Healthy Sounding Foods, That Aren’t So Healthy

Trying to eat better? Sometimes brands use terms that make you think their food is healthy when really it’s full of questionable ingredients and sugar.

With so many Americans overweight and unhealthy, marketers know that the best way to get someone to buy something these days is to tell them it’s good for them in some way.

Companies know to use words like “whole grains”, “vitamins”, “low-fat”, “low-cholesterol”, etc… But often these claims mean nothing or it’s just a bit of vitamin added to something otherwise very bad for you.

These foods are fine occasionally. Moderation is the best thing to practice to have a healthy diet but I believe people should be aware of what they are eating and if it’s actually healthy.

These are just a few examples of foods that people may believe is good for them but really it’s not.

Healthy Sounding Foods That Aren’t Healthy

1. Vitaminwater– Sounds good for you right? Vitamins and water, what could be bad about that? And the bottles have all kinds of claims of how it will help you. But Coca-Cola is being sued for making people believe this drink, with 33 grams of sugar in each bottle, is good for them. Coca-Cola has even said, when defending itself, “no consumer could reasonably be misled into thinking Vitaminwater was a healthy beverage.”
2. Subway- In the fast-food world, Subway seems like a good choice, after all, it’s not all greasy like a burger place, and look at all of those people that lost weight eating it. Sure, if you have been eating a diet of fast food burgers, switching to Subway will likely help you lose weight and feel better but this doesn’t mean it’s health, just better than some of the worst food you can eat. Subway food contains things like nitrates, high fructose corn syrup, GMOs, artificial dyes, hidden MSG, and so many more harmful ingredients. 
3. McDonald’s Salads- A McDonald’s burger contains 250 calories, 9 grams of fat, and 480 mg of sodium. The Premium Southwest Salad with Crispy Chicken is 450 calories, 21 grams of fat, and 820 mg of sodium, and many of their salads are as bad or worse.
4. Cool Whip- Just look for recipes on Pinterest and you will see a ton of “healthy desserts” that feature Cool Whip. The benefits being lower calories and fat, but is that all that matters in food? I say, no. I’m just going to share the ingredients with you as I think that will help show just how bad the stuff is, water, hydrogenated vegetable oil (coconut and palm kernel oils), high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, skim milk, light cream, sodium caseinate, natural and artificial flavors, xanthan and guar gums, polysorbate 60, sorbitan monostearate, and beta carotene. Yum! In contrast, homemade whipped cream contains- cream, though you can also add a bit of sugar and real vanilla.
5. Herbalife- The name has herb right in it, surely it’s natural. And it’s got all kinds of herbs in the ingredients! But is this just another case of taking something loaded with crap and throw in a few healthy ingredients so you can say it’s good? In my opinion, yes it is. Soy protein is the ingredient that concerns me the most in these shake diet drinks, and to be fair Herbalife is not the only one to use this, Shaklee and many others use soy proteins. The soy used is highly processed and has been linked to a lot of health problems. Other ingredients in these drinks also concern me and are not something that goes along with a healthy, real food diet. 

What are some foods you see people say are healthy but when you looked into the ingredients found some dirty secrets? I’d love to hear your lists, share in the comments below.