How to Choose "Healthy" Health Foods
Americans are finally catching on: the key to good health is eating better. We need to eat better for weight control, cholesterol control, prevent heart disease, hormonal balance, better hair/skin, etc. Whatever the reason, people are motivated to eat better. Companies of course have caught wind of this and market their food products for the health conscious consumer. Food labels now boast, "made with heart healthy whole grains" or "good source of healthy fat" or "lowers cholesterol" etc. Some people still fall for the old paradigm that low fat must be healthier. So labels stating "light" or "fat free" appeal to consumers too. The problem is when food is manipulated from its natural state to remove fat, there are often extra sugars or sugar substitutes added to preserve taste. These are even more harmful than the original high fat product! A few things that drive me particularly crazy:
1. Bread or baked goods or cereals that state "made with whole wheat" or "whole grain." Just because a product has this in there somewhere doesn't make it a healthy choice. When corn syrup and soybean oil and white flour comprise the other ingredients, this is not the superfood the label wants you to believe. Whole, unprocessed grains can be part of a healthy diet if you do not have an intolerance to these, but make sure that is what you are actually eating. (Hint- most of the breads lining the shelves in your local grocery store are not going to fit into this category). READ YOUR INGREDIENTS.
2. Nuts: Many people have caught on that consuming nuts can be part of a healthy diet and lead to weight loss etc. I am a strong believer in healthy fats, and RAW nuts are a wonderful source of this. HOWEVER, most of the packs of nuts and trail mix you will find at the store are roasted in inflammatory oils such as canola, soybean, sunflower, etc. Basically manufacturers have taken something that is healthy and anti-inflammatory and turned it into the opposite! Be careful when buying these and opt for RAW nuts (or dry roasted if you're really craving that salty treat). You can make your own salty snack by buying raw nuts and pouring himalayan sea salt into a bag. You can even add some dark chocolate or fruit to make a trail mix without the added oils and hidden sugars.
3. "Superfood" pre-packaged drinks. Most of these are pressed juices, and while they do offer some vitamins, most of them have more than 60 grams of sugar per bottle. Juiced greens can be a very healthy part of the diet. However, juiced fruit is mostly sugar without the fiber (and therefore results in a large blood sugar spike). Just eat your fruits and vegetables, or make your own smoothie or green juice.
4. "Sugar free" snacks. Check the label here. Aspartame, splenda/sucralose often are substitutes here. Studies have shown that these sweeteners still spike insulin and lead to a blood sugar crash- causing you to crave something sweet and binge later. Sugar alcohols such as erythritol and xylitol are a little safer in this department, but often lead to gas, bloating, and diarrhea if you aren't careful. Stevia liquid is safe, but I would recommend using is sparingly as a dropper yourself. Raw honey is the most digestible sweetener and while it is a real sugar, it confers many health benefits and is actually a sugar that your body recognizes and can use.
5. "Low fat" or "fat free" versions of food. As stated above, what exactly has been done to the food to bring down the fat content and maintain taste? Usually added sugar or sweetener.
6. "Organic." I am a fan of eating organic as much as possible. However, just because something is organic, does not mean it gets a free pass as a health food. Look at the ingredients. Are you seeing a pattern here?
7. "Gluten free." This is along the same lines as the organic category. If you need to avoid gluten due to sensitivities, then this is a good option. However, don't buy all of the boxes of gluten free cookies and muffins and think this constitutes a healthy diet.... and wonder why you didn't lose weight on a gluten free diet.
So with all of this labeling and marketing out there what is a health conscious consumer to do? READ THE INGREDIENTS. Of course, the best thing is to make the majority of your diet food that doesn't even have an ingredient label: Whole fruits, vegetables, raw nuts and seeds, meat from sustainable sources, wild caught fish, cold pressed healthy oils such as olive oil and coconut oil (this should be the only ingredient on the label). I am a busy person, and I'm sure most of you are too. Sometimes, you need to eat the packaged stuff when you're on the go. So, read the ingredients. Don't buy nuts that have been roasted in harmful oils or have sugars added to them. Do your best to avoid anything that contains vegetable oil, margarine (whole organic butter is ok), canola oil, soybean oil, corn, sunflower, and safflower oil. These have all shown to increase inflammation. Read the labels on your grains. If something is whole grain, then that should be the first ingredient, and there should not be harmful oils, refined flour, and sugars listed. Avoid the "light" items that have added sugars or fake sweeteners.
The above "rules" are really just guidelines. No one can eat perfect all of the time and avoid all of these harmful substances. The purpose of this piece is to educate YOU, the consumer. Go ahead and treat yourself to some refined bread or roasted nuts once in awhile. Just think of these as TREATS and EXCEPTIONS to your otherwise healthy diet. Do not think that these are contributing to better health or weight management just because the label has one of the healthy buzzwords.
The closer a food is to how it was intended to be, the better. Nature did a good job.
