Fab Fit Fun: 8 foods that aren’t as healthy as they seem

We all know that genuinely healthy foods exist naturally — in nature — and that we should be skeptical of anything that does not. This doesn’t stop most of us, however, from swearing by some, if not all, of these far-from-healthy “health” foods:

Snacks that are labeled “vegan,” “raw,” “organic,” or “gluten-free.” Since these treats are made without ingredients such as butter or gluten, they’re often loaded up with other ingredients that are equally as bad for you, such as vegetable oil and sugar. Therefore, we recommend you consume them as you would any processed food: in moderation!

Multigrain breads: The grains in these breads have usually been refined, which is code for “stripped of all nutrients.” Look for whole grain breads instead.

Energy bars: These tempting, on-the-go snacks were originally designed for athletes who needed to consume a high number of calories in a short period of time. Most contain over 350 calories, which is a lot to wolf down between meals if you’re not, say, training for a triathlon. Also, they’re often loaded with high-fructose corn syrup.

Bran muffins: While bran is good for you, these breakfast staples are bursting with butter and sugar. Some even have higher calorie counts than doughnuts!

Packaged turkey breast: Most packaged meats are loaded with sodium. Look for those with less than 350mg per 2-ounce serving.

Organic canned soups: These can also be packed with sodium, so look for varieties with less than 400mg per serving.

Veggie burgers: These are generally chock-full of fillers used to achieve a meaty texture. Look for varieties that use actual vegetables as their top ingredients.

Dried fruit and nut mixtures: Dried fruit is often loaded with sugar, while nuts are often covered with salt. Opt for natural, salt-free, no-sugar-added varieties.

To find foods that are actually healthful, we suggest sticking to the outer aisles of your supermarket that contain produce and other nutritious food. In other words, real food shouldn’t need a label!

Article via Fab Fit Fun // [Image via]

Is it really healthy? Almond Milk

In a million years, I never thought I would question the “healthiness” of Almond Milk.

I mean, it’s Almond Milk. ALMOND MILK! Milk from almonds! My favorite way to lighten my coffee without consuming 10 extra pounds of sugar!

Well, this morning, as I sipped on my almond-milk-sweetened coffee, I came across an excellent little blog post from The Food Babe.

Watch Out For this Carcinogen in Your Organic Food

She specifically points out products from brands like Silk, Starbucks, So Delicious, Horizon, Zico, Pacific, Carnation, Tempt, and Blue Diamond- one of my favorite brands of you guessed it… Almond Milk!

What carcinogen is it that The Food Babe is talking about? Carrageenan.

Why is it a problem? From her blog:

[The Cornucopia Institute’s] report detailed out several specific studies that showed that food safe and approved “undergraded” carrageenan is containaminated with the non-approved degraded carrageenan. Furthermore, when you ingest the undergraded version, it actually starts to degrade in the gastrointestinal tract and in the liver and turn into a carcinogen, resulting in a serious inflammatory agent that also can cause intestinal abnormalities. Because of this reason and other studies conducted the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer and the National Research Council of the United States both have determined that carrageenan is a carcinogen – a substance that causes cancer.

Can you guess what I did directly after reading that paragraph? I ran to the kitchen to read the ingredients listedon the carton of Almond Milk that I bought from Trader Joe’s last week.

I was relieved to find that there’s no carrageenan in Trader Joe’s Almond Milk, but guess which huge almond milk brand does contain this icky ingredient? Almond Breeze. The brand of almond milk that I typically buy. (Well, not anymore!)

While Trader Joe’s doesn’t use carageenan in their Almond Milk, I was surprised to find that the ingredient list did contain a bunch of other additives. In fact I was surprised at myself for just throwing this into my cart at the supermarket without reading the ingredients. It just goes to show, even the things that you thought you knew were healthy, can still be full of preservatives and additives that you might be much better off without.

Always read the ingredients before you buy something!

Here are the ingredients in Trader Joe’s Almond Milk:

Nothing too crazy here, but still more additives than I would prefer to consume. As far as I’m concerned, this should simply read, “Ingredients: Almond Milk.” But with the time it takes to produce the product, get it to the store shelf, and then to the consumer’s fridge, it would be almost impossible for a large company like Trader Joe’s to package and sell 100% Pure almond milk without using anything to preserve it. So unless you’re making your own almond milk, expect at leastsome additives.

The only ingredient here that makes me feel uneasy about consuming the product is the Dipotassium Phosphate. It’s a fertilizer (ew!), food additive, and buffering agent often used in non-dairy products to prevent curdling. I didn’t find any studies proving that it can be harmful to humans as a food additive, but it’s and inorganic compound and let me repeat this, USED A FERTILIZER. Ew.

So, is Almond Milk really healthy? In it’s 100% natural and raw form, absolutely! But if you’re buying it packaged at the grocery store, make sure you read the ingredients list and avoid brands whose almond milk (and other products, too) contains carrageenan.

Do you drink Blue Diamond Almond Breeze Almond Milk, and if so does this surprise you? Will you look for an alternative almond milk brand?

Is it really healthy? Lipton’s Bottled Citrus Green Tea

Lately, I’ve been teaching my mom how to make healthier food choices. I have to give her credit because she tries. She really does try, but sometimes she kind of misses the mark.

Every now and then she’ll present me with a food product and proudly say something like, “Look I bought this and it’s healthy.” Sometimes said food product is actually healthy. Other times, like in the case of this bottled green tea from Lipton, it’s so far from healthy it might as well be a KFC Double Down. (OK, not really, but you get the point.)

I don’t blame her on this one, though. Of course she associated healthiness with green tea. Anything you ever hear or read about green tea emphasizes all of its many amazing health benefits. Like, its probable abilities to burn extra belly fat or fight off illness. Unfortunately, when the first (and therefore most prevalent) ingredient in your “green tea” is high fructose corn syrup, it’s suddenly not as healthy as you’d hoped it’d be.

Does anyone else find it completely preposterous that green tea is not the first, not the second, not the third, not the fourth, not the fifth, but the SIXTH ingredient in this product that is primarily labeled as GREEN TEA?! What is this madness?

[via]

This product is, and should be called, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP WATER. And that my friends is why this not, not, not at all “healthy.” Let me be clear, though. There’s no  definitive answer to whether or not high fructose corn syrup is a worse sweetener than regular table sugar. But it is man-made from corn (much of which is genetically modified) and highly processed, two things I can tell you you’ll definitely want to avoid if your aiming for truly clean and healthy eating. Plus, its too often that many of us accidentally over-consume calories and added sugar through beverages.

Instead of bottled green tea, buy green tea leaves or tea bags and brew your own. Add honey or lemon for flavor, and then you’ll have something that’s really healthy. 

Innovative Marketing Won’t Save this Veggie Chip Product

realfoodology:

From the Fooducate Blog

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We spotted this very cool package design at last month’s Natural Food Expo in Los Angeles. The Newspaper theme was well thought out, cleanly laid out and certainly made the mouth water. The “100% All Natural” headline also looked appealing.

So what exactly are these veggies chips? We flipped over to the back page to see…

What you need to know:

This is the ingredient list:

Potato Flour, potato starch, expeller pressed safflower oil, salt, sugar, tomato paste, turmeric, spinach powder, beetroot powder.

So the ingredients are mostly potatoes and oil, just like potato chips. But while potato chips are made by slicing whole potatoes, here we have little crackers made from potato flour. By the way, Pringles are made in the same way. Note that the “veggies” in this product are listed after the salt and sugar. They are basically the coloring agent for the chips, not a source of nutrition.

And after tasting the product, we can attest that they are not a source of flavor either…

On the bright side – no GMO, no artificial flavorings or colors, and no trans-fats.

What to do at the supermarket:

If you want a  tasty snack, get the tasty snack. Don’t go looking for nutrition in spinach dust. And don’t fall for the pretty package. Read the nutrition label and ingredient lists.

I haven’t done an “Is it really healthy?” post in a while. So, here’s a quick example of a cleverly marketed snack that is much less healthy than the maker of the product would like you to believe. Just because it has the word “veggie” in it, doesn’t mean it’s good for you!

(via eatforhealth)