6 “Healthy” Foods That You Should Never Eat
See, it does take a village! Of chihuahuas!
It’s Project Runway, health food cycle: One day you’re in, the next day you’re out! (Bonus points if you can say that like Heidi Klum.) Food fads are a sad but true fact in the health and fitness industry. Science, and more importantly marketers, are always pimping the next Super Food. And sometimes that introduces us to some really awesome weird foods that we might not have otherwise tried. Chia seeds, quinoa and acai berries anyone? Many times these fads are duds. And then there are the few times where purportedly “healthy” foods are actually harming you. Check out my slideshow on Shape.com to see the full list of 6 Healthy Foods That Should Never Pass Your Lips but the one most surprising to me was – dun, dun, dun – agave nectar!
Long touted as an “all natural” and healthy alternative to sugar and artificial sweeteners, it turns out the agave nectar sold in stores, including “blue,” “natural,” and “organic” varieties, has more fructose than even high-fructose corn syrup and is far more processed than plain table sugar. If you’ve watched “Sugar: The Bitter Truth” then you’ll know that fructose taken out of fruit (where it occurs naturally) becomes a toxin when processed. While it’s true that agave nectar is lower on the glycemic index than other sweeteners, it’s no dietary friend but rather poison disguised as a health food. All of which really surprised me given the aura of “health” that surrounds it.
Any of you surprised to discover a food you thought was healthy, wasn’t? Have you ever tried a food fad??
Other things I wrote this week:
Fitness Trainers Reveal: The #1 Piece of Equipment I Swear By (which we already discussed on here but all my trainers are so darn adorable I had to give them a little more love!)
Are your birth control pills safe? (And the controversy rumbles on…)
Do you make your kids write thank you notes? (Or do you write them for them? Cough, cough, not that I’d know anything about that)
The #1 Thing Parents Wish People Understood About Their Child (Weirdly this got reposted on Yahoo and the comments are even crazier this time around. If that’s possible.)
Mom’s 10 Weirdest Tips for Saving Money
Is it harder having 1 child or 9? (One mom’s poignant answer may surprise you)
How parenting changes us: Jay-Z to stop using “bitch” (The day after I wrote this, news outlets said that it couldn’t be confirmed that he actually said this. Which I think kind of depresses me. You’d hope after a man has a daughter he’d stop calling women hos and bitches. Of course if being married to Beyonce didn’t turn him around I’m not sure how much hope there is for him.)
It was Friday the 13th! Do you have a mommy superstition?
Parenting Challenge: How do you get through the vending machine gauntlet? (I really love one company’s answer to this: H.U.M.A.N. vending only stocks healthy options in their machines plus they offer in-community health counseling as well as video tips that play on their machines. Advertising – it can be used for good too!)
While I don’t really tell myself I can’t have certain foods (I do naturally lean towards organic, less processed options though as I can tell a physical difference in how my body performs)… I am rather glad to see Microwave Popcorn on that list… though it’s for different reasons than my own
as well as butter substitutes… and I think, also, people use a LOT more than they normally would, because they think they’re making a healthier choice…
Kat recently posted..DBT at the Gym
You can microwave popcorn in regular brown paper bags?! This opens up so many possibilities for me! Can you still line the bag with a buttload of butter too? Because that might be my favorite part of popcorn…
Jenny C. recently posted..Shim Sham Shimmy
Charlotte,your “Top 10″ article about kids MADE OUR MORNING RADIO STATION yesterday!!!!!! In San Francisco!!!!!
Agave nectar is unhealthy?!?!?!?! NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! WHY?!?!?!?!?!?!
I’m feeling quite hyper this morning. Sorry. Must be all that agave.
In my early 20′s I went to a nutritionist in NYC who told me bagels weren’t good for me. I was like “You’re telling a Jew not to eat bagels? In New York? Sacre Bleu!” But I gave them up and lost quite a bit of weight. Probably because I ate bagels the size of my head, with a schmear that could feed all of New Jersey.
I was shocked and appalled to hear that chicken fingers aren’t good for you. I mean, how do you make chicken unhealthy???
I feel like I’ve had to relearn all the ‘food rules’ about what’s healthy and what’s not. Over my lifetime it seems like the government ‘guidelines’ (sorry – I have quote-mark-itis today!) chop and change constantly.
My new take on it is to eat something, pay attention to how my body feels afterwards and go from there..of course that’s easier said than done, I sucked up half a bowl of microwave popcorn just last night. I HAVE NO REGRETS
Btw, love your blog – thanks for keeping me so entertained on a daily basis!
I’m kind of bummed after seeing canned tomatoes in that list. I wish I could move my grandfather out here to garden and can some delicious vegetables for me! (Grandparent slave labor? Maybe it’s best that I can’t.) As for agave, the first and ONLY time I have used it I was making brownies using a recipe from Elana’s Pantry. My husband and I ate one each and felt almost, well, drunk. It was a really weird light-headed, headache-y feeling that I can totally do without ever experiencing again. I love all her recipes, but I substitute in honey now.
Great post! I’m getting a new water bottle today. I’ve always gone BPA free and assumed I was good. At least the kids have stainless steel. Also, Muir Glen Organic canned tomatoes come in cans that have BPA free linings.
I am not at all surprised about agave. Its sugar, pure and simple, but processed. It would be like calling Mrs. Butterworth a health food. Not that that will stop me from eating it. I love fake maple syrup, and I don’t care who knows it.
Katie recently posted..Grab bag: Sprouting 101
I can’t believe that olestra is still on the market. I remember when it first came out several years ago and I got a mini-can sample of potato chips made with it in the mail. I ate it…and then couldn’t get more than 10 steps from the bathroom for the next two days. Never again!
Naomi/Dragonmamma recently posted..Month is whizzing by
Real butter, real sugar, real popcorn – Check! But canned tomatoes? Those are a go to item for me – I love all things tomato – and we don’t really see them in any other type of container around here; tomato sauce in glass jars, yes, but not tomatoes.
JavaChick recently posted..Back to Reality