Monday Health Tip - 5 Health Foods to Avoid

I'm back with Monday Health Tip after a break! 

Every few years, a new health fad catches on and the market trend shifts towards 'healthy' food. Manufacturers make products that cater to this health-conscious population, but are these products really as healthy as advertised?



Here's my list of 5 'health' foods that must be avoided.

1. Sports drinks & Energy drinks: Have you ever wondered how these drinks give you 'energy'? They do it by unleashing millions of molecules of sugar and caffeine that are directly absorbed into your bloodstream and taken to your cells which go on overdrive to process the sudden burst of 'fuel'. The aftermath of this excessive strain is fatigue, weakness, and an exhaustion that is not easy to resolve. Stay away from energy drinks and have a cup of coffee or tea if you really need a quick pick-me-up.

2. Artificial sweeteners: What was once touted to be the best alternative to sugar and advertised to diabetics and dessert-lovers around the world, is one of the most misunderstood products on the grocery shelves. Also called non-nutritive sweeteners (NNS), aspartame (brand name Equal and NutraSweet) and sucralose (Splenda) are 220 times and 600 times sweeter than sugar respectively, so you only need to use a little bit to make your food taste sweet. However, regular use of NNS also tricks the brain into processing tastes differently, as a result of which fruits and vegetables, which contain natural sugars, may taste bland or even bitter - making you crave more non-nutritious sweet food over the naturally nutritious fruits and vegetables. Additionally, the long-term effects of using artificial sweeteners have not been studied. I think it's better to stick to small amounts of sugar or jaggery if you need some sweet in your diet.

3. Boxed juice: It is extremely convenient these days to pick up cartons of juice at a grocery store and pour yourself a glass. It's neat, easy, and healthy, right? It may be neat and easy, but it's not healthy. Packaged juices are pasteurized for a longer shelf life, which means they are treated at extremely high temperatures to discourage growth of bacteria. This also kills any mold that may have entered the process in the form of one bad fruit. It's great that all the bad microorganisms are eliminated, but the good stuff is destroyed too. Many vitamins are destroyed by heat, and what is left is only sugar. So if you think drinking packaged juice for breakfast will give you a nutritious start to the day, think again - it's no better than eating dessert that's fortified with calcium and vitamin D. If you want juice, always have it fresh.

4. Margarine and other butter substitutes: Most butter substitutes are made with some kind of vegetable oil that contain unhealthy amounts of trans-fats. Even products that are advertised as zero trans-fat are not really healthy because they contain a laundry list of other ingredients to make them last longer and taste better (preservatives and artificial flavors). Butter has only one or two ingredients - milk cream and salt. Your body knows how to process these natural ingredients better than artificial additives which create extra work for the liver and kidneys. Use butter, and skip the substitutes.

5. Breakfast bars: Publicized as a convenient way to eat healthy on-the-go, granola and other bars are quite popular as nutritious snacks - but the truth is far from nutritious. Sugar makes up 1/4th of each serving of energy bars. Eat 2 bars a day and you're getting nearly 20g of sugar right there. Just like any other processed and packaged 'food', breakfast bars also contain many artificial colors and flavors as well as preservatives. It's best to stay away from them and pack a fruit if you need something to-go.