Just because food labels claim it’s good for you doesn’t mean it is.
Lets take a look at what food manufactures would like you to believe and why there is no logic to their thought process. They claim that Fat-free foods are healthy. Now Skittles are fat-free, so therefore, Skittles are healthy. Does this Make sense? Of course not! We started with a false premise. The term “fat-free” should be your warning signal for “high-sugar” which makes what you are eating the opposite of healthy.
Making healthy choices isn’t as simple as knowing that beans are packed with fiber, or that fruits are loaded with disease-fighting antioxidants. After all, manufacturers often add ingredients, such as sugar, that can instantly turn a good snack bad. Many of the products that you think are good for you are anything but and you should try to avoid.
The good News: Yogurt and fruit are two of the healthiest foods.
The bad News: Corn syrup is not. But that’s exactly what’s used to make these products super sweet. For example, a cup of Colombo blueberry yogurt contains 36 grams of sugar, only about half of which is found naturally in the yogurt and fruit. The rest comes in the form of “added” sugar.
Try to choose: Dannon Light and others, which have up to 90 percent less sugar than regular yogurt.
Baked Beans
The good News: Beans are packed with fiber, which helps keep you full and slows the absorption of sugar into your bloodstream.
The bad News: Baked Beans are typically covered in a sauce made with brown and white sugars. And because the fiber is located inside the bean, it doesn’t have a chance to interfere with the speed at which the sugary glaze is digested. A 1-cup serving of baked beans contains 24 grams of sugar or about the same amount as 8 ounces of regular pop.
Try to choose: Red kidney beans, packed in water. You get the nutritional benefits but without the extra sugar. They don’t even need to be heated: Just open the can, rinse thoroughly, and serve. Add some hot sauce to spice things up for extra flavor.
California Roll
The good News: The seaweed it’s wrapped in contains essential nutrients, such as iodine, selenium, calcium, and omega-3 fats.
The bad News: It’s basically a Japanese sugar cube. That’s because its two other major components are white rice and imitation crab, both of which are packed with fast-digesting carbohydrates and almost no protein.
Try to choose: Real sushi made with tuna or salmon. These varieties have fewer bad carbohydrates, while providing a hefty helping of high-quality protein and try to skip the rice.
Granola Bars
The good News: Granola is made with whole oats, and is high in fiber.
The bad News: The oats are basically glued together with ingredients like high-fructose corn syrup, honey, and barley malt. All of which quickly raise blood sugar.
Try to choose: Grab a low-sugar meal replacement bar that contains no more than 5 grams of carbohydrates and at least 15 grams of protein.
Pasta Salad
The good News: Most pasta-salad recipes include a variety of fresh vegetables.
The downside: The main ingredient is white-flour pasta, a close relative of white bread.
Try to choose: Egg salad has no impact on blood sugar, and a University of Connecticut review reports that there is no connection between egg consumption and heart disease, however try to limit your yolk consumption.
English Muffins
The good News: One English muffin has half as many calories as two slices of bread. So it’s better for a breakfast sandwich.
The bad News: Most English muffins not only raise blood sugar significantly but also contain very little fiber, protein, and vitamins. A great example of empty calories.
Try to choose: One hundred percent whole-wheat English muffins and are made from sprouted grains, which contain no flour and are packed with nutrients.
Croutons
The good News: They’re so small and contribute very few calories to your overall meal.
The bad News: Most croutons are made with the same refined flour that’s used in white bread, a food with a higher glycemic index than sugar.
Try to choose: Sliced roasted almonds. They’re crunchy, sugar-free, and high in monounsaturated fats, the same type of healthy fats found in olive oil.
Fat-Free Salad Dressing
The good News: Cutting out the fat reduces the calories that a dressing contains.
The bad News: Sugar is added to provide flavor. But more important is that the removal of the fat reduces your body’s ability to absorb many of the vitamins found in a salad’s vegetables. Researchers discovered that people who ate a salad dressing that contained fat absorbed 15 times more beta-carotene than when they downed a salad topped with fat-free dressing.
Try to choose: Choose a full-fat dressing that’s made with either olive oil or canola oil and has less than 2 grams of carbohydrates per serving.
Fruit Cocktail
The good News: The main ingredient is fruit.
The bad News: If you don’t read the label closely, you may choose a brand that’s packed in heavy syrup. For instance, a 1/2-cup serving of syrupy fruit cocktail contains 23 grams of added sugar.
Try to choose: Look for fruit cocktail canned in “100 percent juice,” not syrup.
Reduced-Fat Peanut Butter
The good News: Even the reduced-fat versions pack a substantial quantity of heart-healthy monounsaturated fat.
The bad News: Many commercial brands are sweetened with “icing sugar”. The same finely ground sugar used to decorate cupcakes. In fact one tablespoon may contain half a teaspoon of the sweet stuff. Reduced-fat versions are the worst of all, because they contain less healthy fat and even more icing sugar.
Try to choose: An all-natural, full-fat peanut butter that contains no added sugar.
Pretzels
The good News: One ounce has just 110 calories.
The bad News: These twisted low-fat snacks have one of the highest glycemic indexes of any food. In fact, they rank above ice cream and jellybeans in their ability to raise your blood sugar.
Try to choose: Cheese crisps, which are baked pieces of cheese, that crunch like chips.
Corn Oil
The good News: It contains omega-6 fatty acids, unsaturated fats that don’t raise cholesterol.
The bad News: Corn oil has 60 times more omega-6s than omega-3s, the type of healthy fats found in fish, walnuts, and flaxseed. A high intake of omega-6 fats relative to omega-3 fats increases inflammation, which boosts your risk of cancer, arthritis, and obesity.
Try to choose: Olive or canola oils, which have a far better ratio of omega-6s to omega-3s.
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