Top 10 Healthy Food Nutritionists Will Never Eat

Healthy is the new sexy as we all strive to be super conscientious about exercising regularly and eating well.

But did you know that not all healthy food is made equal? The shocking truth is that unless you’re in the “know” you blissfully continue to eat as well as you can without too much concern regarding your healthy choices. So why is it that nutritionists avoid certain foods that are touted as “healthy”? Here are 10 foods that on the surface seem healthy enough yet nutritionists worth their salt won’t touch:

1. Almond Milk

First of all, nature did not design almonds to produce milk! Yes, they are jam packed with goodness, but only if you eat them.

The Low-Down Milk is produced from animals and, with the exception of coconuts, there are no plants that produce milk. In order to extract “milk” from almonds including soy, cashew and rice, it needs to be refined. This process strips pretty much all of the plant’s nutrients leaving behind a watery substance which is then fortified with synthetic minerals and vitamins, not to mention the additives that are thrown in to add thickness and sweetness. In essence, if you drink almond milk you could be doing yourself more harm than good.

2. Multigrain Bread

Multigrain bread is often advertised with the very misleading notion that “more is better”, well, this isn’t always the case!

The Low-Down The issue with “multigrain” is that you really don’t know whether the wheat is whole or over milled, i.e., refined, which has stripped all the nutrients right out of the wheat leaving it no better than white bread. There is also no indication of the nutrient value of the grains, (different grains have different nutrient worth) whereby the packaging may say the product contains more than one grain but any secondary grains could be in negligible amounts. Therefore, it is really important to check the labels, and nutritional information of multigrain bread to ensure the first word of the first ingredient says “whole” and then to check there are no artificial colorings added to give it a “whole wheat” look.

3. Ready Made Sushi

Sushi is turning up ready-made by the bucket load. The health conscious consumer perceives it as “healthy” because it contains fish, seaweed, ginger and wasabi which are indeed health promoting.

The Low-Down However, ready-made sushi’s bulk component is sweetened white nutrient devoid rice. This spikes blood sugar and insulin levels as the low fiber content means the carbs are broken down more quickly in your digestive system. Then adding insult to injury, there is a meagre fish (often imitation fish such as the dyed red crab sticks) or vegetable content, and lashings of high-fat sauces or deeply fried tempura. Therefore, ready-made sushi is a low-protein, low fibre, high-calorie meal that is not very healthy at all.

P.S. For the wasabi lovers: it is mostly an imitation paste made from a combination of horseradish, mustard powder and green dye!

4. Trial Mix

Yes, trail mix is energy-packed and definitely a winner when put up against a candy bar, however, it mustn’t be confused with a healthy snack!

The Low-Down The danger lies in the fact that most pre-packaged trail mixes have undergone a transformation from its humble beginnings of a once nutrient-dense snack into an indulgent dessert. The ingredient list has been extended from nuts and dried fruit to include salty nuts, sugar-packed dried bananas (typically fried!), bits of chocolate along with excess sugar, oils, and preservatives. This once naturally nutritious snack has now been relegated to the danger list by nutritionists, unless of course, you make it yourself by mixing and matching raw nuts and dried fruit from health food stores.

5. Tea Drinks

Why is it that nutritionists won’t touch tea drinks and consider them unhealthy when tea is constantly being touted as health promoting?

The Low-Down Firstly, they contain a very small fraction of the powerful antioxidants found in their freshly brewed counterparts. These antioxidant molecules are highly active and oxidize fairly quickly, which means that bottles sitting on the shelf for a while have little if no nutritional value. Secondly most of the main manufacturers of tea drinks use refined sugars such as corn syrup or fructose as a sweetener. These sugars wreak havoc with blood sugar levels causing uncontrollable food cravings and mood swings. Worse still are the teas sweetened with artificial sweeteners, such as aspartame, where research has linked it to causing headaches, brain tumors, brain lesions and lymphoma. In addition, let’s not forget the extra chemical mix of artificial colorings, preservatives and flavors that are thrown in!

6. Pretzels

Pretzels have been popping up in snack boxes and packed lunches since the fat-free craze of the 90‘s, but the reality is that they are not very healthful at all. In fact, they can be described as nutritionally empty!

The Low-Down They are made from enriched white flour that lack fiber that quickly spikes your blood sugar and causes you to crave more and more. They are often advertised as lower in calories and fat compared to chips, and yes they are, but one serving provides almost a quarter of salt a person needs each day and eating too much salt increases the risk of high blood pressur