Companies and manufacturers have caught on that people are becoming aware of unhealthy lifestyles. Many people do have the desire to reduce their food consumption of foods that are not healthy. You would think that this has led to a larger variety of healthy foods. However, all that has changed is the marketing strategy by making consumers think they are getting something that they aren't and adding things they don't want you to know about. Educate yourself by reading labels and becoming aware of what you eat. Here are some common foods that people think are healthy, but really aren't:
* Family Restaurant Foods
Even at sit-down restaurants, which are still better alternatives to fast food or takeout, the bottom line is that you can't get healthy meals off the menu. The problem is not in the main ingredients (such as meat and vegetables), but is in the way that foods are prepared. The businesses, as well as the consumers, are to blame for this. Customers don't want to wait too long wait for their meals, and restaurants want to make their foods tasty in the short amount of time they have to get them from the kitchens to the tables. In short, it's about making profit.
That means using liberal amounts of low-cost ingredients, such as fats, salts, and sweeteners - the common Western culprits for modern health problems. However, you don't have to avoid eating out altogether. Simply ask for substitutions, modifications, or omissions when ordering a meal. Menus generally tell you exactly what is in the meal.
For example, pasta dishes are often prepared with cheese in the noodles, as well as cheese in the sauce, and cheese on top. Before you know it, you have a triple threat of artery clogging hydrogenated oils on your plate. You can specify to leave out the cheese when they prepare the pasta, or leave the topping off.
Soups and salads are healthy restaurant foods, right? No they aren't, it depends what is in or on them. Always order salads with the dressing on the side (so you are in control of how much goes on your salad), and leave off the nonsense toppings, such as croutons, bacon bits, and shredded cheese (restaurant cheese is almost always of the non-healthy processed variety).
Many soups are high in sodium; so if you order them, don't make them an addition or appetizer to the meal, but part of the meal instead. Omit the crackers when eating soup - those are simply another blood pressure raising sodium time bomb without any nutritional values.
* Pizza
Pizza contains all the food groups, so why is it not healthy? Again, it's in the way it's prepared. The best nutrients (such as vitamin A) are actually in the tomato sauce. However, pizza has been modernized from its original version, where it contained a lot of sauce and very little cheese and was loaded with vegetables.
Pizzas nowadays, in order to be profitable, are loaded with processed cheese (a cheap ingredient) to make you forget about the small amount of toppings they come with. Even if you order your pizza loaded, the individual amounts of vegetables are too small to contribute much to your daily fiber and vitamin requirements.
What about meat lovers pizzas, aren't they healthy because of the protein of the meat? Not really, as the meat toppings are processed with nitrates, sodium, and MSG, which pretty much neutralize any nutritional values they may contribute otherwise.
What if you don't want to stop eating pizza? You can always order your pizza without cheese (but be prepared for difficulties, questions, and stares), ask for heavy on the toppings (which will cost you extra), or simply make it at home.
* Cheese
Cheese has already been mentioned as generally not being healthy, but why is that so? Does it not contain a lot of Calcium and other nutrients, which are essential? It depends what type of cheese it is, but commercial grade cheese usually is processed with fillers and high in fat, which negates its benefits. The healthiest cheeses are the ones made from cow's milk, so simply check your labels when you purchase cheese for your own kitchen.
* Cereal
Most cereals have large amounts of vitamins, so they are thought of as healthy. The problem is they also contain high amounts of different types of sugars, especially high fructose corn syrup. Also, simply because a product is enriched with vitamins does not mean it is healthy. The body needs to be able to process the vitamins; simply eating them is not enough. The absorption of vitamins is a complex science, but the bottom line is that vitamins, which occur naturally in foods, are more likely to be processed by the human body. Without proper absorption and digestion, vitamins don't give health benefits.
* Foods that are Labeled Lite or Low-Fat
It's easy to see that foods such as cookies or ice cream aren't healthy, even with low-fat labels attached. However, people are still tricked into thinking that foods such as yogurt are even healthier in the low-fat versions. This is not true, as often they contain more sugar than their regular counter parts.
This list could go on and on. Modern technologies, the drive for profit, and the need to preserve foods for long shelf lives because of an explosion of earth's population has turned just about every food into an unhealthy alternative. In essence, if it's not grown out of the earth or raised on natural ingredients without chemicals it's not really healthy.
What are we to do then? We can become smarter consumers by reading labels, and using our customer power by buying the healthiest options available. These options include whole grain over white, fresh instead of frozen, naturally sweetened over artifical, non-processed versus processed, and skipping enriched products.
Even if our budgets or time frames don't allow us to shop exclusively at local farmer's markets (which are currently the healthiest resources for foods), we can still supplement our diets with those foods. This will send a message to the corporations and people in charge that they must truly address our desire for healthy living eventually.