Eating a healthy and natural diet is essential for good health. That is why health experts advise that you must always eat home-cooked fresh food that has a good balance of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and vitamins. However, at times you get confused while differentiating healthy and unhealthy foods.
More often, it is also the fault of the food product manufacturers who market certain food items under the category of healthy food but in reality, they do contain certain harmful ingredients.
That is why National Nutrition Week 2023 is being celebrated in India from September 1 to September 7 so that people become aware of the foods that are not included in a healthy diet.
Multi-grain breads
It is a common misconception that multi-grain or seven-grain breads are nutrient-dense and hence are good for health. But the fact is that most of these breads have unbleached wheat flour as its first ingredient and the whole grains are just a small additions to the overall preparations. In this case, if the ingredient list includes words like enriched then it means that the other whole grains are just small additions.
Ditto holds true for flatbreads as the wraps are considerably longer than the two pieces of sandwich bread with little tomato and spinach content and more junk ingredients.
Yogurt
It has a special place among diet-conscious people as it is one food that is rich in probiotic bacteria or good bacteria that gives protection to the gut flora. However, you must know that most of the frozen varieties of yogurt are not much different from ice cream and hence are high in sugar and unhealthy toppings ranging from gummy bears to Oreo cookies.
Avoid food times like Yogurt-covered raisins, peanuts, or pretzels as they are nothing but sugar traps. Instead, you must choose plain low-fat Greek yogurt, and for flavour can use whole fruit like berries and bananas.
Energy bars
Most of the energy bars have ‘instant energy’ promises written on their packaging but they are nothing but full of calorie, sugar, and fat content. More often the standard candy bars, especially ones that are dipped in chocolates are very unhealthy. Look for some healthier options in this category such as a mix of nuts and seeds or honey which indeed are nutrient-dense.
Dried fruit
Nowadays, almost everybody knows that fruit-flavoured products are full of sugar and processed things. But there are certain other food items that also fall in the same categories but you do not know much about them. For example, dried fruits are dried and hence are calorie-dense as they have lost all their moisture and nutrients. Eating fresh fruit is always better.
Sports drinks
These are only for athletes or marathon runners who daily work out or run for more than two hours. These athletes need sports drinks to maintain their body’s pH levels. But average people do not necessarily need them as they have added sugar and sodium that are loaded with calories.