How healthy are these foods?
As the World Health Day is being celebrated today, let's get set some facts straight about health foods, pseudo-health foods and the pure genius of marketing tactics that has elevated the status and standard of certain foods.
1. Whole wheat bread
The three words above in one phrase spells goodness unparallelled to most of us today, and what happened there? Hadn't we all promptly switched over to whole wheat bread from plain white bread soon as the advertisements prophesied that the brown bread was to be our saviour? Well, not quite true, apparently. Whole wheat bread is loaded with gluten, which acts as an inflammatory agent in your body even if you don’t have a gluten intolerance. They’re also often highly processed and filled with all kinds of sub-par ingredients like sugar and potato starch. So, yes, they may be marginally healthier than their white sisters, but then again not without their own set of flaws.
2. Instant oatmeal and other breakfast cereals
Oatmeal packaged and advertised as a healthy breakfast option slowly built its way up, and today, most people run after them like that's the last offering during the apocalypse. Be it oatmeal or breakfast cereals, they have a high quantity of sugar and artificial flavouring added to them. Most of the breakfast cereals are highly processed, loaded with sugar and refined carbohydrates. The manufacturers fortify them with some synthetic vitamins and add small amounts of whole grains in the mix, and market their products. Do not be fooled by the packages, check for details. While the old-world slow-cooked oats are still healthy, the packaged ones can't be vouched for.
3. Soy milk
For all the vegans out there, who've taken a solemn oath with a soy milk carton in their hands, here is the warning alert! Soy milk is highly processed, typically comes from genetically modified soy, and as an unfermented soy food, it can flood your system with hormones. As a replacement, you can try coconut cream/milk or almond milk. They are both high in proteins and nutrients, without the added disadvantages!
4. Fruit juices
This is just what that Uncle you have in the US must have told you. Fresh fruit juices to kick start the day with! Sounds really good, but before you plunge in, let's look at the facts. Fruit juice lacks the fiber that helps slow the body’s digestion of sugar. Moreover, most juices are pasteurized and made from concentrate, rendering them even more useless on the nutritional front. But there are other things you could try, so wipe the dismay off your face, take some nice greens and veggies, like cucumber, celery, carrots, or beetroot, with a few added fruits! Smoothies are okay too, if you're thinking on those lines!
5. 'Heart-protective' vegetable oils
There are so many of these today, as the world is shivering in the wake of 'saturated fat' (saturated fat isn't considered all that bad anymore). And it seems these heart-healthy vegetable oils are the answer. We beg to differ. Industrial seed and vegetable oils like soybean, corn and cottonseed oils are extracted from seeds using very harsh processing methods and include high heat, bleaching and the toxic solvent hexane. These oils contain very large amounts of Omega-6 fatty acids. We need only small amounts of these in our diets. Eating too much of these fats can lead to inflammation, which is a leading cause of many chronic diseases.
6. Low fat or fat-free foods
How could we leave them out? Thanks to growing awareness these days, people have begun to scorn at these labels, and that's a good start. During the anti-saturated fat period, food manufacturers started producing “healthy” products that were low-fat or fat-free. The one big problem was that fat-free was essentially taste-free as well. Now, that's difficult to market! So, then the products were loaded with chemicals, artificial sweeteners and massive amounts of sugar. So to combat a slight problem, a more beastly one was introduced. A classic case is that of the low-fat yougurt, stripped of its goodness and revamped into the mass-consuming tasteless, unhealthy product that it is now.
The list just doesn't end here, but let's say, we summarised a lot of things, and left some for your research! So the next time you see a food packet that announces in big bold letters that it's "healthy" take a U-turn and do a double check!
1. Whole wheat bread
The three words above in one phrase spells goodness unparallelled to most of us today, and what happened there? Hadn't we all promptly switched over to whole wheat bread from plain white bread soon as the advertisements prophesied that the brown bread was to be our saviour? Well, not quite true, apparently. Whole wheat bread is loaded with gluten, which acts as an inflammatory agent in your body even if you don’t have a gluten intolerance. They’re also often highly processed and filled with all kinds of sub-par ingredients like sugar and potato starch. So, yes, they may be marginally healthier than their white sisters, but then again not without their own set of flaws.
2. Instant oatmeal and other breakfast cereals
Oatmeal packaged and advertised as a healthy breakfast option slowly built its way up, and today, most people run after them like that's the last offering during the apocalypse. Be it oatmeal or breakfast cereals, they have a high quantity of sugar and artificial flavouring added to them. Most of the breakfast cereals are highly processed, loaded with sugar and refined carbohydrates. The manufacturers fortify them with some synthetic vitamins and add small amounts of whole grains in the mix, and market their products. Do not be fooled by the packages, check for details. While the old-world slow-cooked oats are still healthy, the packaged ones can't be vouched for.
3. Soy milk
For all the vegans out there, who've taken a solemn oath with a soy milk carton in their hands, here is the warning alert! Soy milk is highly processed, typically comes from genetically modified soy, and as an unfermented soy food, it can flood your system with hormones. As a replacement, you can try coconut cream/milk or almond milk. They are both high in proteins and nutrients, without the added disadvantages!
4. Fruit juices
This is just what that Uncle you have in the US must have told you. Fresh fruit juices to kick start the day with! Sounds really good, but before you plunge in, let's look at the facts. Fruit juice lacks the fiber that helps slow the body’s digestion of sugar. Moreover, most juices are pasteurized and made from concentrate, rendering them even more useless on the nutritional front. But there are other things you could try, so wipe the dismay off your face, take some nice greens and veggies, like cucumber, celery, carrots, or beetroot, with a few added fruits! Smoothies are okay too, if you're thinking on those lines!
5. 'Heart-protective' vegetable oils
There are so many of these today, as the world is shivering in the wake of 'saturated fat' (saturated fat isn't considered all that bad anymore). And it seems these heart-healthy vegetable oils are the answer. We beg to differ. Industrial seed and vegetable oils like soybean, corn and cottonseed oils are extracted from seeds using very harsh processing methods and include high heat, bleaching and the toxic solvent hexane. These oils contain very large amounts of Omega-6 fatty acids. We need only small amounts of these in our diets. Eating too much of these fats can lead to inflammation, which is a leading cause of many chronic diseases.
6. Low fat or fat-free foods
How could we leave them out? Thanks to growing awareness these days, people have begun to scorn at these labels, and that's a good start. During the anti-saturated fat period, food manufacturers started producing “healthy” products that were low-fat or fat-free. The one big problem was that fat-free was essentially taste-free as well. Now, that's difficult to market! So, then the products were loaded with chemicals, artificial sweeteners and massive amounts of sugar. So to combat a slight problem, a more beastly one was introduced. A classic case is that of the low-fat yougurt, stripped of its goodness and revamped into the mass-consuming tasteless, unhealthy product that it is now.
The list just doesn't end here, but let's say, we summarised a lot of things, and left some for your research! So the next time you see a food packet that announces in big bold letters that it's "healthy" take a U-turn and do a double check!
==================================