It’s a story line you probably know well; it’s the one where the charming, unsuspected, seemingly harmless, and inevitably good looking character turns out to be a dastardly villain while the apparently evil character is actually one of the good guys. While it’s a great plot to any book, play or movie, I hate to see it played out in your pantry.
Here’s the real story; frankenfoods are food-like-products that look like, smell like and taste like real foods, but in fact, they are filled with chemicals, sugar, preservatives, trans-fats, sodium, and other artificial junk. They seem harmless, they appear attractive, and they are disguised in packages that tout terms like healthy, all natural, organic and low fat. These frankenfoods are sneaky, and it’s easy to fall into their trap.
Now, there are a few good guys that have gotten a bad rap over the years. They’re full of nutrients, but for whatever reason, people avoid them because they think they aren’t healthy. To help you more correctly identify the good guys vs. the bad, I’ve created a list of the top three players in each field.
Top 3 Bad Foods Posing as Healthy Options
Yogurt: Nothing says healthy like a spoonful of yogurt; unless, of course, that yogurt is filled with junk like high fructose corn syrup (diabetes), genetically modified starch (toxic to your organs), red #40 (ADHD and DNA damage), sodium citrate (diarrhea), rBST (breast, colon and prostate cancer)
“Diet” Meals: You think you’re making the right choice when you grab a prepackaged lunch or dinner item made by a trusted “Diet” brand. Unfortunately, most of these diet meals (even those designed by “physicians” or “dieticians”) are generally loaded with chemicals and modified ingredients like partially hydrogenated oils (heart attacks), aspartame (cognitive disorders, neurologic problems, mood disturbance, leukemia), MSG/monosodium glutamate/hydrolyzed soy protein/autolyzed yeast (migraines), sodium benzoate, nitrite/nitrates (cellular DNA damage/gastric cancer), and BHT (linked to cancer)
Bars: What could be better than a nutrition/energy/power bar, right? Wrong (mostly). Here are just a few of the villainous ingredients lurking in the bar: sugar (obesity, heart disease, cancer), sugar alcohols (bloating, diarrhea), palm kernel oil (cholesterol issus), vegetable glycerin (stomach issues and skin irritation), calcium caseinate (cognitive issues), TBHQ (nausea, ringing in the ears)
3 Good Foods Wrongfully Accused
Nuts: Yes it’s true that nuts are fat filled, but the positive health effects of nuts are unbeatable. Most nuts contain the types of fats that clear out the plugs in your arteries and are loaded with minerals and antioxidants
Iceberg Lettuce: Grab a head of iceberg and many health nuts will glare at you like you just grabbed a double whopper with cheese! While iceberg isn’t quite as nutrient dense as those mixed field greens or spinach, it’s still a great food. It can add bulk to your dishes without really adding calories, and it’s loaded with water which may keep you feeling fuller longer. Plus, it’s got iron, vitamin C, vitamin A and calcium. Bottom line: you don’t have to shy away from the iceberg.
Potatoes: The days of the low carb craze left this tuberous root vegetable shunned and abandoned. While anything fried will never make the healthy cut (french fries don’t really count as a serving of veggies), potatoes can be a really fabulous addition to your diet. What you probably haven’t heard about are the over 60 kinds of phytochemicals (disease fighting properties), vitamins and minerals that are found in potatoes or the kukoamines that are known to lower blood pressure. Potatoes are also a good source of B vitamins. Go Spuds!
Change Your Meals, Change Your Life! When you eat real food, you feel good. By changing your approach to food, you can change the way you look (get rid of extra fat) and feel (get more energy, stabilize your blood sugar, lower blood pressure, decrease bad cholesterol…). If you’re ready to get started, I’m ready with a YouAnew Program just for you! Let’s do it.
