7 Foods You Think Are Healthy But Actually Aren’t

Unhealthy foods are one of the major reasons people fall sick, gain an alarming amount of weight and have weight gain issues. Jumia Travel, the leading online travel agency, shares 7 foods you think are healthy but actually aren’t. Please don’t be fooled by these misleading healthy foods.

Diet Soda

Drinking soda often, increases your risk of heart attack, stroke and prostate cancer; it also makes you eat more which can lead to obesity. You would think diet soda is better but it’s potentially worse. The artificial sweeteners in diet soda fool your body into thinking you’re eating real food, disrupts the body’s natural ability to regulate calorie intake and cause a spike in your insulin levels (because these sweeteners are actually much sweeter than actual sugar) which can lead to obesity, diabetes and heart problems.

Packaged Meat

Packaged meats are usually loaded with salt and preservatives, as a result they are basically a well-packaged sodium-saturated disaster. It’s best to avoid them and opt for fresh meat. However, if you need to buy packaged meat choose brands that don’t have more than 350mg of sodium per 2 oz serving.

Sports Drinks

These are basically just sugar, water and artificial food colouring in a bottle. Consistent consumption of sports drinks, especially for an average person who doesn’t participate in high intensity workouts, can lead to gradual weight gain over time, raise sugar levels and increase the risk of stroke and heart disease. For those who do basic exercises involving the treadmill etc. to burn off a few extra calories, sports drinks are not advisable because you are likely drinking more calories than you are burning off. Drinking water will be a far better alternative.

Skim/Low-Fat Milk

While rejoicing about the fact that skim milk has less fat, it’s important to also mourn the fact that as the milk is being rid of fat, it’s also being rid of its essential vitamins ( as well as its texture and flavor). Skim milk ‘skims’ are whole lot of the factors that make whole milk healthy.

Margarine

This might come as a shock but margarine is more or less the synthetic substitute of butter. It is basically an invention of chemists that involves a lot of chemical processing and the addition of synthetic vitamins, antioxidants and trans-fats (which increases bad cholesterol in the body).

Wheat Bread

Wheat bread is great and healthy when it’s actually wheat bread. Most wheat-bread products aren’t a hundred percent whole wheat. It mostly white bread with a little wheat flour mixed in. Endeavour to buy wheat bread only when you are sure you can trust the source to give you 100% whole wheat bread.

Flavoured Soy Milk

Unsweetened or plain soy milk is the best choice for enjoying the low in cholesterol, high protein and potassium benefits of soy milk. Flavoured soy milk have far too much sugar and unnecessary calories added to it to make it tasty.

By Damilola Ojo
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