Healthy foods that are worse for you

research before buying

different people talk about healthy foods you start to hear a lot of the same examples unfortunately there’s a fair amount of foods out there that are considered healthy that are really not helping as much as you’d think or even at all and possibly more importantly there are a good amount of foods out there that are great nutritious and un fattening that are prepared in a way that prioritize flavour over Health. Many of these are presented as healthy until you actually start digging into how they’re made and what they’re made of in the nutrition World these are often referred to as trap Foods.

Today I want to go over 10 of the most common foods that many people believe are healthy that in reality only good for at best expanding your waistline. When I think trap Foods the very first thing that comes to mind is

Yogurt

this is quite possibly the most important one because yogurt is generally agreed upon to be a top-of-the-line dairy product one of the healthiest foods out there and one of the most accessible ways to include protein in your diet but I would be willing to bet that every single person who’s eaten yogurt has at some point fallen for the Trap problem is when I’m browsing through the yogurt section the actual healthy protein dense per calorie variant seems to be actively hidden among an ocean of different flavours and names of fruit at the bottom and Blended yogurts seriously next time you’re at the grocery store see for yourself the overwhelming majority of the time fruit at the bottom yogurt is just the worst because it’s basically false advertisement granted most of it is fairly standard yogurt but at the bottom is a ton of corn syrup and little bit of fruit juice that hardly contains any of the nutrients you’d hope to get from fruit anyway your usual size cup of Fruit at the bottom yogurt which is about 150 g typically contains anywhere from 15 to 30 gam of sugar and 5 to 10 g of protein you know what else has that ratio a Reese’s cup Blended yogurts are a bit better typically 150 g cup contains 10 to 20 g of sugar and 10 to 15 g of protein simply put this is still not good for something that you are most likely relying on as a healthy protein Source if you’re eating yogurt for health purposes, plain Greek yogurt is what you’re looking for it’s going to have 15 to 20 gr of protein in the same amounts and 5 gr of sugar at the very most with none from added sugars then you could add what you want for flavour from there if you want to add some fruit good because you can control it know you’re including fresh fruit containing a controlled amount of more complex sugars and nutrients antioxidants you’d actually expect to get from Fruit untainted by some company who is trying to Market it or preserve and just a personal recommendation cinnamon tastes great in yogurt but again it all comes down to control and with fruit at the bottom yogurts and Blended it’s tough to do that staying in the realm of breakfast foods.

Oatmeal

the next trap you’re likely to encounter is oatmeal but specifically flavoured pre-packaged oatmeal now oatmeal itself is great it’s nutritious it’s fibrous satiating and it allows for plenty of variety realistically oats are probably the best grain and because of this it’s one the first additions to many people’s diets when they decide to make a change oatmeal for breakfast getting the day started right it’s not a bad call the problem is people tend to go for the flavoured pre-packaged oatmeal’s and those are just loaded with sugar your average serving size for oats is half a cup anywhere from 40 to 50 g your typical flavoured packet of oatmeal will contain 12 to 15 gam of sugar in that amount put things in perspective that’s about as much sugar as there is in a glazed donut now I understand maple syrup brown sugar they’re great I like them too but eating that every morning is going to add up and not help if health or weight loss are your goals fortunately the solution is going to sound pretty familiar it’s the exact same as yogurt make it yourself oats themselves are pretty cheap and easy for flavour again you’re in control of the quantities it doesn’t take much maple or brown sugar to taste good though I personally prefer honey cinnamon some peanut butter or better yet fruit berries bananas stuff like that again it’s all about control and getting the first meal right can really set the tempo for the rest of day especially if you’re trying to lose fat making your opening meal a sugar bomb is probably not going to help.

Sushi

one of the most hidden perceived as healthy trap Foods out there is Sushi now don’t get me wrong fish is amazing we’ve been over this several times on top of sushi you typically have Sashimi of salmon tuna Yellow Tail shrimp eel octopus Etc. and they’re all pen phenomenal they are truly some of the most nutritious Foods on the planet with highlights being low calorie protein and Omega-3s the problem is as with a lot of things the ratio in standard Sushi fish on rice at least in the US you’re getting at best oneiric fish and in rolls you’re getting much less on top of usually some kind sugary sauce and what’s taking up the rest maybe some fruits and vegetables but usually a heap of white rice now in the past a lot of people got on to me about putting white rice down one of the most common points Point people made was many especially from Asian countries eat a ton of white rice and they’re among the healthiest on Earth and you can’t tell me with a straight face that this is causation instead of a correlation because let’s take a look at everything else they eat plenty of seafood full protein full of essential fats nutritious fresh plant Foods loaded with micros and all of it untainted by processing and harmful nutrients like added sugars trans fats excessive omega-6s and preservatives they walk everywhere there average citizen puts the average American to shame in terms of health and diet I think they can afford to let white rice slide rice is by nature a simpler carbohydrate it lacks a complex nutrient profile and is thus very quick to be broken down and absorbed into the bloodstream to be stored as fat if not used quickly now . you’ll often find athletes and bodybuilders use this to their advantage eating it before a workout for energy or using it to refill their glycogen stores much like sugar white rice is basically just fuel your body needs doesn’t need this much fuel especially since I’ve never seen someone eat sushi and then go exercise right after so eat sushi and enjoy Sushi I know sure do appreciate the fish because that’s what everybody’s actually there for anyway but just please acknowledge that Sushi as we know it is a trap food and more than anything .

Beans

I’ve talked a lot about beans and they’re pretty great unfortunately I personally grew up on baked beans they were quite possibly my family’s go-to side dish and they are without a doubt trap food as I said beans themselves are great nutritious cheap accessible versatile it’s really hard to go wrong with them when people start including them the natural train of thought is that it doesn’t really matter what type and for the most part they’re not wrong so they tend to go forth most well-advertised the one with the fancy label and the promise of a hearty home style dish and wait is that bacon yeah they’re trapped what’s labelled as baked beans in most stores contains roughly 25 g of sugar per about a 250 g cup that is basically gram for G the equivalent to most sodas now yes underneath that sugar coating is typically navy beans one of the more nutritious kinds providing protein fibre and a lot of essential vitamins and minerals but it’s still not really a worthwhile deal and to me a big part of it is again control and awareness when you drink a soda you expect sugar and you can account for that but the novice individual who hears beans are good for you and they think oh well baked beans are my favourite and then they’re not even aware of the potential detriment the fact that they might as well be eating a cup of beans with glass of soda please if your goal is healthy weight loss like I know a lot of people’s is make the switch it’ll things a lot easier for of people when they start on the nutrition Journey

Meat

for many people the easiest most accessible protein is meat unfortunately in their search for easy meat many fall into the Trap of deli meats now meat itself is a protein dense micro alarm around pretty safe and healthy food F group that being said there are a few known exceptions to this most people are aware that processed meats are not worth it and higher fat Meats aren’t going to do you that much good past a certain point but deli meats seem like such a weirdly innocent gravy area because the problem with deli meats isn’t necessarily traditional processing or excessive fat or a lack of nutrients the problem is chemicals preservatives additives many of which I can’t even pronounce properly these are artificial they exist purely for the intentions of taste and preservation definitely not human consumption because they are associated with a ton of problems not least of which being carcinogenic and what’s so annoying is that this one such an easy fix just get real meat chicken breast real turkey if cost becomes an issue buy it in bulk and freeze it just don’t be thinking this borderline rubber-like material is a good choice for a lean protein Source.

Fruit juice

we’ve got a popular childhood favourite fruit juice now fruit is amazing we’ve been over this many times fruit juices on the other hand are a problem because of something that we’ve talked about before they’re liquid calories especially from sugar are so much easier to consume when they’re liquid first off fruit juices lack a lot of the nutrient appeal fruits you lose a lot of fibres and lot of beneficial micros and plant compounds in the skin nutrients are Stripped Away little by until eventually you might as well just be drinking a fruit flavoured glass of water with granulated sugar now most fruit juices you’ll find don’t go that far but they’ll often make up for it with added sugars in my personal experience all of Apple orange grape grapefruit pomegranate cranberry pineapple and Cherry juices more often than not contain added sugars in after the juicing process much like yogurt it feels like they make an active effort to hide fruit juices that don’t contain added sugars and their quantities always blow me away if you drink fruit juices to try to avoid other sugary drinks they’re hardly helping you and if health or weight loss is your goal please just eat real fruit.

I believe I’ve made it clear that there is a better alternative literally just right around the corner but more importantly I just wanted to bring awareness some of the most common pitfalls people have hit after they’ve already made the decision to make a change in their life I have full sympathy for people who actively try to work on themselves and struggle due to a lack of information or Worse straight up deception.