Tuesday, June 15, 2010

10 Unhleathy "Healthy" Foods

hursday, 10 June 2010

  • 10 Unhealthy "Healthy" Foods


    In these days of dieting, cutting calories, and smaller portion sizes, people are trying their best to be skinnier. But certain foods are trying to trick you into thinking that they are healthy choices when they really aren't. And by just looking at them, it's easy to think that they are good for you. In fact, they tricked me for many a year! But I'm here to show you 10 foods that seem healthy, but actually aren't.

    1. Diet Soda
    People know that drinking regular soda is bad for them, so they switch to diet because it doesn't have any sugar. That's only half right, it doesn't have any REAL sugar. It's full of artificial sweeteners which, if you drink an abundance of, can cause terrible things like type 2 diabetes and makes you more likely to be obese. Diet soda=bad.


    2. Dried Fruit
    Ok, this is one that fooled me. I always thought that dried fruit was good for you all of these years! But alas, no. It has a lot of sugar and trans fats because the majority of us buy our dried fruit from the store in a bag, and by adding all of those bad things is how the dried fruit keeps shelf life. Unless you are drying your own fruit, the stuff from the store is no bueno.



    3. Muffins
    Muffins are sugar mines. When people tell you, "Oh boy this is low fat and has no calories!" that's fine and all, but how much sugar does it have? Because sugar just turns to fat like THAT when you digest it. So don't let them trick you, always check for sugar content! Muffins are made with white flour, sugar and butter, all recipes for disaster! Specifically bran muffins, that's the biggest surprise of all! They have about 420 calories a muffin. Trust me, I'm disappointed that my friend bran muffin tricked me. That fiend.

    He may look cute, but he's really evil!

    4. Turkey Burgers
    Most people (including myself...well before I found this out) think that eating a turkey burger is better for you than a regular beef burger. Incorrect. My boyfriend works in our college cafeteria at the grill and he has told me that the regular beef burger has about 150 calories LESS than a turkey burger. At my school they have the caloric intake for pretty much every food sitting out (trying to keep us fit as a fiddle) and I even read myself that the regular burger at school has 150 calories and the turkey burger has about 300. And they were both the same size! Still unconvinced? Medicinenet.com claims that turkey burgers are hidden uhealthy foods in that they are full of fat. I'm personally appalled. Here's the website if you'd like to look for yourself.
    http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=56301



    5. Certain Salads
    I'm not saying salads are bad for you, I'm just saying that you have to be careful with what you put on your salads. Let's take the ceasar salad. Personally, it's one of my favorites. And when we think of salad, we automatically think of a healthy choice, it's lettuce and stuff, right? Well a ceasar salad is full of all that dressing and cheese and (if you want) chicken. So the average ceasar salad has about 600 calories. Which is outrageous, because salads are thought of to be healthy!



    6. Smoothies
    I love smoothies, they are nice and fruity and delicious. But full of sugar. And I mean FULL of sugar. Ever heard of Jamba Juice? Well a 16oz Aloha Pineapple smoothie from Jamba Juice has a staggering 290 calories and 63g of sugar. Think it's a fluke? Well the majority of the smoothies at Jamba Juice at that size have about 60g of sugar and over 200 calories. And most smoothie chains in America are the same. Beware of smoothies unless you make it yourself with fresh (not frozen. it's full of sugar and syrup) fruit.


    7. Whole Milk
    Yes, milk is a dairy product and dairy is important in our diets, but it depends on what kind of dairy you consume. Whole milk is swimming with sugar, cholesterol and saturated fat. Try skim if you want less calories, although it clearly is not as sweet as whole milk. I'll admit, whole milk is sweet and delicious but it has too much sugar. Personally I drink soy milk which has it's own problems, I know. But if you want to drink soy milk it is definitely an acquired taste, like a fine wine. Except it's made with beans.



    8. Ketchup
    Ketchup is basically red sugar. Although it tastes wonderful with fries and on burgers and things of that nature, it's just sugar. That's mostly because it's made with far more than just tomatoes. It has high fructose corn syrup, which is just another word for sugar. Rule of thumb, if you are reading the nutrition labels in anything, things that end in -ose are just another word for sugar. So unless you are making your own ketchup, it isn't really healthy.



    9. Juice
    This really only pertains to juice that is on the shelf. It's just packed with sugar. Take orange juice for example. Sometimes my friend, Kara, and I get Tropicana orange juice from the cafe at college. It tastes pretty good, but 8oz of juice has about 20g of sugar. Yikes. If you want juice I recommend investing in a juicer. The juice tastes WAY better when it is squeezed fresh and it has less calories. Win win situation.



    10. Vitamin Water
    I like Vitamin Water, it's wonderful. My personal favorites are Dragonfruit and Endurance (the mango one). But once again, they are swimming with sugar, which is bad. Although I'm proud of Vitamin Water because they are making new healthy versions with less calories and sugar. Kudos, Vitamin Water!


    Do you know any other foods that seem healthy but actually aren't? What do you think of these 10 foods?

     
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