Taking The Health Out Of Health Food

Introduction

So you thought your health food was healthy? Think again, it is not as healthy as you were let on to believe. So let’s take a look at some of these so called health foods and look at how you can determine if you food is healthy.

Peanuts

I used to think peanuts (actually legumes) were healthy, but when I went healthy and stopped eating processed foods to reduce my Omega-6 exposure, I found that peanuts are very high in Omega-6. So now I feed my peanuts to my dog Merlot, she loves them.

So what is wrong with Omega-6? For over 100 years we have been consuming processed foods, which is rich in Omega-6, in fact we have so much Omega-6 we are at risk of autoimmune disease. It is recommended that we decrease our Omega-6 and increase our Omega-3 to where here is a ratio of one Omega-6 for every one Omega-3.

Dried Fruit

Lots of people think dried fruit is good for you, well it is and it isn’t. Small amounts of dried fruit are good, but remember that dried fruit is just the same fruit without any water. What is left in is the sugar. So if you eat small quantities, no problem, large quantities you will pack on the calories.

Veggie Chips

Always thought vegetables and vegetable chips were good for you, think again. Vegetables are good in their raw or cooked state, but when you take vegetables and turn them into chips, they become unhealthy because they are fried in oil. This action puts lots of fat in them.

Finding What Is Healthy

Finding what is healthy is easy. Eat more fresh fruits and vegetables are one direction to turn to. Plus most packaged foods have nutrients listed on their packages. When you look at the nutrition facts look at the following information:

Saturated Fat and Trans Fat– The less of this the better. In fact you want trans fat at zero grams because of the health problems they can give you. Even if it is listed as zero grams trans fat, food processors are allowed to say this even if they have up to.5 grams of trans fats.
Sodium– You do not want too much of this either. Total sodium per day is recommended to be less than 2300 milligrams per day.
Sugar– This can turn to fat in your body, so you want to minimize the amount you consume.
Carbohydrates– These can also turn to fat in your body, so do not consume too much of this.

Conclusion

Not all health foods you think are healthy. In order to determine if the food is healthy, read the labeling on the package.

Related Health Food Articles