Fitness is a lifestyle. One important component of being fit is getting the right nutrients in your body. This has given birth to a whole industry specializing in ‘health’ foods and supplements. One of the main problems with this is that people often confuse store-bought processed foods with actual nutritional food. The result is counterproductive to an individual’s fitness goals, no matter how much time they are spending in the gym.
The individual is not to blame. After all, not everything in life is as straightforward and cut-and-dried as Frontier FiOS internet. You have to process information with a pinch of salt, especially these days when questionable information is flooding your senses. Some of the supposedly healthy foods a lot of people consume are actually the very opposite.
Your best bet is to keep yourself informed of what science uncovers about conventionally-accepted health foods. This is obviously a painstaking process, unlike choosing the best for entertainment. With an inquisitive attitude, you will be able to discover which foods, in fact, are as healthy as people believe. And more importantly, which impostors to avoid!
Here are six ‘health foods’ you will never catch a nutritionist eating
1. White Rice Cakes
Have you have ever had to live on a diet comprising largely of rice cakes? I can testify that white rice cakes, often touted as low-calorie food, do nothing to fill you up. Even more worrying, they have a very high glycemic index or GI.
This effectively means that all the carbs are quickly absorbed in your bloodstream, wreaking havoc on your sugar levels. Not only do your blood sugar levels take a roller coaster ride, but you are also struck by hunger pangs more frequently.
2. Processed Soya Products
Soya products have made quite a name for themselves as healthier alternatives to dairy and meat products. What most people don’t know if these products are often highly processed and even genetically modified. This poses a greater risk to overall health.
Organically fermented soy products are no doubt high in nutritional value, but it’s advisable to avoid processed soy products. This includes products like soy yogurt or milk.
3. Dried Fruits
Dried fruit is usually a good way to get your nutritional intake in a small sitting. But consider this, would you eat a whole bowl of apricots in one sitting? Obviously not. Yet it is very easy to eat large amounts of dried apricots, much larger than say ten in one go. In essence, you’re taking in the sugar content often whole apricots in one sitting!
Your body is not built for that kind of explosive sugar intake. Additionally, one of the main components of dry fruit preservation is sulfites. This poses a grave risk to people with allergies or who are otherwise sensitive to it.
You can also read: List of 10 Most Delicious Foods in The World
4. Store-bought Granola
Store-bought granola is an absolute no-no when talking about fitness. Most store-bought granola has very high sugar content. While “sugar-free” brands are free from sugar in its powdery form, they are high in other sugar sources.
This may include rice syrup, dried fruits or even honey among others. Its good practice to avoid granola brands with a sugar content of more than fifteen grams per hundred grams
5. Only Egg Whites
Back in the day, we were led to believe that eggs have a very high cholesterol content. Modern science has put those rumors to bed. While whites are indeed high in proteins, there is no evidence to show cholesterol levels are affected by dietary cholesterol intake.
What this means is, don’t be afraid to eat the whole egg. The yolk is chockfull of important nutrients like antioxidants, omega-3 and vitamins B12 and D. It is advisable to choose free-range eggs that contain a higher proportion of nutrition.
6. Store-bought Smoothies
Store-bought smoothies are more often than not a high-sugar drink masquerading as your protein intake. Store-bought smoothies are notoriously high in sugar content with as much as eight teaspoons of sugar in one serving. Not only that, flash-pasteurization further concentrates the sugary content while destroying most of the healthy antioxidants and vitamins. Smoothies made of “fruit concentrate” are often very high in sugar.
Those “added vitamins” smoothies are no better. Most of the time they are heavily processed with very skewed nutritional benefits. With so many heavily advertised health products targeting the general public, it is difficult to pick out real nutrition. In a sea of processed, additive-infused foods, it’s easy to be swept overboard. You will be hard-put to find foods that actually contain the nutritional value they claim.
You can also read: 4 Fat Burning Foods That Speed up Your Metabolism
