Stroll around the grocery store and you’re likely to encounter foods you never thought to be “healthy”: whole grain cookies, fat free ice cream, and soda with vitamins. Food marketers have seized and sold the notion that low fat is equivalent to healthy and that sprucing up bad food with good ingredients rids them of all evils. Unfortunately, it’s up to us to wade through what’s right and what’s hype.
While it’s easy to see how many foods aren’t good for us—Coke, Slurpees, and Tootsie Rolls are all low fat for example—some of the worst diet derailers are those junky items masquerading as something healthy. Here’s a sampling.
Packaged Cereals
Considering that the American Heart Association has put its stamp of approval on such items as Chocolate Lucky Charms and Special K, it’s no wonder consumers are confused. Sure, these products are low in fat, but who cares? Like most cereals made by Kellogg’s, Post, or any of the other big guys, one of the first ingredients is sugar, resulting in a breakfast full of empty calories.
Better Bet—Check labels for added sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and corn syrup; make sure cereal at least has fiber.
Cereal Bars
They come across as being healthy with things like “all natural” or “whole grain” on the front, but most of them are filled with sugar, hydrogenated oils, and preservatives. Nutri-Grain Strawberry Yogurt Bars sound nutritious, but take a look at the first six ingredients: high fructose corn syrup, glycerin, water, fructose, modified corn starch, partially hydrogenated cottonseed, and soybean oil. Now where are those darned strawberries?
Better Bet—Oatmeal.
Flavored Yogurt
Yogurt isn’t a bad food; rather, it’s the stuff they flavor it with that is. Lots of yogurts on the market come with added sugar that’s not naturally found in the fruit or the milk.
Better Bet—Choose plain yogurt and add your own fruit.
Packaged Diet Food
Lean Cuisines used to be my favorite frozen food in high school, and I think I even ate a Lean Hot Pocket once. Had I taken the time to look at the ingredient list, I probably would have thought otherwise; there’s some scary stuff in there. Most highly processed foods like this—regardless of fat content—are loaded with sodium, sugar, and preservatives. And after the comedian Jim Gaffigan dubbed Hot Pockets “pop tarts filled with bad meat” how could you ever eat another?
Better Bet—Homemade anything.
