by Pamela Kay

Created on: May 25, 2009   Last Updated: August 03, 2009

Labels often fool us into buying foods that seem healthy but are not, because they promise to have reduced fat, sodium and sugar. Lowered fat usually means higher sugar content and sugar-free usually means added chemicals, trans-fats or sodium. It's a deadly game the food industry plays with consumers, and for now, they are winning with faulty advertising and the continuation of old myths.

* Diet Drinks

It's true that drinking diet drinks will decrease your consumption of sugar, however, the sugar is replaced by something much worse: artificial sweeteners that wreak havoc in our bodies by stimulating insulin secretions and causing low blood sugar attacks as well as headaches, panic attacks, mood swings, enlarged livers and occasionally dizziness and visual hallucinations. Is it worth trading our health for a flat stomach?

* Fruit Drinks

The word "drink" is the give-away here. If, it contained a high percentage of fruit or fruit juice, it wouldn't say drink. They contain very little fruit or fruit juice, but lots of sugar, water, chemical additives for flavoring and of course preservatives that are unhealthy. Real fruit juice needs no flavoring and little, if any, sugar to sweeten it. Avoid these and drink water or tea. At least the tea has antioxidants in it.

*Kid's Cereals

Breakfast cereal ads are geared toward kids who will wheedle, pout, cry or beg until they get the cereal they want. As parents, it's our job to know what our kids are eating and this means reading the labels and knowing what each additive really is. Aside from the sugar, which is disguised by various names, there are food colorings added that have been proven to cause hyperactivity and are linked to ADHD.

*Whole Milk Dairy Products

What could be more healthy than fresh whole milk? Skim milk is. Where whole milk and its products such as ice cream and cheese were once considered healthy, they no longer are because of their high cholesterol content. There are now unhealthy additives added to some dairy products to extend the shelf life, texture or taste.

Check out the label and avoid these additives, which are unhealthy:

-Partially hydrogenated coconut oil is another name for heart threatening trans-fats.

-Sodium benzoate or potassium sorbate, which combined with vitamin C produces a carcinogen named benzene.

*Light or White Breads

The milling process for most bread removes the vitamin and mineral rich bran and wheat germ and keeps only the endosperm, which is mostly starch. So,

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