Most light foods and snacks sold in supermarkets make tempting promises that are not subject to scrutiny, and marketing agencies have cleverly figured out that adding the words “healthy” or "natural" or even pictures of active people on food and snack packaging can make people who are interested in these things buy the products.
For example, someone may be walking down the healthy foods aisle and pick up a few bars of oatmeal or veggie chips or buy a zero-calorie beverage, thinking that they are wisely choosing a healthy snack.
However, these foods are not always as healthy as one might think; although, you do not have to feel bad if these foods that you enjoy are mentioned in the list below because you can still have them every once in a while. Balance is important; therefore, you must make sure that you have these foods sometimes, but not daily.
6 Light Snacks That May Seem Healthy
Here are some foods that you may think are healthy but are not:
1. Canned fruits
It seems that canned fruits have a lot of benefits. They are cheaper, easier to store, have a long shelf life and are easy to prepare. Unfortunately, most canned fruits are put in juice, which means there will be a lot of added processed sugar.
If you plan on eating canned fruits, choose those that are canned with their own juice or water, and when you use them, make sure you put them back into a tightly sealed jar instead of leaving their can open, because fruits in open cans allow air to get in, which causes bacteria to grow.
2. Dried fruits and nuts
While fresh fruits and nuts are both beneficial for you, some mixes of fruits and nuts contain processed ingredients, such as crackers, smarties, milk chocolate, and raisins dipped in milk. Thus, you must search for mixes that only contain nuts and dried fruits, and note that both can be high in calories, so they are easy to eat in large quantities.
3. vegetable ghee
You may think that vegetable ghee is a healthier alternative to butter. However, this is wrong. “Although it is forbidden to use unsaturated processed fats that make up vegetable ghee,” says nutrition expert Kelly Jones, “most vegetable ghee products have replaced hydrogenated oils with palm oil.”
Palm oil is considered unhealthy for the heart, especially when compared with many other kinds of healthy oils, such as those derived from olive oil and avocado oil, which are very healthy for the cardiovascular system. Remember that heart disease is the most common cause of death in the world.
4. Energy drinks
Just like all other sports drinks, marketing agencies have desperately sought to promote energy drinks because they are considered a fuel for professional athletes; however, they are unhealthy.
These drinks contain an unsupervised combination of stimulants and caffeine, which means they do not have a specific upper limit. Energy drinks have been associated with many health issues, including heart disease.
According to the American College of Cardiology, energy drinks can rapidly affect the heart and cause an abnormal disturbance in heart rhythm, heart attacks, and other kinds of cardiovascular problems.
5. Protein and oat bars
Just like energy drinks, protein and oat bars are marketed as a healthy type of food for a healthy lifestyle, but if you read the back of their package, you will notice that they are nothing more than candy bars.
In spite of the statements on the packaging of these products claiming that they are healthy, such as “does not contain preservatives,” "is not genetically modified,” and "is gluten-free,” these statements may be false.
While every one of these statements could be good on its own, we must look at the bigger picture because usually protein and oat bars are full of sugar (or high fructose corn syrup) and sodium, along with a lot of empty calories, whereas they do not always contain a lot of vitamins, minerals, or even fiber.
If you want to add some extra protein to your diet, you can start by either making your own protein bars or making dry meats by drying lean meat.
6. Flavored yogurt
Yogurt is another product that we think is healthy, while this could be true for a choice like natural or unflavored Greek yogurt, which contains a lot of probiotics and nutritional supplements that are considered good for the health of the bowels. Whereas flavored yogurt is a completely different case.
Do not let the shiny packaging fool you, because flavored yogurt is full of added sugar in order to enhance its taste, which puts you at risk of cancer, obesity, and various cardiovascular diseases.
If you want to have flavored yogurt as a dessert, you can easily add some fresh fruits (such as coconuts and berries) or nuts (such as walnuts and almonds) or cinnamon to the mix in order to get a great taste without adding sugars.
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