12 healthy foods that really aren't

by Rigel Celeste (Subscribe to Rigel Celeste's posts)
Nov 28th 2007 8:49PM

Geez, we just can't catch a break when it comes to being lazy and healthy at the same time, can we? Once again eating healthy means you have to be on your toes and know your stuff at all times -- you can't even trust labels. Not really -- just because the label says "healthy" doesn't mean the product really is.

Some foods are particularly bad for being considered healthy when they are really not. Yogurt with fruit on the bottom, for instance, has a LOT of added sugar in the worst possible form: corn syrup. Fruit may be healthy and yogurt may be healthy, but the combination usually turns out to be anything but. Check out these other supposedly "healthy" foods:

12 "healthy" foods that really aren't(click thumbnails to view gallery)

via LIfehacker

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Comments (24)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

leosatter 11-28-2007 @ 10:40PM

I hope you can help me out. I am trying to get my health under control so starting to eat right is my first step. Do you know where I can purchase quality food online? (that is on the healthy side) I am starting to do all of my shopping online because of various reasons…so I am hoping you can help me out with a suggestion or two.
So far I have only tried Celebrity foods (which is outstanding by the way)
I am in desperate need to grow my list of quality services or stores, where I can buy my food from. Thank you and have a great day or night (depending on when you read this. LOL!

lin 11-28-2007 @ 10:49PM

leo have you tried peapod.com ? It is grocery store food delivered to your home.They even have an organic section.

Or are you looking for already prepared foods? I know they have a prepared food section but I think it's like typical deli/frozen food stuff with lots of preservatives and sodium added. I'm going to try peapod this winter to stop the impulse buying and to keep our spending to a minimum. If I'm at the super walmart I tend to pick up more than I need and sometimes that includes too much JUNK!
Good luck!

dennis 11-30-2007 @ 6:28AM

Celebrity foods made me and my wife sick. food poisoning.

Reese 11-30-2007 @ 7:52AM

Sorry, folks.

But if you're one of those who believed any of these items qualified as a "health food" prior to reading this story...

You are likely to think that canister of Pringles you polished off in one sitting counts as one of your daily "vegetables."

An, undoubtedly ~ your favorite fruit?

Chocolate-covered cherries.

There's always a trade-off.

Low-fat? Almost always means, "BUT (and this is a BIG BUTT), high in sugar and/or salt."

Baked beans! REALLY? Someone thought baked beans, right out of a can, would be a "healthy" choice?

WOW.

Forget fighting a war on the other side of the world. For what? It appears in the span of another 20-30 years, America will die of "natural causes."

Such as, say ~ "willful ignorance?"

Marc 11-30-2007 @ 9:03AM

Good grief... Quit worrying so much! Enjoy EVERYTHING in MODERATION.... and QUIT worrying so much! None of that stuff will kill ya. And anybody who thought croutons were considered a healthy food? You must have been really working really hard to find examples for this story.. LOL

Bob 11-30-2007 @ 8:45AM

As most literate Americans know, the news media is destroying the English language as we had known it. I heard one of our local broadcasters the other day telling me something was "so fun" (wow). How many times have you heard the phrase "you and I" improperly used in place of "you and me"? The word "me" is just about gone from the vocabulary, thanks to these bozos.

Now, I know this article isn't from the "news media", but it does proliferate one of the most aggregious offenses to the language that has been spread by them. That is, personifying all sorts of inanimate objects with the descriptive adjective "healthy". In general, anything that isn't alive, but is good for you is "healthful". It isn't healthy, because it's DEAD (or more accurately, never lived). Specifically:

1) It's "healthful foods", not "healthy foods".

2) It's OK to say "being lazy and healthy at the same time", because you're alive.

3) It's "eating healthfully", not "eating healthy".

4) "Fruit may be healthy" is OK if you're talking about the health of the fruit, but if you're talking about it being good for you, it's "healthful".

I think you get the idea now. Unfortunately, this article gets and "F" for stupid. (Oh, that starts with an "S", doesn't it.) Anyway, Mrs. Hall from sophomore English class will thank me for standing up for all she taught me, many years ago.

...and I'll apologize in advance for any spelling or grammar mistakes, because I'm really going to hear about it if there are any...

Bob

Pam 11-30-2007 @ 9:31AM

Hey Bob?
You're right about the spelling..
When arguing for literate America.. umm.. it isn't aggregious ... it is egregious...
Mrs. Hall is probably spinning...

Healthy Now 11-30-2007 @ 10:14AM

Was deathly sick, given not long to live because of fulminating systemic auto-immune disease. Went vegetarian, meaning not only a no meat, but a whole foods (natural; no refined flours, no artificial colors, no preservatives), all but sugar-free, low-salt diet, with lots of water. I was well within three months. That was two decades ago and I still eat this way. Am healthy. Whole. Have a sweet sense of well-being. SO thankful!

Rebecca 11-30-2007 @ 10:35AM

The granola situation is abysmal. It's rare that you can even find a box of plain old granola and cereals cost upwards of $4 a box sometimes while granola bars can be found for about $2.20 a box, at least on sale.

Post cereals made a great granola cereal back in the day (I remember eating it in the 1980s anyway) called W.C. Post. Now all the cereals brag about putting "some" granola in with the flakes. Give me a break. Put W.C. Post back on the market and get that lady in the shower cap to hawk it -- we don't care about banana bread flavored cereal when we can't find granola on the shelves anymore. Aaaaarghhh!

Devlyn 12-02-2007 @ 7:37AM

I was at the market the other day and and saw some granola it was about $5 very high in caleries carbs and sugar and it was suppose to have walnuts in it I did not see any now how is this healthy?? not to mention that when it says it is healthy for you it is more exspensive and basically all the ingrediants are the same and the caloric run down too .
reese BTW I am wondering if you have any real friends ?

kelly 12-02-2007 @ 8:47AM

THIS IS RIDICULOUS!!!!!!! DIETS! DON'T EAT THIS! DON'T- EAT THAT! THIS IS BAD!THIS IS GOOD! BLAH,BLAH,BLAH! WHEN DOES IT END?? PEOPLE, LISTEN TO YOUR OWN BODY IT WILL TELL YOU WAHT IS GOOD AND BAD FOR YOU.NOT SOMEONE THAT DOES NOT EVEN KNOW YOU THAT HAS WRITTEN A BOOK THAT WORKED FOR THEM AND THEIR BODY. DO WHAT WORKS FOR YOUR BODY NOT SOMEONE ELSES.

Jan 12-02-2007 @ 9:09AM

The food situation on chemicals and hormones got so desparate, the costs so high for prepared healthful ingredients, I gathered all my recipes from the '60s -'07 and put them together in a book. I suggest you do the same. When I found I can bake a better loaf of bread in a breadmaker for 25 cents compared to $3 for the same high quality, I was astounded.

joncdodge 12-02-2007 @ 9:22AM

I AM WITH MARC#6

QUIT WORRYING ABOUT EVERYTHING LITTLE THING IN LIFE. JUST EAT ALL FOODS IN MODERATION AND YOU WILL BE A HEALTHY WEIGHT!

JONBOY
BORED? CHECK OUT MY BLOG: HTTP://CURIOUSREAD.COM

Sarah 12-02-2007 @ 9:46AM

THE ONLY WAY I CAN LOSE WEIGHT IS BY COUNTING

CALORIES NO MATTER WHAT I EAT! 1200 CALORIES

A DAY IS SUFFICIENT...ALSO GET ORGANIC VITAMINS..

HAVE LESS CARBS AND FATS, BUT SOME ARE OK AND

DON'T STARVE YOURSELF. PROTEIN IS IMPORTANT..

NICOLE JEAN-LOUIS 12-02-2007 @ 9:48AM

VERY GOOD PAM!
MISTAKING EGREGIOUS (AS IN FLAGRANT) FOR AGGREGIOUS WHICH DOES NOT EXIST IN THE ENGLISH DICTIONARY IS UNBELIEVABLE. BEFORE CRITICIZING SOMEONE FORM, STYLE,SPELLING OR GRAMMAR,ONE SHOULD CHECK HIS FIRST. HE HAS THE AUDACITY OF APOLOGIZING FOR HIS OWN SPELLING AND GRAMMAR AT THE END OF HIS LONG WIT. I STRONGLY THINK THAT IT IS PERFECTLY RIGHT TO QUALIFY FOODS AS "HEALTHY" AS IN FOODS "CONDUCIVE TO HEALTH".

Liz 12-02-2007 @ 10:11AM

What's making us ill is our love/hate relationship with food, a diversion from other issues, activities.

Make your meals from scratch, do not rely on deli or packaged food, eat for one person rather than 10, and relax. Fish, fruits, vegetables, oatmeal, nuts, some meat if that's what you like, etc., chocolate ice cream (not the whole container.) Get some exercise and go do something else rather than focus on food -- and the TV.

Food holds us hostage when it's not at all the problem. Our inactive, bored lifestyle is what's killing us, not food.

michael 12-02-2007 @ 10:47AM

It's alway's what you eat,not how much.A glass of red wine once in a while.A happy way of staying healthy.

Jnl 12-02-2007 @ 4:53PM

This seems like just another desperate attempt to generate new and alarming diet news. My big problem with this post is that several brands make sugar-free fruit cocktail, fruit yogurt and baked beans. One can buy California rolls with b rown rice. And I have yet to see any faux crab that has more than 1 gram of carb in it. It's extremely low calorie/little to no carb and little to no fat. Made properly, a California roll has just a thin layer of white rice around a nutrition packed roll of protein, omegas and veggies. Also - white pasta actually isn't as bad as white bread. Pasta has a MUCH lesser impact on blood sugar levels than bread does. Ask any diabetic. Pasta is the preferred starch-carb for keeping blood sugar low. There are certainly healthier options - whole wheat or brown rice pasta for instance. But that doesn't make these items UNhealthy. Especially relative to the typical American diet. Our biggest problem is excess. Not a few traces of starch.

Evelyn 12-02-2007 @ 11:22AM

Very misleading saying yogart and fruit is not healthy - please be more specific. There is nothing wrong with eating plain yogart and with fresh fruit added. The problem arises when you grab the quick and easy processed yogart with tons of added sugar and tiny amounts of over processed fruit. The real key here is to buy from the outside edges of the store where the unrefined, unprocessed foods are and read the labels of what processed food you do buy.