Sticking to a healthy diet is definitely not an easy task. We’re bombarded every day with tasty temptations, from sweet treats for breakfast to the cheeseburgers we crave at dinner. Even if you’re trying your best to be healthy and make the right choices for your body, food can be surprisingly deceptive. Items that we’re led to believe are healthy can actually hide extra sugars, strange additives, and secret ingredients that can cause harm. There are some “healthy” food culprits that nutritionists and food scientists are publicly ousting as unhealthy so we can make better and more informed choices.

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Healthy Food Lie #1: Fruit juice is good for you!

Fruit juice has been touted as a healthy way to get fruit nutrients into your diet without the added hassle of actually having to consume the fruit. While 100% fruit juice does have nutrients and vitamins in it, most commonly sold juices do not come 100% from real fruit. Even when you consume juice that does come completely from the fruit source, it still lacks other important elements your body needs, like fiber and phytonutrients.

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The reason fruit juice has developed such a bad reputation in the health world is that it can contain as much, if not more, sugar than soda. There can be between 5 to 8 teaspoons of sugar per 8oz cup of juice, depending on the brand and type of fruit juice you choose. When asked to think of the most iconic fruit juice, most people will picture a refreshing glass of orange juice to help start their day. The shocking part is that the 8oz glasses of your

favorite OJ contains about 7 teaspoons of sugar, the same amount found in a typical can of Coca-Cola. Without the fruit and additional nutrients to help your body process the sugar slowly, the concentrated sugars found in fruit juice can spike your blood sugar and set you up for a mid-morning sugar crash. Rapid spikes in blood sugar can put stress on your pancreas, and habitual consumption of excess sugar can cause a breakdown in pancreatic function, which can lead to Type 2 Diabetes.

Healthy Food Lie #2: Sugar-free is a better choice for your health and weight!

Sugar-free products, which include gum, food, and drinks, have to make up for the flavor in these products that is lost by not adding sugar. The most commonly used sugar replacement is sugar alcohol, which is the end result of heavily chemically altered plant products like fruits or corn. Sugar alcohol is used in a huge range of food products and is commonly identified under the names xylitol, erythritol, sorbitol, and mannitol. These highly processed sugar alcohols can affect people in a range of different ways, triggering headaches, creating bloating and gas, or even breaking you out in a rash. In some cases, people have experienced a laxative effect after eating foods with sugar alcohol used in their sugar-free products. Most alarming is that sugar-free products are supposed to be safe for those with diabetes, but overconsumption of sugar-free items can actually elevate blood glucose levels and create serious health issues for diabetics.

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Healthy Food Lie #3: Eat more fish, it has omega-3s and is good for you!

Fish is another one of the many food products that require our close attention to ensure that we are eating the best possible product for our body. The majority of the fish found in our local grocery stores are farmed fish, which is significantly less beneficial to your health than their wild-caught counterparts. Farmed fish have lower levels of the omega-3 fatty acids that you need, sometimes even as low as half the amount found in wild fish. There are also higher levels of dioxin found in farmed fish. Dioxin is a toxic persistent environmental pollutant, which means it is an organic compound that has become increasingly resistant to degradation because of chemicals found in the fishes’ environment. Dioxin is stored in the fatty tissue of fish and other animals, and directly enters our bodies whenever we eat fish. In humans, high levels of dioxin can potentially cause organ damage, immune system dysfunction, and increase your risk of metabolic syndrome.

Another reason to pay attention to where your fish comes from is because farmed fish are becoming more resistant to chemicals that are used to kill parasites and fish-borne disease. Higher doses of pesticide are needed on the fish to kill these parasites, which therefore means that we are ingesting higher levels of these chemicals when we eat farmed fish products.

Source: https://pixabay.com/en/salmon-salmon-fillet-fish-2326479/

Healthy Food Lie #4: Microwaved popcorn is a healthy snack option!

Popcorn is an easy and tasty snack that can leave us feeling relatively guilt-free when we eat a whole bag by ourselves. But a closer look reveals that it may not be as great as we are led to believe. To start, the bag that microwavable popcorn comes in has a lot of chemicals to preserve the kernels, make the inside of the bag non-stick when heated, and add flavoring to the popped corn. The bag itself comes lined with perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) to help prevent oils from soaking into the bag and stop the popcorn from sticking to the bag as it heats up and pops. PFOA is also found in products like non-stick cookware and fire resistant foams, and when we ingest this substance, it puts us at a higher risk of cancers and infertility. PFOA is actually listed as a carcinogen by the EPA.

The biggest offender in the popcorn bag is the fake butter flavor, created by a substance called diacetyl. Diacetyl is found in a variety of food products and is actually harmless when eaten – the damaging change occurs when this chemical is heated up, as it is in microwave popcorn. As the diacetyl heats up and you start to smell that buttery goodness, it becomes a toxic vapor that can do some serious harm, causing respiratory disease and lung damage. If you’re still craving that bowl of popcorn as you sit down for your home movie night, try popping your own kernels in a pan and using actual ingredients, like real butter, to flavor accordingly.

Source: https://pixabay.com/en/snack-popcorn-cola-1483932/

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