Fortified garbage is still garbage

These days, with the health and fitness craze in full swing, it seems like every food is fortified with something. But therein lies a great question all on its own: fortified with what?

Let's just say, for the sake of argument, that many of these foods truly are fortified with a healthy additive (such as calcium or vitamin D), which -- in all fairness -- is usually the case. Still, that doesn't automatically make the food itself healthy. I'm yet to see a fortified Twinkie, but I'm sure the idea has been tossed around many times in Hostess board rooms. Catch my drift? As a general rule, you should really think twice before believing most of the nutritional claims that appear on the front of food packaging. If you really want to find out if a food is good for you or not, it's the label on the back that you should pay attention to.

It's here that you'll not only find what a food is fortified with, but you'll also see the rest of its ingredients -- helping you to determine if it truly is a healthy choice. Always look at the ingredients label first. If sugar (which can be listed in many forms, including sucrose and fructose, among others) is the first ingredient listed, put the food right back where you found it. It's not healthy food, it's garbage. Same goes for enriched flour, as well as a number of dyes and chemicals. Fortified or not, these types of foods are not nearly as healthy as their packaging would lead you to believe.