When shifting to a healthy lifestyle, many people are unable to reach their goals. Maybe the reason is in their confidence that they have chosen the right strategy for eating. But if we look closer, we will find out that much of our knowledge about healthy products is actually false.
We at Bright Side support people’s struggle toward self-perfection and want
to help them improve their knowledge in the area of healthy
eating. Let’s finally bust the 11 most popular myths about healthy eating.
1. We choose organic products.
Organic products are believed to be healthier and safer than
regular ones but there is no scientific evidence that proves this.
When growing these products, farmers don’t use synthetic pesticides. Instead,
they are replaced with natural pesticides and their side effects have been
poorly studied.
Moreover, the “Eco” or “Natural” mark on the package doesn’t
always mean healthier food. Sometimes it’s just a marketing ploy that
is used for increasing sales. When buying these products it’s important
to pay attention to their content, origin, and appearance.
2. We prefer products without gluten.
Recently, products containing gluten have been considered harmful. There
are people who really need to stick to a gluten-free diet
because they have been diagnosed with celiac disease. But only about 1%
of people have this disease.
In all other cases, there is no scientific evidence
proving that staying away from gluten improves our well-being. According
to the latest research, rejection of gluten increases the risk
of cardiovascular disease because whole grains are eliminated from our
diet.
3. We buy low-fat products.
In pursuit of a healthy lifestyle, many people choose
low-fat products. But very few of us realize that by reducing the
level of fats, manufacturers compensate their product’s content with other
components for improving taste. For example, with sugar, flavors, stabilizers,
and trans fats, which are bad for our health.
Products with a normal fat content are necessary for
a balanced and healthy diet. It’s only necessary to exclude fats for
real medical reasons. In all other cases, lowering the percentage
of fats in a product will be enough.
4. We drink fruit juices.
Fruit juices contain a lot of sugar, and at the same time
they don’t have dietary fiber. This can lead to an increase
in appetite, overeating, and weight gain. Juice satisfies neither our
hunger nor our thirst. And this fact makes it little different from sweet
soda drinks.
Instead, it’s better to opt for a whole piece of fruit
or essence water with fresh fruits.
5. We eat energy bars.
These bars are good for a quick snack on the go. They are
sold in the healthy and diet food departments of supermarkets. But
are they really that healthy? Most bars contain sugar, chocolate glaze,
caramel, artificial flavors, and other additives. They are no different
from ordinary sweets when it comes to the volume of sugar, while
the amount of calories in them equals a full-fledged lunch.
Don’t be lazy, and spend more time eating well. If you want
something sweet, then try a bit of dark chocolate. This will
be good for your health as well as satisfy your sweet tooth.
6. We prefer to eat dried
fruits.
The usefulness or harm of dried fruit directly depends
on the conditions in which they were cooked and stored.
As a rule, manufacturers process fruits with a chemical
composition before drying, which helps to extend the lifespan of the
fruits but decreases their beneficial features. Dried fruits are good and
healthy if you cook and dry them at home by yourself. When
choosing them in a store, it’s better to buy those dried fruits
that don’t look attractive, aren’t shiny, and are rough to the touch.
7. We choose eggs with a brown
shell.
The myth saying that eggs with a brown shell are better has been
popular for quite a long time. The size and the color of an egg
depend on a hen’s breed, while the color of its yolk says what
the hen was eating for lunch. The main rule for choosing eggs should
be the conditions of their storage and the way they look. The safest
option is clean eggs, without cracks, that are stored
in a fridge.
8. We drink sports drinks.
Due to a tight connection between sports and a healthy
lifestyle, sports nutrition is often perceived as healthy. However,
sports drinks contain sweet soda water, as well as corn syrup,
artificial food additives, and colorants.
The manufacturers of sports drinks recommend quenching thirst with
their products during training. But these won’t quench your thirst and will
actually decrease the efficiency of your physical exercise. A sports
drink made with your own hands is a good way around this.
9. We buy imported products.
Many people have a stereotype that foreign products are better than
the local ones. Sometimes this can be true, but not always. For example,
consuming seasonal local products is healthier than those that were
brought over from abroad. An apple, grown on a local farm
in natural conditions and sold immediately, contains more useful elements
than an exotic fruit brought from another country and processed
by chemical composition in order to overcome a long journey
to the buyer. Of course, imported products have some advantage too
but, when choosing them, a person should pay a special attention
to the storage dates of the product, its composition, the
manufacturer, and the importer.
10. We buy granola.
The hype around granola (baked groats and nuts) has been created mostly
by marketers. Along with fiber and iron, granola has a lot
of sugar and some not very useful oil, which makes it useless.
Of course, some stores sell granola where the content of harmful
elements has been minimized. That’s why it’s important to study its
composition carefully when buying it.
The rule that the healthiest food is the one that you cook yourself
works well in this case. That’s why it’s better to buy the necessary
ingredients and bake them yourself.
11. We limit the amount of food we consume
but we forget about counting calories.
The difference between consuming a fried and a boiled egg
is that the boiled egg provides 66 fewer calories. So, if you
eat 2 boiled eggs, it would be 188 calories, which
is only slightly more than one single fried egg.
