Home
>
Nutrition
>
Unhealthy Foods: Five Sneaky Foods Revealed

Unhealthy Foods: Five Sneaky Foods Revealed

With the array of different diets and diet foods available to help with weight loss and health, it's sometimes hard to figure out what's healthy and what's not. Of course, part of the problem is that people have different health needs: for example, while fruit juice is often a good source of vitamins and other nutrients, some people with diabetes may find that some fruit juices have more sugar than they can tolerate. So what sounds healthy may not be healthy for you. How to tell? Look past the advertising to get label-savvy and nutrition aware so that you can avoid sneaky foods that seem like a good idea but may clash with your health needs.

Check out these examples:

1) Bottled waters: Water seems like the one thing on earth that has to be natural? But many bottled waters, even ones promoted by athletes, may contain things besides water, including minerals and salts. Some bottled waters contain a big chunk of sodium, so if you're on a low-sodium diet, check that label before you buy.

2) "Low fat" foods: By law, foods labeled "low fat" contain less than 3 grams of fat per serving. But check the label so you know what you're getting. First, check serving sizes: if serving sizes are very small, and you're planning a traditionally-sized serving, your intake of fat may be larger than you expect. Second, make sure you're not trading off the benefits of lower fat foods for extra sugar and salt. Manufacturers may increase salt, sugars or artificial flavorings to compensate for the loss of flavor in low-fat foods. So, if you're trying to lower your blood pressure (for example) check to make sure you aren't getting a big dose of salt; if you're trying to move towards a more organic or natural diet, you may want to compare levels of artificial sweetening.

3) "Low carb" alternatives to regular prepackaged foods may also trade off carbohydrate content for other things that you might be trying to avoid, so get savvy about reading labels on prepackaged food. Keep in mind that the FDA has not yet fully determined what the qualifications are to be a "low carb" food, so double-check the label to see if the carb content fits your needs. In addition, a number of reports suggest that "low carb" labels are being used inappropriately, so look at the label to see the actual number of carbohydrate grams.

4) Guacamole: Avocados look like vegetables, but they are actually the fruit of an avocado tree. Fruits and vegetables are generally considered to be healthy foods ? just look at the number of servings that are recommended in the new FDA pyramid. But avocados are a sneaky fruit ? unlike most others, they are full of fat, which accounts for their less sweet taste and waxy feel. One medium sized avocado has about 31 grams of fat, equivalent to a Baskin Robbins milk shake! So if you're trying to reduce the amount of fat or cholesterol in your diet, watch that guacamole. If on the other hand, you're looking to increase vitamins C and A in your diet, avocados pack a positive punch.

5) Fish: Fish can be a great source of nutrition, with lean protein and many nutrients. Make sure that if you're eating processed fish, it's packed in something that you don't mind eating ? if you're cutting down on fats, tuna packed in oil isn't for you. Lastly, not all seafood has the same nutritional content as fish ? unlike other fish, shrimp has a lot of cholesterol, even before you add butter or mayo.

Clinical Reference Systems, Adult Health Advisor, "Food labels," 2004.

Food and Drug Administration (FDA), "Fact Sheet: Carbohydrates," 2004

Schafer, E., et al, "Bottled Water: to drink or not to drink?," Iowa State University, PM 1813, 2000

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, "What you need to know about mercury in fish and shellfish," EPA-823-F-04-009, 2004

U.S. Department of Agriculture, "National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference," 2004

Learn more about health, diet and exercise at our weight loss forum.

PhenForum.com is a popular discussion forum for weight loss programs, weight loss advice, and tips to help you weight loss.

All the best,

Ian Mason

cleaning help near Mundelein ..

In The News:

A phone phishing attack compromised Harvard's alumni and donor database, marking the second security incident at the university in recent months.

AutoFlight's zero-carbon floating vertiport uses solar power to charge eVTOL aircraft while supporting emergency response, tourism, and marine energy maintenance.

A new phone return scam targets recent buyers with fake carrier calls. Learn how criminals steal devices and steps to protect yourself from this fraud.

New Anthropic research reveals how AI reward hacking leads to dangerous behaviors, including models giving harmful advice like drinking bleach to users seeking help.

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

Holiday email scams, including non-delivery fraud and gift card schemes, spike in November and December, costing victims hundreds of millions, the FBI says.

Holiday visits offer the perfect opportunity to help older parents with technology updates, scam protection and basic troubleshooting skills for safer digital experiences.

Swiss scientists create grain-sized robot that surgeons control with magnets to deliver medicine precisely through blood vessels in medical breakthrough.

Researchers exploited WhatsApp's API vulnerability to scrape 3.5 billion phone numbers. Learn how this massive data breach happened and protect yourself.

Travel companies share passenger data with third parties during holidays, but travelers can protect themselves by removing data from broker sites and using aliases.

Xpeng's humanoid robot moves so realistically that crowds believed it was fake, marking a major advancement in robotics technology ahead of 2026 commercial launch.

Researchers discover phishing scam using invisible characters to evade email security, with protection tips including password managers and two-factor authentication.

iPhone and Android users can reduce battery drain and data usage by restricting Background App Refresh to Wi-Fi connections instead of mobile networks.

Scammers nearly stole an Apple account by exploiting the support system with authentic-looking tickets and phone calls, users can protect themselves with safety steps.

FoloToy restored sales of its AI teddy bear Kumma after a weeklong suspension following safety group findings of risky and inappropriate responses to children.

Threat intelligence firm Synthient uncovers one of the largest password exposures ever, prompting immediate security recommendations.

Viral video shared by Elon Musk shows Tesla's Optimus humanoid robots performing tasks from cooking to construction, garnering over 58.5 million views on social media.

Chinese hackers used Anthropic's Claude AI to launch autonomous cyberattacks on 30 organizations worldwide, marking a major shift in cybersecurity threats.

Apple's new Sleep Score feature gives you a rating for your nightly rest quality. Learn how to set it up on your Apple Watch and iPhone today.

Essential phone settings to enable before losing your device, including Find My network, location services and security features for iPhone and Android.

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

Cybersecurity research shows weak passwords remain a major threat, with simple patterns and number sequences putting millions of accounts at risk.

New Android malware BankBot YNRK silences phones, steals banking data and drains crypto wallets automatically. Learn how this advanced threat works.

FDA approves first human trial for Paradromics' brain-computer interface that could restore speech for paralyzed patients through neural technology.

New phishing platform QRR targets Microsoft 365 users across 1,000 domains in 90 countries. Learn how to spot fake login pages and protect your accounts.

Unhealthy Foods: Five Sneaky Foods Revealed

Nutrition