3 “Healthy Foods” Which Are NOT!
If there’s one thing that truly bothers me, it’s false advertising, especially when it comes to food items we consume. Pharmaceutical companies are heavily regulated, but the food industry, not as much. This laxity in oversight allows manufacturers to mislead consumers all while remaining “legally compliant” when it comes to truth telling.
Advertisers are banking on the fact that when people are presented with a flash of compelling information, they can be easily persuaded to purchase an item—as long as they’re not compelled to look at the small print on the side of the package.
Well, today I’m armed with my reading glasses so I can analyze all those tiny letters and numbers listed on the back of a few commonly misrepresented products. My hope is to alert you to the “posers” and to show you what to look for in a more nutritionally sound product.
#1 Yogurt
Not all yogurt is created (manufactured) equally. Traditional yogurts, such as Yoplait® and Dannon®, can have upwards of 19-22g of sugar. To help you get a visual on that, there are 4g of sugar in a level teaspoon. So, these particular yogurts have approximately 5 tsp of sugar in their tiny containers, which is almost as much sugar as you’d find in two bowls of Lucky Charms® cereal!
Only yogurts with less than 10 grams of sugar per serving, plus protein (i.e. Greek yogurts) make for sound nutritional choices. Suggestions include Chobani Less Sugar®, Oikos Triple Zero® and Siggi’s® varieties. Hey, even better: buy plain Greek yogurt and stir in one teaspoon of honey (=6g of sugar) and some fresh fruit.
#2 Wheat Bread
Not all breads labeled “WHOLE WHEAT” are as healthy as you’d want them to be. Sure, they may be baked using some whole wheat flour, but are they made with 100% whole grain? Additionally, many breads contain ingredients which you’d be better off not consuming. For example, Pepperidge Farms® 100% Whole Grain varieties contain high fructose corn syrup. Not particularly healthy, eh?
So, be on the label lookout for ingredients you don’t want adulterating your healthy bread!
#3 Granola Bars
Store shelves are chock-full of healthy impostors when it comes to grab-and-go granola bars. Fiber One® bars are probably one of the worst you can grab. Every fiber-filled bar contains: high maltose corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, AND honey. Oh, how sweet it is—NOT!
When considering a brand of granola bars, remembering that one teaspoon contains 4 grams of sugar, divide the total # of grams of sugar on the label by 4 and ask yourself if you’re okay eating that much sugar. That’s a surefire way to know which box to put back on the shelf and which to take home with you.