Since 2010, several hugely popular health foods have been outed as being far unhealthier
than people initially thought.
So do away with that diet and forget the fads that everyone bought into, because these are
some of the foods that aren't as good for you as you might think.
Juices have been around for a pretty long while, so long, in fact, that there's a reference
to them in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Written sometime between 100 BC and 70 AD, this document recommended its readers drink
"a pounded mash of pomegranate and fig" if they were looking for, quote, "profound strength
and subtle form."
Then, of course, there was the orange juice craze: in 1960, Americans were drinking 20
pounds each of concentrated orange juice every year.
Consumption of orange juice has been declining for decades, however, and a 2019 study published
in the Journal of the American Medical Association might reveal why: The sugar content in juice
makes it just as bad for you as soda.
The study revealed that even just a 12-ounce serving of fruit juice for males aged 45 and
older is linked to an 11 percent higher risk of death…and it gets worse with multiple
servings.
It turns out it's not just fruit juices that are bad for you.
Other popular types of juice, like those used in the detox cleanses you've been hearing
about for the last decade, aren't great for your health, either.
A 2015 Los Angeles Times article referenced several health experts that state there's
no data whatsoever supporting the value of juice cleanses.
Not only that, but juicing removes the healthiest part of fruits and vegetables, the fiber,
leaving behind just sugar water.
Without the fiber, you won't get any of the health benefits from the fruit, and you'll
just feel hungry again after the sugar rush dies down.
So what's the point?
Once upon a time, the word "gluten" wasn't in most Americans' vocabulary.
After all, celiac disease only affects one in 141 Americans, or 0.7 percent of the population.
But somewhere along the way, more and more people began adopting gluten-free diets for
health reasons.
The NPD market research group found a steady increase in gluten-free diets among American
adults between 2010 and 2012, measuring at least 27 percent of the population.
So it's no surprise that companies began ramping up production of processed gluten-free foods
to meet the demand, including breads, pastries, snacks, and gluten-free alternatives to pasta.
Of course, you'd think that gluten-free foods would be good for you, but Today reported
in 2014 that the science is still out about whether gluten-free diets are healthy for
non-celiac individuals.
And cutting out gluten certainly doesn't automatically translate to losing weight.
In fact, many gluten-free products actually have more calories than their gluten-filled
alternatives, because they're higher in sugar.
Even the Gluten-Free Society cautioned its followers in 2016 that processed gluten-free
foods are actually anything but healthy: Many of these products contain cheap grains like
corn and rice, and they usually contain many unhealthy fillers, too.
If you actually like the flavor and texture of egg whites, never fear; it's still true
that going yolkless is a protein-packed way to save you from consuming excess cholesterol
and calories.
An average egg white contains around 4 grams of protein, 17 calories, and zero cholesterol,
as compared to a whole egg's 6 grams of protein, 71 calories, and 186 milligrams of cholesterol.
The latter sounds pretty bad considering that the American Heart Association recommends
no more than 300 milligrams of cholesterol a day to lower the risk of heart disease and
diabetes.
Luckily for those of us who like the flavor of the yolks, studies that have come out since
2010 that have dispelled the myth that egg whites are healthier than consuming whole
eggs.
A 2013 study showed that, for the vast majority of people, dietary cholesterol doesn't have
that great of an effect on blood cholesterol.
That means that most people can eat up to one egg per day without risk of developing
heart disease or stroke.
And that's great news if you think egg whites are, well…pretty depressingly tasteless.
For decades now, carbs have been under attack by health fans, but despite that, whole grains
are on the rise.
Among adults in the U.S., consumption rose significantly between 2006 and 2016.
More common refined grains like white flour and rice are milled to remove the bran and
germ, which improves their shelf life, but removes vital nutrients.
By comparison, whole grains like brown rice, wheat berries, and oatmeal are higher in nutrients
and fiber, and they've been linked to a lowered risk of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.
Unfortunately, in 2014, the Harvard Gazette reported that many foods with a whole-grain
stamp aren't as healthy as you might think.
Researchers looked at 545 grain products from major U.S. grocery stores, and determined
that the foods with the whole-grain stamp were higher in fiber and lower in unhealthy
trans fats, but many of those foods were also higher in calories and sugar than products
without the stamp.
Their conclusion was that it's not enough to look for whole-grain ingredients alone;
they recommend that the ratio of total carbohydrates to fiber be less than 10-to-1 for the food
to be truly healthy.
People in the U.S. sure do love potato chips: in 2016, Grand View Research reported that
the potato chip market was valued at $7.74 billion.
So it's only natural that Americans have turned to veggie chips as a way to eat more vegetables,
but enjoy them in the same, crunchy package as potato chips.
They certainly seem like a nutritious and healthy alternative to potato chips, and veggie
straw products have even started making their way into school lunches.
But if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is, and that's certainly the case here.
In 2017, two men sued Hain Celestial Group because their Garden Veggie Straws product
doesn't actually contain any vegetables.
These products are basically potato chips: They're made with potato starch and cornstarch
but are colored to look like vegetables using tomato paste and spinach powder.
It's not just the straws, either; according to Time magazine, many popular brands of vegetable
chips are also just potato chips disguised as other vegetables using colors and dyes.
Sadly, Time also revealed that even the brands that use actual vegetables still deep fry
their chips, which can cause inflammation and elevate your risk of heart disease.
"Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit smoking."
Non-dairy milk is nothing new.
In fact, soy milk has been around in China since the 14th century; coconut milk has formed
the backbone of Southeast Asia, Indian, and African cuisine for centuries; and almond
milk reached Europe via the Middle Eastern Moors in the 8th century.
Their rise has been particularly notable in the U.S. over the past few years, though,
and dairy milk sales have been declining as consumers become more and more interested
in non-dairy nut milks.
For these kinds of milk, sales have grown 61 percent since 2012.
These plant-based milks have gained a lot of traction among health enthusiasts because
of their high levels of vitamins, minerals, and protein content.
It isn't all good, though.
Research from 2013 showed that many of these products use carrageenan as a thickener.
It's still being studied, but this seaweed extract might cause digestive issues, and
it may even lead to glucose intolerance, which can cause diabetes.
So if you're into alternative or plant-based milks, make sure to check your ingredients
label carefully!
The agave plant has been used in Mexican cuisine for thousands of years.
That culture used it as a sweetener and, most famously, fermented its natural sugars to
create tequila.
Somewhere along the way, however, it also became everyone's favorite sugar alternative.
In 2011, fans of the Dr. Oz Show listed their all-time favorite tips and recommended products
for losing weight and increasing their energy.
Agave nectar as a sugar substitute was the number one recommendation.
It wasn't just Dr. Oz, either; Oprah suggested using agave as a sugar substitute, and The
Mercury News reported that its use as an ingredient in commercial products jumped from 60 to 304
products between 2003 and 2008.
Then, in 2014, Dr. Oz dropped a bomb.
Writing on his blog, the health expert said:
"After careful consideration of the available research, today I'm asking you to eliminate
agave from your kitchen and your diet."
People were initially drawn to this sweetener because it's low on the glycemic index, and
although it contains the same number of calories as sugar per teaspoon, you don't have to use
as much of it because it tastes sweeter.
Unfortunately, the research has shown that it contains way too much fructose, 85 percent,
which is much more than regular sugar.
Consuming too much of this type of sugar compound can raise your risk of type 2 diabetes.
"Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit drinking."
Yogurt wasn't actually very popular in the United States until it was advertised as a
"health food" during the 1950s and '60s.
It really picked up after Dannon filmed an ad in the Soviet Union in 1977, which insinuated
you could live as long as the 100-year-old people in the commercial, if you ate their
product.
It's true that yogurt is high in protein, calcium, and vitamins, and it was long thought
that the probiotics in yogurt could have a beneficial impact on the body when consumed.
But this could be wrong.
A 2015 study involving more than 4,000 thousand people determined that regular consumption
of yogurt doesn't have any beneficial health impact on our bodies.
Not only that, but not all yogurt is even that healthy.
Some yogurts have excessive amounts of sugar, and they often contain harmful additives,
too.
A registered dietitian told Self Magazine that these additives could actually feed the
bad bacteria in our guts, which is pretty much the opposite of what you want when you
eat yogurt.
If 2019 was the year of anything, it was the year of the meatless burger.
Of course, vegetarian burger patties have been around since the 1980s, but new brands
of meatless burgers have promised all the same great flavor as meat, with none of the
environmental impact.
That's quite appealing to the rising number of vegan, vegetarian, and plant-based eaters
out there.
But in 2018, Insider interviewed a registered dietitian nutritionist who dispelled a lot
of the myths about veggie burgers.
First off, just because they have the word "veggie" in the title doesn't mean they actually
contain any vegetables.
They're often made with grains like quinoa or black beans, and they can also contain
a lot of unhealthy filler ingredients.
Some may not even contain sufficient amounts of plant protein, which means they won't fill
you up or keep you feeling full.
To add insult to injury, veggie burger patties often contain high levels of sodium to add
flavor, and too much sodium can lead to high blood pressure and a number of other health
woes.
"Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit amphetamines."
In the wake of the low-carb craze, wraps have risen to the top of the healthy food chain.
Bread sales have been declining since the Atkins diet became popular in the 1990s, and
they haven't really been able to recover since.
Instead, people have turned to ostensibly healthier options, like pita bread or wraps.
And hey, if you really prefer your food wrapped in a tortilla as opposed to sandwiched between
two slices of bread, feel free to carry on with your normal lunchtime routine.
But if you're only eating wraps to save calories and carbohydrates, well, sorry, but they're
not as healthy as you think.
A 2015 study by SafeFood found that the contents of the wrap matter a great deal, too.
Some wraps were packed with as many as 1,000 calories and contained high levels of both
sodium and fat.
Even the wraps that might sound healthier, such as spinach wraps, are made with dyes,
and don't actually contain extra nutrition or fiber.
Worse still, some tortilla brands are high in trans fats and are made with hydrogenated
oils, and they can be even worse for your health.
"Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue."
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