What are some foods that people mistakenly think are healthy but actually aren't?

Well this one is a given, but - Nutella. It seems many Nutella lovers will argue it is relatively healthy, just milk, nuts and cocoa. I remember a commercial stating this when I growing up, and maybe that's where these ideas came from. But it drives me nuts. I've had many an argument with a Nutella lover how it is basically just a spoon of sugar.
 
The problem I see here is that NO food is 100% 'healthy' if taken in extremes. Variation and moderation are the key words. One lard sandwich won't do any harm but a diet of them will. Soda, sweets, chocolate, burgers, vegetables [you couldn't live purely on carrots for example] alcohol fruit - you can OD on any of them. Sounds a bit corny I l know but basically it's true.
 
Rice? I'm actually still unsure about rice, to be honest. I've seen it mentioned as evil and others praise it as the holiest of foods. I guess it's bad if you're trying to lose weight, but in other cases, it could offer certain benefits. I think brown rice is alright, but white rice should be avoided whenever possible.
 
"I'll just have a Diet Coke, I'm trying to be good."

There's nothing good about diet drinks at all - OK, they might be virtually calorie free but this does not mean they aren't harmful to your health. Far from it, there have been several studies indicating that an increased intake of artificial sweeteners pushes your risk of getting diabetes right up.
 
Another that people claim is unhealthy for you are the Nakd bars. They cite that they have 14g of sugar per bar (nearly 4 tsp), but the bars are only dates and cashew nuts (this particular bar being the Cashew Nut cookie). They claim that the bar is unhealthy because of this high level of sugar (the bar is a 35g bar), but the fibre from the dates which is where the sugar comes from, slows down the absorption of the natural unadded sugar. Not to mention that there is fibre in there!
If you are eating them in moderation, and exercising plenty anyhow, I can't see the problem. (I live off them when exercising - they are great at the mid and end points of a 100km ride and work really well as a pick me up.)
 
Generally salads are healthy unless you go to these fast food restaurants and they load it down with cheese. Cheese is high in cholesterol. They also provide a lot of fattening toppings like bacon bits and croutons. I think the best way to go is to make it yourself or tell them how you want them to make it. That is if this is any way possible.
 
I am going to have to go with artificial sweetners like Equal, Sweet Low, etc. They taste bad when you consume them (you know what I mean about the nasty after taste that lingers in your mouth for a long time). They are mostly lab created sweetners and I do not see how these could be at all good for you, especially when you read up on them and find out they have ingriedients that could cause cancer!
 
The first one that came to mind for me was the commercially available dried fruits, and dried fruit bars. They're usually full of added sugars, not the naturally occurring kind - my dentist even warned me off them as a strictly "only in moderation" food because he sees so many children come in with cavities -- he said he asks their parents what they have as snacks, and usually raisins are high on the top of the list. He said they're a huge culprit in kids with cavities - and it's because their parents are trying to do the right thing but it's slightly misguided.

Apart from that, smoothies that are prepackaged came to mind (again just high on sugars and pretty calorie laden too).

I had a friend once that thought kebabs were healthy because some of the fat drips off the meat. Not quite...particularly when the kebab is smothered in garlic sauce! :roflmao:
 
When it was found that my blood sugar is a bit too high, my doctor told me to stay away from any white carbohydrate! This includes sugar, refined four, pasta, rice, white bread and potatoes. All of these foods have a high glycemic index and cause a spike in blood sugar. Brown rice and whole grain bread and pasta do not metabolize as quickly so they have a lower glycemic index and can be eaten in small portions. My doctor told me he'd rather I ate bacon and eggs for breakfast than pancakes and syrup. It seems carbs are "out" and protein and fat are "in". And here am I with 10 pounds of bacon in my freezer that my 93-year-old father brought over as payment for me balancing his books. I have permission from my doctor to eat bacon and I've made a good start.
 
classic33 said:
I've used milk that was more or less fresh from the cow. Just passed through the filtering cloths, before its use in any drink. Couldn't drink it on its own however.
Cows are not what they were 30 years ago, let alone 100 years ago.
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until i was 12 i lived opposite a farm and we would get our milk from a churn which would have only gone through a chiller then hand sealed,always remember the farmer well ,he was supposed to have never been ill ! It never did us any harm,
the fact that you say cows are not the same made me think,I have a customer who deals with milk yields and he told me last year that cows now give a lot more milk than those of the past so something has had to change,for the better that more milk is supplied or to the quality of the milk is reduced!
you will never get a straight answer
 
Berties said:
until i was 12 i lived opposite a farm and we would get our milk from a churn which would have only gone through a chiller then hand sealed,always remember the farmer well ,he was supposed to have never been ill ! It never did us any harm,
the fact that you say cows are not the same made me think,I have a customer who deals with milk yields and he told me last year that cows now give a lot more milk than those of the past so something has had to change,for the better that more milk is supplied or to the quality of the milk is reduced!
you will never get a straight answer
Click to expand...
Milk yield has gone up, in part due to the fact that the herds are now dairy herds, milked twice a day. Once would have been the normal.
Cows, if you've noticed, are getting top heavy. Their legs longer in relation to height & generally more meat, from cuts that people "want".
For a more extreme comparison, have a look at pictures of prize cattle over a hundred years ago.
 
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