10 Unhealthy Foods You Think Are Healthy

Some foods can really look delectable and at the same time healthy, thanks to the inventive and creative names attached to new recipes. Unfortunately, not all healthy-sounding diet or cuisine are actually healthy. They are, surprisingly unhealthy. And to complete the irony is that some packaged foods are in fact healthier than the junk foods they try to replicate. So that leaves you the question of what really is healthy and unhealthy food. Below are 10 foods usually thought of as healthy, but are not.

Fruit juice. 

The most common wrong notion about fruit juice being so healthy that a lot of times people substitute it for whole fruit in their diet. While it’s true that fruit juice is rich in a lot of vitamins but at the expense of losing pulp which provides the essential fiber which can actually serve as a good counterbalance to all the natural sugar contained in the fruit. In addition, fruit juice is pumped up with extra sugar making it less healthy than what most people think.

Vegetable fat and oils. 

Fat becomes healthier if it is more in the liquid form, thus making people consider vegetable oils as similarly healthy. Unfortunately, since vegetable oils are oils extracted from seeds such as corn, safflower, sunflower, rapeseed (canola oil) or soybean, the extraction process required by these seeds is not simply done by pressing or separating naturally. They must be chemically removed, deodorized and altered. In fact, these are some of the most chemically altered foods in your diet, but they get advertised and labeled as healthy. In fast food restaurants, they use palm oil, which is purely saturated or unhealthy oil, in frying fries, chicken and other foods, thus making these foods unhealthier.

Peanut. 

While most varieties of nuts are healthy as they are packed with mineral, vitamins, fiber and lots of extra healthy goodies for your body, peanut may not be as healthy as the other nuts since peanuts are usually sold salty, roasted and coated in unhealthy fats. Peanut also contain a lot of unsaturated fatty acids known as omega-6 fatty acids, which when consumed too much can increase the risk for diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease. The ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 in most diets ranges from 1:20 and 1:50 when the ideal and proper ratio should be 1:1. Consumption of peanuts should therefore be limited.

Pasta. 

The typical pasta used for spaghetti, noodles or macaroni is plain flour mixed with water and egg. They have no healthy nutritional values such as vitamins, minerals, or fiber. They are just carbs, plain and simple. And worse if you get your fast food pasta that is loaded with salt and unhealthy fat.

Soy sauce. 

Soy sauce doesn’t have antioxidants known as isoflavones but they have a high level of antioxidants which cause people to think that it is healthy. Possibly yes, if not for its high salt content. There are also studies that showed that chemicals known to increase the risk of certain types of cancers are often found in soy sauce. This might have prompted manufacturers into producing low-sodium soy sauce, minus the dangerous chemicals. Only, it’s not as tasty as the real deal.

White bread. 

This type of bread is pasta in bread form. They have the same zero nutritional value as the pasta.

Soup mix. 

There’s no reason why people should think that soup mix is healthy. When you eat this kind of soup, it’s just water, butter, milk, tasty salt and preservatives. How can that be nutritious? Most soup mix uses salt in high level and many people overlook or ignores it as a risk-factor in food – it can contribute to heart disease or high blood pressure.

Ketchup. 

Yes, ketchup does contain the antioxidant lycopene which help reduce risks of mutations in the body as well as the risk of developing diseases like cancer. Ketchup contains loads of sugar and also a lot of salt. The lycopene levels are much lower (because ketchup is processed and non-organic) than what one can get from tomatoes.

Processed cheese. 

Cheese isn’t a healthy food choice but processed cheese has more bad stuff in it.

Diet Soda. 

Whether it’s diet or not, soda is not healthy. Some are of the opinion that a diet coke is worse than the sugar-stuffed versions. And controversial as it is, health buffs may not be pleased knowing the fact that there hasn’t been too many scientific studies that prove the health effects of diet soda. Some studies have shown that diet soda can contribute to considerable weight gain. There’s also this theory that diet soda actually stimulated the appetite, urging people to “eat” more than the calories you saved by drinking a diet soda instead of a sugary version. Most of the studies made on diet soda indicated that there are more harm than good in drinking them.

Don’t be fooled by catchy labels when it comes to your health and nutritional intake. Foods that did not undergo any process is still the best source of minerals and microminerals our body needs. Else, reading the labels won’t harm you so do it a habit to read food labels before buying that healthy-labeled food. Also, doing some research won’t hurt but instead would make you a wise buyer in choosing your food.