is healthy because they are high in vitamins, antioxidants, fiber and minerals. In contrast, fruit juices and fruit cocktails contain sugar syrup, lots of preservatives and no fiber. Dried fruits contain high amounts of sugar, although they are, supposedly, sugar free. A healthy alternative is eating the whole fruit with the skin limiting it to one per meal. For fruit cocktails it is healthy to eat the packaged fruits that come with their own juices instead of syrup.
Cottage Cheese
Cottage cheese is one of the best sources of protein and provides the dietary calcium that many women lacking in their diets. However, it contains high amounts of sodium. Excess sodium causes water weight gain and bloating which may impede your motivation to lose more weight as the scale wont be moving downwards. As an alternative you can eat low sodium cottage cheese.
Yogurt with fruits at the bottom
Eating yogurt and fruits separately is some of the healthiest choices. However, eating yogurt cups with fruits is totally unhealthy because they contain double amounts of sugar (20g per cup) and corn syrup. A healthy alternative is to buy unflavoured yogurt and mix it with freshly cut pieces of fruits.
Reduced-Fat Peanut Butter
Regular peanut butter contains high amounts of monosaturated fat, which is a great protein source and contributes to heart disease prevention. However, reduced-fat peanut butter is high in calories and can add up far too many calories to your diet.
In addition, reduced-fat peanut butter contains high amounts of additives and hydrogenated vegetable oil, which is the key source of artery-clogging trans fats. A healthy alternative is to prepare peanut butter at home with olive oil that is highly beneficial.
Peanuts
Peanuts are rich in monosaturated fats, vitamin E, fiber, magnesium, and copper that can reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases. However, peanuts contain high amounts of omega-6 fats that distort the omega-3 to omega-6 ratio. Normally, the ratio should be 1:1 per each omega fatty acid so that our health is protected from diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and Alzheimers. With the excessive amount of omega-6, the beneficial effect of peanuts is reduced. In addition, they are highly susceptible to aflatoxin contamination as well as to pesticide contamination.
Corn Oil
Corn oil contributes to the reduction of cholesterol levels because it is rich in omega-6 fatty acids. Yet, similarly like peanuts, it contains 60 times more omega-6 acids than omega-3s. This results in increased risk of arthritis, cancer and obesity. A healthy alternative is canola oil and olive oil that have better omega 6 to omega 3 ratio.
Fast-Food Salads
Meal-sized salads have become one of the biggest nutritional gaffes of restaurant menus. They are high in sugar-laden dressings and their croutons are made from refined white flour. Apart from being high in fats and calories, they also contain large amounts of sodium which cause the body to retain water weight. This adds up to 700 calories, which can translate into 20 pounds a year if you eat out twice a week. Instead of eating a Caesar Salad in a fast food restaurant is healthier to make your own salad.
Granola Bars
Granola bars contain natural oats, nuts and raisins that are highly nutritional. However, they are glued together with high fructose corn syrup that increases blood sugar levels.
The list of counterfeit foods may be endless, but luckily there are many healthy alternatives. Fortunately, fruits and vegetables remain a vital component of a healthy nutrition, but now we can look for tricky healthy phrases plastered on food containers.
Unfortunately, globalization has affected food industry in ways that are beyond our control. Food manufacturers need to increase their profitability and this means longer shelf life, more preservatives and less natural ingredients.
The good news is that the more we read articles about healthy nutrition, the more we become capable of discovering these frauds so as to keep away from these fat-free, sugar-free killers.
About the Author:
I work as a financial and investment advisor but my passion is writing, music and photography. Writing mostly about finance, business and music, being an amateur photographer and a professional dj, I am inspired from life. Being a strong advocate of simplicity in life, I love my family, my partner and all the people that have stood by me with or without knowing. And I hope that someday, human nature will cease to be greedy and demanding realizing that the more we have the more we want and the more we satisfy our needs the more needs we create. And this is so needless after all.
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Foods that seem healthy but are not
