Sometimes eating healthy can be harder than you think, thanks to the
marketing power of enterprising food industry. As a nutrition
consultant, I know that words such as “low fat,” “high fiber,”
“multigrain” and “natural” can fool even the most sophisticated
customers into believing what they’re buying is healthful. So what can
you do?
First, make a habit of reading the ingredients list, not just the Nutrition Facts panel. And remember the following products worth resisting.
Reduced-fat peanut butter
The oil is the healthiest part of a nut, containing most of the
nutrients, so there’s no advantage to taking it out. In fact, it’s worse
because it robs the peanut butter of its health benefits. “
Reduced-fat peanut butter has as many calories and more sugar than the regular,” says Bonnie Liebman, nutrition director for the
Center for Science in the Public Interest.
Instead:
Buy regular peanut butter. Eating one or two ounces of nuts daily is associated with reductions in heart disease and cancer risk. A
recent Harvard study showed that eating nuts is associated with lower body weights.
Enhanced water
Drinks such as
Vitaminwater
are essentially sugary drinks with a vitamin pill. They are
“unequivocally harmful to health,” says Walter Willett, professor of
epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard’s School of Public Health.
“Whether vitamins dissolved in water have any benefit will depend on who
you are and whether you are already getting enough. . . . Some people
may be getting too much of some vitamins and minerals if they add
vitamin water on top of fortified foods and other supplements.” A
recent
Iowa Women’s Health Study found an association between certain commonly used vitamin and mineral supplements and increased death rates.
Instead:
Drink water, ideally from the tap
(“Eau du Potomac,” as it’s known locally). It’s the best drink for
hydrating your body, is naturally calorie-free and contains fluoride to
prevent tooth decay. No supplement matches the nutrients in whole foods
such as fruits, vegetables, nuts and whole grains.
Energy bars
The reputation of these bars, also known as meal replacement bars, is
that they are healthy, aid in weight loss or help build muscle. In
fact, they are
calorie bombs: candy bars with vitamins,
protein or fiber added. For most of them, sugar is either the first
(predominant) or second ingredient.
Instead:
Snack on fruit or veggies for weight loss and yogurt for muscle gain. If you’re hiking a long distance and want a healthful, nonperishable calorie bomb, try nuts and dried fruit.
Multigrain foods
Multigrain breads, crackers and cereals are often the most confusing foods. People see “
multigrain” and think “
whole grain.”
That’s not necessarily so. This is an important distinction because
people who eat whole grains have a lower incidence of diabetes, heart
disease and cancers, and are less likely to be overweight compared with
those who eat refined grains. Note that when “enriched wheat flour” is
listed in the ingredients, that’s refined flour.
Instead:
Be sure a whole grain, such as whole wheat, whole oats or brown rice,
is the first and preferably the only grain in the ingredient list. A
great example is a cereal listing whole rolled oats as the only grain.
Alternatively, consider an egg for breakfast. “The huge amounts of
refined starch and sugar that many people eat for breakfast, often
thinking that this is the healthy choice, does far more damage to their
well-being than an egg,” says Harvard’s Willett.
Non-fried chips and crackers
It’s easy to believe these foods are healthful because of labels such
as “baked,” “low fat” or “gluten free.” But most are made with refined
grain or starch, which provide plenty of calories and few nutrients.
Popchips, for example, are a new product marketed as healthful. But the
ingredients are highly refined potato flakes, starch, oil, salt and
about 14 additional things. Pita chips, made with white flour, oil, salt
and several more ingredients, are no better.
To boot, research shows that too much refined grains and starches increases the risk for heart disease, cancers, diabetes and weight gain.
Instead:
Try Wasa or Finn Crisp Original Rye crackers. They’re 100 percent whole grain and have little sodium. If you’d like a chip, try
Terra Chips,
made with sliced vegetables, or even a 100 percent whole grain chip
fried in a healthy oil, such as olive or canola. Tortilla chips and
SunChips are two examples. “Now that trans fats have been removed from
most cooking oils, the healthiest part of potato chips is the fat,”
Willett says. “And chips made of whole grains rather than potatoes, like
Frito-Lay’s SunChips, can legitimately be considered a health food,” so
long as you keep to the one-ounce serving size.
So
it’s time to start your weight loss journey, but there is an
overwhelming amount of information out there. Do this, don’t do that.
Only eat this then, but don’t eat that after 3. There’s enough
conflicting information out there to make the most determined throw in
the towel before they even get started.
