5 fake "healthy foods" you should avoid

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Hi. It’s Sebastian.

Are you eating healthy and still can’t lose weight? Let’s talk about the 5 fake “healthy foods” that you should actually avoid.

Lots of different processed foods make all kinds of health claims. Claims designed to make you believe that the particular food or drink is healthy. Unfortunately most of the time they’re very misleading.

This really breaks my heart. I see people who struggle with weight and try to do something about it. They get the wrong information from advertising and end up ruining their health even further.

Yes, good honest people are getting hurt despite of their intention to do something to lose weight and get healthy.

Let’s look at 5 of such traps so that you know what to avoid and why. I’ll also give you some suggestions on what to eat or drink instead.

#1. Breakfast cereals. Yes, they make all kinds of health claims but the truth is that they’re loaded with sugar. In some cases over 30% of a cereal box is just refined sugar.

The marketing trick they use to hide the shocking amounts of sugar is to show the amount per serving size of just 30 grams. This portion is so small that no real person would be satisfied with such a breakfast. Normally people have about two and a half such servings. So they often exceed their daily sugar limit before finishing their breakfast.

Cereals are also highly processed, have artificial colorings, preservatives and a very low nutritional value.

So what should you have for breakfast instead? Regular oats can be a good option. Make sure they are not of the instant variety. There are also some cereals that have a very low sugar content but it takes some effort to find them. Eggs are a great option as well. They’re cheap, highly nutritious and will keep you full for a long time.

#2. Fruit juice. This is probably a shock for some people. How can something made of fruit be unhealthy?

One of the healthiest parts of a fruit is fiber. One of the least healthy is sugar. When they come together – fiber neutralizes the not so good effects of sugar and you’re OK. So eating a whole fruit is highly recommended.

The problem starts when you remove the fiber and leave huge amounts of sugar. Exactly like it happens in the case of fruit juice.

It’s easy to have a glass of orange juice and consume essentially just the sugar form 8 oranges within two minutes.

If you were to eat 8 oranges you would have to chew a lot. That’s the first thing that would slow down the consumption of sugar they contain. You would also get the fiber which would fill you up and slow down the release of sugar into your bloodstream. Without these protective mechanisms your liver will have to work really hard and quickly convert part of this sugar into fat.

You can gain weight from fruit juice as quickly as from soda. They have a similar sugar content. Fruit juice also makes your pancreas create a lot of insulin. This is a fat storing hormone. Insulin stops fat burning and turns on fat storing mode in your body.

The same warning applies to canned fruit as well. It’s usually covered with syrups full of added sugar.

So, what should you drink instead? Water is a great choice. If you want the vitamins and minerals of fruits consume them whole.

#3. Diet soft-drinks. They can also be called light, zero etc.

We all know that regular soda is bad for health, but diet soda? How can a drink with no calories or sugar be bad for you?

The artificial sweeteners used in these drinks are quite controversial.

There is some evidence that they alter the mix of bacteria in our guts in a way that can make us glucose intolerant.

There are also studies linking diet sodas to obesity and type 2 diabetes.

One of them shows an almost double risk of obesity in people who drank more than 21 diet sodas per week.

Diet drinks also confuse your body. You end up more hungry and with strong sugar cravings.

If you’re used to the very sweet taste of these drinks it may be harder for you to enjoy eating vegetables and other healthy foods that have much milder tastes.

The bottom line is – if you are trying to lose weight – drink water, not diet soft drinks.

#4. Whole wheat or whole grain bread. Many people know that white bread should be avoided especially by those trying to lose weight.

Unfortunately the whole wheat variety tends to be almost exactly as bad for your health. According to the Glycemic Index table published by Harvard University whole wheat bread spikes up your blood sugar as quickly as white bread. That’s faster than a Snickers bar.

In most cases only a part of the flour is whole wheat. The rest is a refined white flour, colored by caramel. There’s also added sugar and high fructose corn syrup plus many strange ingredients and preservatives.

This leads to a long shelf-life but also a low nutritional value.

Another problem with bread is gluten. Many people are to some degree gluten intolerant and could improve their health by eliminating it from their diet.

The alternative might be a sprouted bread, a home made buckwheat bread or just replacing bread altogether with salads.

#5. Sweet fruit yogurts. How can a yogurt with fruits possibly be unhealthy?

If it was only a plain yogurt and fruits everything would’ve been fine. In reality these products are loaded with sugar. Many times one portion contains more sugar than the daily limit of 25 grams which is about 6 teaspoons. On top of the sugar there are also artificial sweeteners, artificial coloring, flavoring and modified food starch.

Some fruit yogurts are more unhealthy than ice cream. I saw a yogurt that was labeled „no added sugar” but there was an asterisk and in a small print: sweetened with fruit juice. Still 10% of the package was sugar.

The solution is to buy just plain, unsweetened yogurt and add some fruits yourself. Berries are a great choice.
The bottom line is that more traditional foods are safer than the latest food-like products engineered in the lab. It also pays off to check the sugar content on the label and to know the glycemic index and load of foods you usually eat.

Healthy foods usually come with no health claims. They are often the ones that were eaten and admired by your grand grand mother.

Share this message with others. Especially those that eat the products mentioned in this video. I’ll see you in the next episode.