When I was in school a decade ago, eating cornflakes was the perfect breakfast. The pack of cornflakes also mentioned about the perfect amount of iron and nutrition one needs for a healthy breakfast.
Today, in most shows and TVs, we see kids eating cereal before heading to school. Or pancakes with a side of orange juice. All this for a healthy breakfast, since breakfast is the most important meal of the day!
We are living in a time when billion-dollar companies are paying heavily for ads to influence us to consume their products. Often, these foods are marketed as healthy, though in reality, they’re anything but healthy.
As somebody who has been following a healthy lifestyle for 7 years now and dropped 50lbs solely by eating well, here are some foods I eliminated because they’re not just unhealthy but also highly processed and bad for health.
1. Cereal
This includes the healthy versions too, you know the one with real fruits and whole wheat and all that jazz.
Serving size: 42g
Calories per serving size: 150
When was the last time you just took one small serving of cornflakes? The Guardian explains,
One of the earliest convenience foods, processed cereals represents a triumph of marketing, packaging and US economic and foreign policy. They are the epitome of cheap commodity converted by manufacturing to higher value goods; of agricultural surplus turned into profitable export.
In simpler words, eating cereal is dumping a lot of sugar, fat, calories, and carbs in your body with little or no benefits.
2. [Not so] healthy bars
When I was trying to lose weight, I’d spend significant money to buy protein bars.
20g protein.
20g was 1/4th of my requirement back then. But here’s what I missed:
Hardly any fibre (so doesn’t fill your tummy for long)
Highly processed
Healthline states,
Some protein bars are so high in calories and added sugar that they might as well be in the candy aisle.
3. Biscuits
Yes, even the oat ones; multigrain ones; and of course, those which have diet or healthy written on the packet too.
Biscuits are simply flour, processed oil, butter, and fake flavour.
One butter cookie contains 45 calories, 6g carbs, and 30% is saturated fat.
They also contain trans fat (to improve shelf life and flavour) and hydrogenated oils which are linked to an increased risk of heart attacks and depression.
4. Vitamin Water
I thought branding high sugar drinks as energy and pre-workout drinks was stupid. But then, I saw vitamin water. Yesterday I even saw protein water! Next, maybe we’ll have pizza flavoured healthy water so you can enjoy the flavours and not get fat.
Healthline gives us 5 reasons to not consume vitamin water:
High in sugar, as it is sweetened with crystalline fructose and sucrose.
Can lead to weight gain because of liquid sugar.
Increased risk of heart diseases and diabetes.
All vitamin waters contain abundant Vitamin B and C, which are water-soluble and almost never lacking in our body.
Consuming excess amounts of these vitamins does not provide any health benefits. Your body does not store them but simply excretes them via urine.
5. Supplementing with excess vitamins and minerals is linked with premature death. If you’re getting the required nutrients from your food, you need not take supplements.
Takeaway
Here are 4 foods that are falsely claimed as healthy:
Cereal
Healthy bars
Biscuits
Vitamin water
Would you like me to write about foods that are falsely claimed as unhealthy?