Not all food items that claim to be healthy are truly healthy. A user asked the forum, “What supposedly ‘healthy’ junk food have you been consuming without realizing it was junk food?” Here are the top responses.
JERKY
“Jerky loaded with brown sugar.”
FRUIT JUICE
“Fruit juice. My entire life, I thought that fruit juice was just fruit and water, so I drank a 1/2 gallon every day, at least 100% juice and not from concentrate.
Now I see I was just ingesting massive amounts of sugar without the fiber. Oh, and heavy metals. Probably pesticides, too.”
GRANOLA BARS
“Not me, but I know granola bars and fruit juice are often the main culprits.”
CLIFF BARS
“Cliff bars. I was eating the peanut butter ones like crazy. Then I saw how much sugar it had. Finding a healthy protein bar that is more than just a chocolate bar is frustrating. Now, I eat RX bars because they’re the lowest sugar without going artificial.”
KIDS CEREAL
“Kinda ashamed of this one, but it took me until late high school to realize kids’ cereal was super bad for you (fruit loops, lucky charms, etc.)
I always read the back of the box, saw dozens of minerals like iron, and thought it was a superfood.”
SALAD DRESSINGS
“Salad dressings with lots of sugar and bad oils in them.”
VEGGIE STRAWS
“Veggie straws. Total junk food.”
LOW-FAT YOGURTS
“I used to do low-fat yogurts. A lot of low-fat yogurts are jacked up with sugar. They’re essentially desserts.”
PEACHES AND CREAM OATMEAL
“I also was doing peaches and cream oatmeal for a long time. It’s also got a substantial amount of sugar. I am pre-diabetic, so I can’t eat it all that much anymore, though I do love it.”
FULL SUGAR GATORADE
“Full sugar Gatorade. You shouldn’t drink it unless you’re killing it for a workout, in my opinion. Also, I had to remove this from my diet.”
SUGAR-FREE SNACKS
“Anything labeled sugar-free. Once I stopped consuming foods/drinks containing sweeteners and just watched my natural sugar intake (limiting to 1 fruit a day, etc.)
I felt so much better and had a much easier time losing weight. I don’t understand its science, just empirical observation from my experience.”
DIET DRINKS
“Diet drinks. I always thought Diet Coke or other zero-calorie pre-workout was a ‘healthy’ alternative. Then I realized that Aspartame and Sucralose were messing with my gut biome, ultimately making me addicted to the zero calorie sweeteners, and likely making me crave real sugar, as well.”
VEGGIE CHIP
“Those veggie fry-shaped chip things. They are just as unhealthy as regular chips and offer no nutritional value from the ‘veggie’ ingredients. Just get Doritos instead and enjoy them more.”
ORANGE CHICKEN
“Orange Chicken! It’s just fried chicken with sugary goodness on top.”
OAT MILK
“Oat milk! It’s got canola oil in it, which I actively try to avoid because of my inflammatory condition. It’s sad because almond milk takes a ton of water to make. It’s probably best to go without readily accessible non-dairy milk.”
PROCESSED MEATS
“Processed meats are listed as a class 2 carcinogen. That stuff that we were told to put on our sandwiches so that we’d have some protein is horrible for us.”
NUTS
“Nuts as a large snack. The serving sizes for most nuts are barely 1/4 of a cup. I would snack on them all day and not realize how many calories I was taking in and how much fat! They’re one you have just to watch portions on.”
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This article was originally published on Mrs. Daaku Studio.