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?
Comments (94)
A lot of these are not that accurate, sorry.
I'm really disappointed about turkey burgers. They don't make me feel as full as regular beef burgers and personally i think turkey burgers taste better.
all that stuff is already famous for not really being healthy. i've been aware of this for years.
I try to limit the amount of sugar I put into my system...well, to a point...but I'm allergic to sugar-substantives. So, to have anything with fake sugar in it is, one: bad for anyone's health because most of them are not natural and can shock your system...but two: will cause a severe reaction in my own case.
I think you have to take it with a grain of salt...not literally...but anything that is in excess is bad for you. Moderation, smaller portions, and an active lifestyle should be sufficient.
(BTW, I've only found Propel powder mix to not have nutra-sweet or the like in it...therefore it's the only flavored water I can drink. Talk about annoying! Thankfully, they've recently added a couple new flavors to the two they've had for forever (strawberry-melon, and mixed berry))
Just eat an egg[only whole] or two day of the free roaming derived and they will take care of everything else. Many I know who do this are close to centanaarians or older with zero health problems. Try fish in between.
@aotolife@xanga - Ok then. Care to explain which ones?
@callanmathis - The reason why Jamba Juice smoothies have so much sugar in them is because fruit has a lot of sugar. The sugar in Jamba Juice smoothies is natural sugar from the fruit. That's why you have to eat fruit in moderation. Fruit has benefits obviously, because it's fruit. But it also is very high in natural sugar. So in a way, you are right. But they don't add extra sugar to their smoothies. They use real fruit. And turkey is better for you then beef. I'm sure the way they make it in a school cafeteria is by adding a lot of things to it to enhance the flavor. Your correct in some ways but you don't give the whole story. These foods are healthy if you eat them correctly. But not all smoothies are bad, not all muffins are bad, not all turkey is bad. "Healthy"jucie can be found everywhere. You have to buy juice that is not from concentrate and with no sugar added. I can go on about the other items if you like but I think you see the point. So yes, you're right about most of these, but you should list the alternatives. Most of the items you listed and talk about are because you are thinking about the highly processed, not organic versions of the foods. And obviously, everyone knows those are bad.
Man...you need to go back to middle school health class if you didn't know this.
I'm a fan of juice not from concentrate and dry salads (always thought dressing was gross. eeew. >_<)
What kind of turkey burgers are you eating...?
If you want a healthy turkey burger, you have to spend the extra money to get a lean cut. My uncle makes turkey burgers that are pretty much free of fat, they're wonderful and healthy. I think you're just eating the wrong kind.@aotolife@xanga - 100% agree with everything you said.
And the dried fruit... well, if you buy it pre-bagged, etc., then maybe. But if you're buying it from the bulk bins at Whole Foods, rarely does it have added anything. Also, don't avoid frozen fruit altogether (for smoothies).... there are kinds that have no sugar added (and list it on the label).
Some of these are "no duh" moments (whole milk - we really think whole milk is healthy? Uh, ok), but a lot of them are incorrectly labeled as "unhealthy".
@Morningstarrising@xanga - Thank-you. This post had a lot of correct info but also left a lot out. There are 2 sides to each of these listed unhealthy healthy foods. And they listed the non-healthy version which is okay, but there are also healthy versions that were not addressed.
@aotolife@xanga - Agreed. We eat a lot of unprocessed, no sugar added, not from concentrate, organic, etc. foods.
Also, not all sugar is bad, and neither is all fat (avocados, for example, are a great source of GOOD fats). I wish people would really research before they post random stuff like this.
@Morningstarrising@xanga - I agree with you, I started eating that way and since I started eating all natural, organic and NOT processed foods, I've lost 40 pounds in about 8 months.
@Morningstarrising@xanga - I researched everything that I wrote about, I didn't just pull this out of my butt...I obviously understand that there are organic versions of things (like dried fruit) but I was talking about the dried fruit that specifically came in a package. I don't know if you took the time to read the whole thing but I said it's healthy if you do it yourself. I also put a link to where I found the information about turkey burgers if you took the time to click it. And honestly, when most people want juice they are going to go to the grocery store and get some regular juice with added sugar, not the organic kind. If everybody did that America wouldn't be such an overweight country. I did research about Jamba Juice (by the way I am pretty sure Jamba Juice doesn't only use 100% fresh fruit in every smoothie that they blend), and I think I made it pretty clear that if you make fresh versions of things that it's obviously better. I wasn't talking about the healthy sides of each food, I know smoothies have fruit which is good (that's kind of common sense) I was just talking about the unhealthy facets of each of these foods. So try and relax.
I don't get why everyone seems to like Vitamin Water and other flavored waters. I just drink filtered or boiled tap water and it tastes BETTER than flavored water.
I disagree on several simply because you don't have to do it at home for it to be healthy. Its called reading a label. I always use frozen fruits for smoothies because they last longer in the freezer than the fridge (even though there is no additives in the pre-packaged frozen fruit I buy.) Juice is the same, if you know how to take 2 seconds to read a label to pick the best choice. Salads are good if you don't pour on the dressing that is correct although many restaurants have cut down on the amount of dressing they are using because they are providing the nutritional facts. The key is moderation and knowing what you eat. I eat healthy but splurge on "bad" foods in moderation. I exercise to make up for it. If society were to take an interest in being informed than weight would be less (they still need to exercise so many benefits come from it) overweight.
@black_lie@xanga - agreed. I think water is most delicious in its regular, pure form. And there's nothing as tasty as NYC water :)
@callanmathis - You're the only one here getting uppity. I didn't, at all. I think that your article is poorly researched because it makes the assumption that the majority of your readers are lazy idiots who choose the processed crap, when that's not true at all (as is evidenced by the comments here).
My store sells local frozen produce in bulk, including unsweetened fruit. That was my point. Also, Whole Foods and similar stores sell bulk dried fruits as well as beans and grains. It's also not homemade, but it is much healthier than the packaged stuff that you would buy regularly.
All that's required is that consumers actually use their brains, and they would buy less of the crap food that are labeled "healthy" and more of the foods that actually ARE healthy.
@aotolife@xanga - Yep, it's definitely a nice side effect. :) Several members of my family also have wheat and dairy sensitivities, so that limits a lot of what we can eat, so we're forced to eat more organic and less processed foods (since there are many hidden sources of wheat and dairy, despite the fact that they are SUPPOSED to list it on the label). I definitely feel better when I avoid the crap and eat good food.
I love diet coke :)
@callanmathis - On that website about the turkey bugers it says they are unhealthy because they use the higher fat part of the turkey and inject things into it. And it says on there that they are higher in fat than the leanest ground beef. Obviously if you take the turkey with the most fat (usually dark meat) and compare it to ground beef that has had the fat removed, it will be in higher fat. Like we said, you are right about a lot of stuff but you need to put the healthy way to eat these foods instead of the unhealthy way to eat these foods because they aren't unhealthy if you eat them the right way and in moderation.
@callanmathis - You said these are unhealthy "healthy" foods. Maybe you should've titled it differently.
@Morningstarrising@xanga - I definitely feel better too when I eat these foods the way they should be eaten - In their natural, organic state.
you guys would actually be surprised about how many people dont know this. dont be self centered and think because you know it that everyone else knows it. the article is talking about general america..not you. and typing in ways as if to say "well duh" is unnecessary and dickish....you stay classy
it's all about the amount you eat
not exactly what you eat.