Junk Food In Disguise

If you watch TV commercials, you will find that a majority of the food products you see are those that are bad for your health. Between fast food, restaurant, and junk food commercials, I often wonder if there are any healthy foods left. Although businesses preach healthy eating habits, the truth is that they prefer to market foods that are bad for you because people enjoy them more and they are easier to sell. It is hard to tell what products are good for you anymore because they try to sell everything as a health food these days. If you really want to improve your everyday health, you need to know what foods to look out for. Here are some tips on what supposed "health foods" are really nothing more than a junk food in disguise.

One of the biggest disguised culprits is the granola/protein bar that you see all over the grocery or health food stores. They have the nerve to market these items as healthy, but often if you look at the labels you will find a huge list of ingredients that you don't recognize or cannot easily pronounce. This usually means that the bar in the box is full of fillers and other crap that it isn't a health food at all. Often, they are also loaded with sugars, fats, and artificial ingredients that do you more harm than good. Take a look at the ingredient labels on protein and granola bars and choose the ones with small amounts of sugar and all-natural ingredients.

Sports drinks are also a wonderful way to make you think you are drinking something healthy, but are really drinking sugared water in disguise. Sure, they have electrolytes, but you are far better off eating a banana and drinking water. Sports drinks are so bad for you that recently the American Dental Association (ADA) proved that sports drinks are worse for your teeth than soda! The sugar does more than rot your teeth; it also dehydrates you, which is the opposite effect it is advertised to produce. So if you are serious about improving your health, stay away from the sports drinks and rely on natural sources such as fruits and water for your electrolytes.

Recently, beverage companies have introduced a whole new host of "diet" sodas that are supposed to be calorie free, but what they don't tell you is that carbonated beverages are capable of robbing your bones of calcium. Carbonated drinks contain phosphorous, which binds to your stomach and absorbs calcium before it can reach your body. Over time, this can cause a calcium deficit that can cause weak bones, especially in women who are more at risk for Osteoporosis.

As you can see, it can be difficult to know what products are actually good for you and what products are nothing more than junk food in disguise. It is unfortunate that you cannot trust the words on the front of the package, but all too often it is the fine print that tells the truth. If you are serious about living a healthy life or improving your health, then stay away from these junk foods and find natural food and beverage sources to rely on.