Today, more people are educating themselves on what they eat and how it can affect their body. People are making an effort to eat healthier and live a healthier lifestyle. Some foods like fruits and vegetables are obviously healthy, but there are some foods that are more difficult to evaluate as to their health benefits. There are even some foods that are deceptive in their appearance of being healthy.
People must learn to watch for deceptive labeling in some products. Often buzz words like “all-natural,” “gluten-free” and “live active cultures” are used to increase the health appeal of certain foods. Those labels can be deceptive because they are only telling you part of what may be contained in the product.
People often think any bread that is labeled as “multi grain” must be good, but that’s not always the case. Most of these breads still list unbleached enriched wheat flour as the first ingredient. Breads that include the word “enriched” at the top of the ingredient list should be avoided. It’s better to choose breads that list a grain as the first ingredient on the list.
Just because its yogurt doesn’t mean it’s good for you. Not all yogurt is good for you, and the frozen variety isn’t all that different from ice cream. A lot of yogurts are packed with sugar and may come with unhealthy toppings. Better to get just a plain low-fat Greek yogurt and add fresh fruit.
Don’t fall for reduced-fat peanut butter. These spreads are highly processed and have just as many calories as regular peanut butter. Sure, they take out the fat, but they replace it with fillers and sugar and that can’t be good for you. If you want peanut butter it’s better to just stick to the regular kind. In fact, the fat in nut butter can be good for your heart in reasonable doses.
Bottom line is we still have a lot to learn about the food we eat. Try reading the labels more often and don’t fall for those misleading products.
