How many times have you seen it plastered all over the TV or in the supermarket about so called ‘health foods’ and how they are ‘smarter choices’ for those of you trying to live a healthier lifestyle?
From so-called “Innocent” Smoothies to Quorn Chicken Nuggets universally advertised as ‘healthy’, they are food myths invented by the food industry in order to retain their customers. In truth, these products are highly processed, rammed with sugar and the actual nutrition has been thrown out of the window! In this blog, we aim to explore some typical ‘health foods’ and why they are causing you more harm than good. Here are some of the worst offenders:
Pre-made smoothies
Advertised as healthy, great for packed lunches and with ‘no added sugar’ you would think they would make an ideal choice for your healthy lifestyle; however, this couldn’t be further from the truth. The average amount of sugar in an Innocent Kids’ Smoothie is 18g with some toppling this at a mind-boggling 40g (equivalent to 10, yes TEN! teaspoons of sugar). Would you pour that much sugar into your child’s mouth? Turns out, you might be doing exactly that, without out even realising!
Tinned Fruit
On the topic of fruit, an easy option for families is canned fruit due to the longer expiry date. But the way they achieve a longer expiry date is by preserving the fruit in either heavy syrups or sugar laden juices. This diminishes the nutritional value while injecting a hidden increase in sugar to your diet!
Granola and cereal
These are probably the most convenient breakfast for you and your kids before a long day at work, or even consumed as a convenient afternoon snack. But some granola brands including Deliciously Ella, contain processed seed oils that will wreak havoc on your diet, your body and your health. Pret a Manger Hot and Warming Granola shockingly contains 21.9g of sugar per serving. This is not a healthy breakfast!
Vegetable Crisps
One of the most popular processed foods that people grab from the ‘on-the-go’ section are vegetable crisps. You might believe that these crisps would increase your fibre, antioxidant intake and give you the same benefits as eating a regular vegetable. But this is simply not the case! In our latest blog where we discuss Ultra Processed Foods (link), we mentioned that if the food you are about to consume looks completely different to the original then put it back and avoid at all cost. Sadly, the nutritional value is completely absent and its not in the least healthy. Although these foods might be quick and easy given our very busy lifestyles, yet they are shortening the nations life expectancy while decreasing our quality of life as we age. Unsure what to eat? Drop us an email for some quick yet healthy alterative suggestions.
The whole purpose of ProLongevity is to give you a longer, higher quality life and that is exactly what we achieve for our clients as evident through our testimonial’s page here.
If you would like to find out more about a what health foods actually are and how to incorporate them into you diet, contact us on 01727 834365 or visit: ww.prolongevity.co.uk or WhatsApp: 07768 275802.